British nationality law
The primary legislation governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Its provisions apply to the British Islands and the 14 British Overseas Territories.
The six classes of British nationality provide differing levels of civil and political rights, reflecting the United Kingdom's historical legacy as a colonial power. The primary form is British citizenship, which is linked to the British Islands and confers full rights. Those connected with a current overseas territory are classified as British Overseas Territories citizens, and since 2002, nearly all BOTCs, except those associated solely with Akrotiri and Dhekelia, have also held British citizenship. Other residual forms of British nationality generally linked to former colonies and now largely closed to new acquisition include the statuses of British Overseas citizen, British subject, British National and British protected person. These categories do not confer automatic right of abode in the United Kingdom and offer limited entitlements.
All individuals born in the British Islands prior to 1 January 1983 were automatically granted British citizenship by birth, irrespective of their parents' nationalities. To become a British Citizen under the 1981 Act, it was necessary to hold Citizenship of the UK and Colonies as well as Right of abode in the United Kingdom on 31 December 1982, without which a person would either hold British Overseas Territory citizenship, or British Overseas citizenship.
Since that date, birthright citizenship in those territories has been limited to children with at least one parent who is either a British citizen or holds settled status in the United Kingdom. Foreign nationals may apply to naturalise as British citizens after fulfilling a minimum residence requirement, typically five years, and obtaining settled status.
The United Kingdom was formerly a member of the European Union, and during its membership, British citizens were also EU citizens. This conferred automatic and permanent rights to live and work in any EU or European Free Trade Association country, along with the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament. Although the United Kingdom left the EU in 2020 following Brexit, British citizens retain permanent rights to live and work in the Republic of Ireland through the Common Travel Area arrangement.
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 to a person's legal belonging to a sovereign state and is the common term used in international treaties when addressing members of a country, while citizenship usually means the set of rights and duties a person has in that nation. This distinction is clearly defined in many non-English speaking countries but not in the Anglosphere.Historically, an individual associated with Britain was neither a national nor a citizen, but a British subject. British citizenship was not created until passage of the British Nationality Act 1981. This Act defined six types of nationality dependent on a person's connections with the United Kingdom, overseas territories, or former colonies.
British citizens hold their status because of a close connection with the British Islands, usually through their own birth, adoption, naturalisation, or registration as citizens of the UK. This was defined as right of abode by the Immigration Act 1971.
Types of British nationality
There are six types of British nationality:- British citizen
- British Overseas Territories citizen
- British Overseas citizen
- British National
- British subject
- British protected person
The other four categories are residual nationality classes that generally cannot be acquired. BOCs are people connected with former British colonies who have no close ties to the UK or overseas territories. Many such people were descendants of Indian-born British subjects who had migrated to African countries and could not obtain local citizenship; as they did not hold right of abode, they did not become British citizens.
British subjects hold their status through a connection either to former British India or to what became the Republic of Ireland, as they existed before 1949; as they did not hold right of abode, they also did not become British citizens.
British protected persons come from areas controlled by the British Empire that were never formally incorporated as Crown territory; this includes protectorates, protected states, mandated territories, and Indian princely states. It is only possible to retain this status if a person has not gained any other nationality since August 1978. BNs are Hong Kong residents who voluntarily registered for this status before the territory's transfer to China in 1997.
History
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 passage of the Acts of Union 1707, English and Scottish subjects became British subjects. Similarly, the Kingdom of Ireland was merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Natural-born subjects were considered to owe perpetual allegiance to the Crown and could not voluntarily renounce British subject status until this was first permitted in 1870.Prior to 1708, foreigners could only be naturalised through Acts of Parliament. Protestants fleeing religious persecution in mainland Europe were allowed to naturalise as subjects in 1708, but this was quickly repealed in 1711 in response to the number of migrants exercising that ability. A standard administrative process was not introduced until 1844, when applicants were first able to acquire naturalisation grants from the Home Office. Despite the creation of this pathway, personalised naturalising legislation continued to be enacted until 1975.
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 the United Kingdom were applicable elsewhere in the British Empire. Individual colonies had each developed their own procedures and requirements for naturalisation, granting subject status at the discretion of the 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 who naturalised in the UK were deemed to have received the status by imperial naturalisation, which was valid throughout the Empire. Those naturalising in colonies were said to have gone through local naturalisation and were given subject status valid only within the relevant territory; a subject who locally naturalised in Canada was a British subject there, but not in England or New Zealand. When travelling outside of the Empire, British subjects who were locally naturalised in a colony were still entitled to imperial protection.
Certain territories that came under British jurisdiction were not formally incorporated as Crown territory proper. These included protectorates, protected states, mandated territories, and Indian princely states. Because domestic law treated these areas as foreign territory, 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. British protected persons were treated as aliens in the United Kingdom, but both British subjects and protected persons could be issued British 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.
Imperial common code
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. Dominions that adopted Part II of this Act as part of local legislation were authorised to grant subject status to aliens by imperial naturalisation.The 1914 regulations codified the doctrine of coverture into imperial nationality law, where a woman's consent to marry a foreigner was also assumed to be intent to denaturalise; British women who married foreign men automatically lost their British nationality. There were two exceptions to this: a wife married to a husband who lost his British subject status was able to retain British nationality by declaration, and a British-born widow or divorcée who had lost her British nationality through marriage could reacquire that status without meeting residence requirements after the dissolution or termination of her marriage.
By the end of the First World War, the Dominions had exercised increasing levels of autonomy in managing their own affairs and each by then had developed a distinct national identity. 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. Full legislative independence was granted to the Dominions with passage of the Statute of Westminster 1931.
Women's rights groups throughout the Empire pressured the imperial government during this time to amend nationality regulations that tied a married woman's status to that of her husband. Because the government could no longer enforce legislative supremacy over the Dominions after 1931 and wanted to maintain a strong constitutional link to them through the common nationality code, it was unwilling to make major changes without unanimous agreement among the Dominions on this issue, which it did not have. Imperial legal uniformity was nevertheless eroded during the 1930s; New Zealand and Australia amended their laws in 1935 and 1936 to allow women denaturalised by marriage to retain their rights as British subjects, and Ireland changed its regulations in 1935 to cause no change to a woman's nationality after her marriage.