Pakistani nationality law
The primary law governing nationality of Pakistan is the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, which came into force on 13 April 1951.
With few exceptions, all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalise as Pakistani citizens after residing in the country for at least five years and showing proficiency in at least one vernacular language of Pakistan. Commonwealth citizens who make a substantial financial investment in the state are eligible for a facilitated naturalisation process.
Pakistan was previously ruled by the British Empire and local residents were British subjects and British protected persons. Although Pakistan gained independence in 1947 and Pakistanis no longer hold British nationality, they remain Commonwealth citizens under British law. When residing in the United Kingdom, Pakistani citizens are eligible to vote in UK elections and serve in public office there.
Terminology
The distinction between the meaning of the terms citizenship and nationality is not always clear in the English language and differs by country. Generally, nationality refers a person's legal belonging to a nation state and is the common term used in international treaties when referring to members of a state; citizenship refers to the set of rights and duties a person has in that nation. In the Pakistani context, these terms are used interchangeably.National status within British India
Company administration
The East India Company was founded by royal charter in 1600 and granted a monopoly on all English trade with Asia. Over the course of the 17th century, the company secured a strong commercial presence in the Indian subcontinent through trade in indigo dye, saltpeter, and Indian textiles. Operations became more lucrative as the Mughal Empire entered into decline in the 18th century, giving the company opportunity to gain further advantages by intervening in regional politics. The vast financial resources of the firm and its superior military enabled it to defeat rival European trade companies and become the dominant power in India. The company itself ruled as the direct governing body from 1757 to 1858, though sovereignty was often shared with the Crown. Although legislation was enacted referencing British subjects in India, no comprehensive nationality statute existed to define which persons were subjects, leaving the status of native Indians ambiguous throughout this period.Legislation passed in 1852 allowed foreigners residing in territory governed by the East India Company to naturalise as British subjects by application to the government. There was no minimum residence requirement and candidates simply needed approval from a relevant official. The oath of allegiance administered to successful applicants required them to swear loyal service to the company, as well as allegiance to the British monarch.
Direct imperial rule
India was brought under direct rule of the British Empire in 1858. Territories were broadly divided between two political groupings: the provinces of British India, which were administered by the British government, and the princely states, which were areas ruled by local monarchs given limited autonomy in exchange for accepting British suzerainty. Provincial residents were British subjects, while subjects of princely state rulers were considered British protected persons instead.Despite Britain's sovereignty over both types of holdings, domestic law in the United Kingdom treated the princely states as foreign territory. British protected persons were treated as aliens in the United Kingdom, but both Indian British subjects and protected persons could be issued British Indian passports. Protected persons could not travel to the UK without first requesting permission, but were afforded the same consular protection as British subjects when travelling outside of the Empire. A person with connections both to directly governed portions of British India and one of the princely states could be a British subject and British protected person simultaneously.
British nationality law during this time was uncodified and did not have a standard set of regulations, relying instead on past precedent and common law. Until the mid-19th century, it was unclear whether naturalisation rules in the United Kingdom were applicable in other parts of the Empire. Each colony had wide discretion in developing their own procedures and requirements for admitting foreigners as subjects. Naturalisation in Britain was achieved through individual Acts of Parliament until 1844, when a more streamlined administrative process was introduced. In 1847, the Imperial Parliament formalised a clear distinction between subjects who were naturalised in the UK and those who did so in other territories. Individuals who were naturalised in the UK were deemed to have received the status by imperial naturalisation, which was valid throughout the Empire. Those naturalised in colonies were said to have gone through local naturalisation and were given subject status valid only within the relevant territory. For example, a subject locally naturalised in Bengal was a British subject there, but not in England nor New South Wales. Like protected persons, locally naturalised British subjects were still entitled to imperial protection when travelling outside of the Empire.
The Imperial Parliament brought regulations for British subject status into codified statute law for the first time with passage of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914. British subject status was standardised as a common nationality across the Empire. This Act allowed Dominions and British India to grant subject status to aliens by imperial naturalisation, but did not prevent further grants of local naturalisation under local legislation. The continued application of local naturalisation allowed British Indian authorities to avoid adding English language requirements to the naturalisation process.
Post-independence policies
Partition and transition
into two independent nations on 15 August 1947, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. Pakistan transitionally retained the British sovereign as its head of state in the post-partition period, using its Dominion status as a deterrent against possible Indian incursion. Pakistanis continued to be British subjects until independent Pakistan enacted its own nationality legislation. Subjects of the princely states were previously considered British protected persons but lost that status when the Indian Independence Act 1947 released those states from British vassalage. The states' subsequent accession to Pakistan meant that former protected persons became British subjects of Pakistan.British subject status was reformed under the British Nationality Act 1948. The Act abandoned the common nationality used across the Empire and redefined British subject to mean any citizen of a Commonwealth country. A Commonwealth citizen was defined in this Act to have the same meaning. British subject/Commonwealth citizen status co-existed with the citizenship of each Commonwealth country. Because Pakistan had not enacted citizenship regulations by the time the 1948 Act took effect, Pakistanis were provisionally classed as "British subjects without citizenship".
The partition resulted in large-scale population movements across the new borders separating Pakistan and India. Provisions in the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 reflect this and provided a pathway for migrants to automatically acquire a status matching the country of their choice post-partition. Any individual domiciled in Pakistan automatically became a Pakistani citizen on 13 April 1951 if they were: born in Pakistan, born to at least one parent or grandparent who themself was born in Pakistan, born in India but domiciled in Pakistan, or naturalised as a British subject in Pakistan and had renounced their previous nationalities. Additionally, any other person who migrated to Pakistan from another part of the Indian subcontinent before the Act's commencement with the intention of permanently residing in Pakistan was granted citizenship.
Commonwealth citizenship
Commonwealth citizens initially continued to hold an automatic right to settle in the United Kingdom and Ireland after 1949. Non-white immigration into the UK was systemically discouraged, but strong economic conditions in Britain following the Second World War attracted an unprecedented wave of colonial migration. In response, the British Parliament imposed immigration controls on any Commonwealth citizens originating from outside the British Islands with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962. Ireland had continued to allow all British subjects free movement despite independence in 1922 as part of the Common Travel Area arrangement, but moved to mirror Britain's restriction in 1962 by limiting this ability only to people born on the islands of Great Britain or Ireland. Britain somewhat relaxed these measures in 1971 for patrials, subjects whose parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom, which gave effective preferential treatment to white Commonwealth citizens. The UK later updated its nationality law to reflect the more modest boundaries of its remaining territory and overseas possessions with the British Nationality Act 1981, which redefined the term "British subject" to no longer also include Commonwealth citizens.Under the 1951 Pakistan Citizenship Act, Commonwealth citizens were technically eligible to obtain Pakistani citizenship by registration in lieu of naturalisation, but no subsidiary legislation or regulations were published that made this pathway available. While Commonwealth citizens have a separate status within Pakistani nationality law, they are not distinguished from non-Commonwealth foreign nationals for other purposes, including immigration. Following Pakistan's withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1972, Pakistani citizens ceased to be Commonwealth citizens in British law after passage of the Pakistan Act 1973. Pakistanis reacquired this status after the country rejoined the organisation in 1989. As Commonwealth citizens, they are eligible to vote and stand for public office in the UK.