British subject
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all people in the British Empire. Between 1949 and 1983, the term was synonymous with Commonwealth citizen. Currently, it refers to people possessing a class of British nationality largely granted under limited circumstances to those connected with Ireland or British India born before 1949. Individuals with this nationality are British nationals and Commonwealth citizens, but not British citizens.
The status under the current definition does not automatically grant the holder right of abode in the United Kingdom but the vast majority of British subjects do have this entitlement. As of 2025, about 17,900 British subjects hold valid British passports with this status and enjoy consular protection when travelling abroad; about 2,000 do not have right of abode in the UK.
Nationals of this class without right of abode are subject to immigration controls when entering the UK. If they hold no other citizenship, British subjects without right of abode in the UK are effectively stateless, as they are not guaranteed the right to enter the country in which they are nationals.
Background
Development from feudal allegiance
Before the concept of nationality was codified in legislation, inhabitants of English communities owed allegiance to their feudal lords, who were themselves vassals of the monarch. This system of loyalty, indirectly owed to the monarch personally, developed into a general establishment of subjecthood to the Crown. Calvin's Case in 1608 established the principle of jus soli, that all those who were born within Crown dominions were natural-born subjects. After the Acts of Union 1707, English and Scottish subjects became British subjects. Natural-born subjects were considered to owe perpetual allegiance to the Crown, and could not voluntarily renounce British subject status until 1870, when it was first permitted.Prior to 1708, foreigners could be naturalised only through Acts of Parliament. Although procedures were created after this point for aliens to become subjects, personalised naturalising legislation continued to be enacted until 1975. Additionally, the monarch could personally make any individual a subject by royal prerogative. By this method, a foreigner became a denizen – although they were no longer considered an alien, they could not pass subject status to their children by descent and were barred from Crown service and public office. This mechanism was no longer used after 1873.
Until the mid-19th century, it was unclear whether nationality regulations in Great Britain were applicable elsewhere in the Empire. Individual colonies had each developed their own procedures and requirements for naturalisation, granting subject status at the discretion of those local governments. In 1847, Parliament formalised a clear distinction between subjects who were naturalised in the UK and those who became British subjects in other territories. Individuals naturalised in the UK were deemed to have received the status by imperial naturalisation, which was valid throughout the Empire. Those naturalised in a colony were said to have gone through local naturalisation and were given subject status valid only within the relevant territory. However, when travelling outside of the Empire, British subjects who were locally naturalised in a colony were still entitled to imperial protection.
British subject status was codified in statute law for the first time by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, which formalised the status as a common nationality among the United Kingdom, its colonies, and the self-governing Dominions. Dominions that adopted this Act as part of their own nationality laws were authorised to grant subject status to aliens by imperial naturalisation.
During this time, British subject status was the principal form of British nationality. There were certain territories that came under British jurisdiction but were not formally incorporated as Crown territory proper. These included protectorates, protected states, League of Nations mandates, and United Nations trust territories. Because they were foreign lands, birth in one of these areas did not automatically confer British subject status. Instead, most people associated with these territories were designated as British protected persons.
Transition to Commonwealth citizenship
Following the First World War, the Dominions developed distinct national identities. Britain formally recognised this at the 1926 Imperial Conference, jointly issuing the Balfour Declaration with all the Dominion heads of government, which stated that the United Kingdom and Dominions were autonomous and equal to each other within the British Commonwealth of Nations. Legislative independence of the Dominions was given legal effect after passage and ratification of the Statute of Westminster 1931. Diverging developments in Dominion nationality laws, as well as growing assertions of local national identity separate from that of Britain and the Empire, culminated with the creation of Canadian citizenship in 1946. Combined with the approaching independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, nationality law reform was necessary at this point to address ideas that were incompatible with the previous system.The British Nationality Act 1948 redefined British subject as any citizen of the United Kingdom, its colonies, or other Commonwealth countries. Commonwealth citizen was first defined in this Act to have the same meaning. This alternative term was necessary to retain a number of newly independent countries in the Commonwealth that wished to become republics rather than preserve the monarch as head of state. The change in naming also indicated a shift in the base theory to this aspect of British nationality; allegiance to the Crown was no longer a requirement to possess British subject status and the common status would be maintained by voluntary agreement among the various members of the Commonwealth.
British subject/Commonwealth citizen status co-existed with the citizenships of each Commonwealth country. A person born in Australia would be both an Australian citizen and a British subject. British subjects under the previous meaning who held that status on 1 January 1949 because of a connection with the United Kingdom or a remaining colony became Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies . CUKC status was the principal form of British nationality during this period of time.
There was also a category of people called British subjects without citizenship . Irish citizens who fulfilled certain requirements could file formal claims with the Home Secretary to remain British subjects under this definition. Additionally, those who did not qualify for CUKC status or citizenship in other Commonwealth countries, or were connected with a country that had not yet defined citizenship laws, would transitionally remain British subjects in this group.
All British subjects initially held an automatic right to settle in the United Kingdom, though non-white immigration into the United Kingdom was systemically discouraged. This entitlement was part of a wider initiative to preserve close relationships with certain Dominions and colonies and to moderate nationalist attitudes within the Commonwealth. It was thought that only a limited number of non-white colonial migrants would ever seek to settle in the UK. However, strong economic conditions in Britain after the Second World War attracted an unprecedented wave of colonial migration. In response to growing anti-immigration sentiment, Parliament imposed immigration controls on subjects originating from outside the British Islands with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962. The Immigration Act 1971 relaxed controls on patrials, subjects whose parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom, and gave effective preferential treatment to Commonwealth citizens from white-majority countries.
Outside of the United Kingdom, British subjects already did not have an automatic right to settle. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa had immigration restrictions in place for British subjects from outside their jurisdictions targeted at non-white migrants since the late 19th century. After 1949, non-local British subjects under the new definition who were resident in these independent Commonwealth countries continued to retain certain privileges. This included eligibility to vote in elections, for preferred paths to citizenship, and for welfare benefits. British subjects were eligible to vote in New Zealand until 1975 and Australia until 1984. In Canada, voting eligibility was revoked at the federal level in 1975, but not fully phased out in provinces until 2006.
Because each country now defined British subject in separate pieces of legislation and these definitions were not always updated or kept at parity, individuals could have been British subjects in one country at a given time but not another. For example, a South African citizen in 1967 would have been considered a British subject in Canada, but not the United Kingdom or South Africa. The country was included in the list of Commonwealth nations in Canadian law, despite South Africa having left the Commonwealth in 1961 and not rejoining it until 1994.
Redefinition as residual nationality class
By the 1980s, most colonies of the British Empire had become independent. Parliament updated nationality law to reflect the more modest geographical boundaries of the United Kingdom. The British Nationality Act 1981 recategorised CUKCs into different nationality groups based on patriality and birthplace. CUKCs with the right of abode in the United Kingdom or those closely connected with the UK, Channel Islands, or Isle of Man became British citizens while those connected with a remaining colony became British Dependent Territories citizens. Those who could not be reclassified into either of these statuses and who were no longer associated with a British territory became British Overseas citizens.While all nationals under those categories continue to be Commonwealth citizens, the definition of British subject was limited to its present meaning. It currently only includes the category of people previously called British subjects without citizenship as well as women who married such persons and registered for the status. The term is no longer synonymous with Commonwealth citizen. British citizens are not British subjects as defined by the 1981 Act.
In other Commonwealth countries that still retained it, British subject status under the previous definition was progressively abolished. The status remained in law in South Africa until 1961, Canada until 1977, New Zealand until 1977, and Australia until 1987.
Though the British government has never conceded to suggestions that its policies and legislation concerning nationality were discriminatory or racist, Parliament has since revised nationality law to correct remaining cases of statelessness caused by deprivation of the right to settle in the UK after 1962. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 granted British subjects who do not hold and have not lost an alternative nationality the right to register as British citizens.