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British Nationality Act 1981

British & Commonwealth
citizenship
Commonwealth nationality laws
British (history)
Australian
Barbadian
Canadian (history)
Indian
Malaysian
Maltese
New Zealand
Singaporean
South African
Irish citizens in the UK
Classes of citizens and subjects
British citizen
British subject
British Overseas Territories citizen
British Overseas citizen
British National (Overseas)
British protected person
Commonwealth citizen
Rights and visas
Right of abode
Indefinite leave to remain
Permanent resident (Australia)
Permanent resident (Canada)
Belonger status
UK Ancestry Entry Clearance
Acts
Ireland Act 1949
British Nationality Act 1981
Falkland Islands (1983)
Overseas Territories Act 2002
Canadian Citizenship Act 1946
The British Nationality Act 1981 was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament concerning British nationality. It has been the basis of British nationality law since 1 January 1983.

Main article: History of British nationality law

History

In the mid-1970s the British Government decided to update the nationality code, which had been significantly amended since the British Nationality Act 1948 came into force on 1 January 1949. In 1977, a Green Paper was produced outlining options for reform of the nationality code. This was followed in 1980 by a White Paper containing the government's specific plans for change. The British Nationality Act 1981 received Royal Assent on 30 October 1981 and came into force on 1 January 1983.

Subsequently, the British Nationality Act has been significantly amended, including:

Objectives of the Act

The Act had a number of purposes.

Reclassification of United Kingdom and Colonies citizenship

The Act reclassified Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC) into three categories: Since 1962, with the passage of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, not all CUKCs had the Right of Abode in the United Kingdom. The Act sought to restore once again the link between citizenship and right of abode by providing that British citizenship - held by those with a close connection with the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands - would automatically carry a right of abode in the UK. The other categories of British nationality would not hold such status based on nationality, although in some cases would do so under the immigration laws.

The Green Paper of 1977 originally proposed just two categories of British nationality, British citizenship and British Overseas citizenship. However, the British Dependent Territory governments successfully lobbied for an additional category of nationality which would cater for those with close connections to any of the British territories.

Modification of Jus soli

The Act also modified the application of Jus soli in British nationality. Prior to the Act coming into force, any person born in Britain (with limited exceptions such as children of diplomats and enemy aliens) was entitled to British Citizenship. After the Act came into force, it was necessary for at least one parent of a United Kingdom-born child to be a British citizen or "settled" in the United Kingdom (permanent resident).

As a result, even following the coming into force of the Act, the vast majority of children born in the United Kingdom still acquire British citizenship at birth. Special provisions are made for non-British UK born children to acquire British citizenship in certain circumstances.

Other changes

The Act made a variety of other changes to the law: In some cases, transitional arrangements were made that preserved certain aspects of the old legislation. Most of these expired on 31 December 1987, five years after the Act came into force.

Criticisms

Critics argued that one of the main political motivations behind the new law was to deny most Hong Kong-born Chinese people the right of residency in the United Kingdom in the time preceding the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1985 and later the hand-over of Hong Kong (then the largest British Colony), to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. However, persons from Hong Kong had lost the automatic right to live in the United Kingdom in 1962 and the Act did not change the substance of that fact.

The act is also seen as a minor factor in precipitating the Falklands War, as Argentina apparently saw the move as a sign of disengagement of the United Kingdom from its Falklands dependency . After the war, full British citizenship was granted to the Falkland Islands.

Other criticisms were levelled at the time at the removal of the automatic right to citizenship by birth in the United Kingdom. However, due to the fact that UK-born children of permanent residents are automatically British, the number of non-British children born in the United Kingdom is relatively small. Special provisions made in the Act for those who do not have another nationality, and for those who lived a long time in the United Kingdom, have meant there is little pressure for any change to the current law. Similar legislation has been enacted in Australia (1986), Republic of Ireland (2005) and New Zealand (2006).

See also

British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom concerning British citizenship and other categories of British nationality. The law is complex due to the United Kingdom's former status as an imperial power.
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This article concerns the History of British nationality law.

Early British nationality law

British nationality law has its origins in mediæval times. There has always been a distinction in English law between the subjects of the monarch and aliens: the monarch's subjects
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Australian citizenship was created on 26 January 1949 by the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 (later renamed the Australian Citizenship Act 1948). However, Australian citizens continued to be British subjects and other British subjects in Australia had a different
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Barbados achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966 as a commonwealth with HM the Queen Elizabeth II remaining the head of state. However, the entire role and responsibility of the Queen is vested in the Governor-General of Barbados.
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Canadian citizenship may be granted to any person by the Governor General, on the advice of the Cabinet,[1] however it is typically obtained by birth in Canada (other than as a child of a foreign diplomat), by birth abroad, when at least one parent is a Canadian
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Canada was the second nation in the then British Commonwealth to establish its own nationality law in 1946, with the enactment of the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946. This took effect on 1 January 1947
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Indian citizenship/nationality law: The Constitution of India provides for a single citizenship for the entire country. The provisions relating to citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution are contained in Articles 5 to 11 in Part II of the Constitution of India.
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Malaysia Citizenship Rules 1964.

Requirements



The criteria to be a Malaysian citizen are
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Maltese nationality law is based primarily on the principles of Jus sanguinis, although prior to 1 August 1989 the principle of Jus soli was the basis of the law.
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New Zealand citizenship was created on 1 January, 1949, by the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948. Prior to this date New Zealanders were British subjects and New Zealand had the same nationality legislation as the United Kingdom and other
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Singaporean nationality law is derived from the Constitution of Singapore and is based on jus sanguinis and a modified form of jus soli. There are four ways of acquiring Singaporean citizenship: by birth, by descent, by registration or by naturalisation.
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    ^]]  South African Government Services: Application for dual nationality
  • South African Department of Home Affairs: citizenship forms

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This article concerns British nationality law in respect of citizens of the Republic of Ireland.

When the Irish Free State (known in the United Kingdom as "Éire" between 1937 and 1949) ceased to be part of the United Kingdom in 1922, no specific problem of
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British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom concerning British citizenship and other categories of British nationality. The law is complex due to the United Kingdom's former status as an imperial power.
..... Click the link for more information.
In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.
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The status of British Overseas Territories citizen relates to persons holding British nationality by virtue of a connection with a British Overseas Territory

British Nationality Act 1981


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In British nationality law, the status of British Overseas citizen (BOC) is one of several categories of British national.

British Nationality Act 1981

The British Nationality Act 1981 came into force on 1 January 1983, and divided Citizens of the United Kingdom and
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British nationality law as it pertains to Hong Kong has been a unique situation ever since it was created a British colony in 1842. With its beginning as a trading port to today's cosmopolitan international financial centre, the territory has attracted refugees, immigrants
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The status of British protected person (BPP) is a status held by certain persons under the British Nationality Act 1981. It is not traditionally considered a form of British nationality - as British protected persons are not Commonwealth citizens in British nationality law, they
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A Commonwealth citizen, formerly known as a British subject, is generally a person who is a national of any country within the Commonwealth of Nations.

In British nationality law, a Commonwealth citizen is a person who is either a British citizen, British Overseas
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Right of Abode is a status under United Kingdom immigration laws that gives an unrestricted right to live in the United Kingdom. It was introduced by the Immigration Act 1971.

British citizens

All British citizens have the Right of Abode in the United Kingdom.
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Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) is an immigration status granted to a person who does not hold right of abode in the United Kingdom, but who has been admitted to the UK without any time limit on their stay and who is free to take up employment or study, without restriction.
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Australian permanent residents are residents of Australia who hold permanent residency visas but are not citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Holders of permanent residency visas may remain in Australia indefinitely.
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A Permanent Resident in Canada is someone who is not a Canadian citizen and who has been granted permission to live and work in Canada without any time limit on his or her stay. A permanent resident must live in Canada for two years out of every five or risk losing that status.
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Belonger status is a legal classification normally associated with British overseas territories. It refers to people who have close ties to a specific territory, normally by birth and/or ancestry.
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A UK Ancestry Entry Clearance often referred to as an "Ancestry Visa" is a United Kingdom Entry Clearance for Commonwealth citizens with a grandparent born in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man who wish to work in the United Kingdom.
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The Ireland Act 1949 is a British Act of Parliament which was intended to deal with the consequences of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament (Oireachtas). The act is still largely in force but has been amended.
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The British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983 (1983 c. 6) was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament and came into force on January 1, 1983. The purpose of the Act was to grant British citizenship to residents of the Falkland Islands, a British
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The British Overseas Territories Act 2002 (2002 c. 8) is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom in 2002, which superseded the British Nationality Act 1981. It makes provision for the renaming of the British Dependent Territories
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The Canadian Citizenship Act is an Act of the Government of Canada, which came into effect on January 1, 1947, recognizing the definition of a Canadian, including reference to them being British subjects.
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