Story tools

Print this article

Email to a friend

Your feedback

The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill is currently being considered in Parliament. Within the Bill, the Government is planning to make changes to British nationality law.

One of these changes will be to amend the British Nationality Act 1981 so that children born in the United Kingdom to a parent in the armed forces will be a British citizen. This already happens, but changes to the 1981 Act will put the matter beyond doubt.

For children born overseas to those in the armed forces, the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill will insert a new section 4D into the British Nationality Act 1981.

This will provide an entitlement for children born outside the United Kingdom to register as a British citizen if:

    * he or she was born to a Foreign and Commonwealth member of the United Kingdom armed forces,
    * that parent was serving outside of the United Kingdom at the time of birth, and
    * both parents consent to the registration.

Other changes will be made to section 3(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981. At the moment children of British citizens by descent can only be registered under that section if an application is made within 12 months of the birth (or six years if the Home Secretary allows).

The proposed changes will allow an application to be made at any time before a child's eighteenth birthday. More information about registration under section 3(2) can be found in Guide MN1, which you can download from the right side of this page.

The proposed changes in the Bill will allow British nationals (Overseas) to be registered under section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981 if they do not hold any other citizenship or nationality.

A person will not qualify under this section if they have done anything after 19 March 2009 that resulted in the loss of another nationality.

More information about registration under section 4B can be found in Guide BOS, which you can download from the right side of this page.

A person who has a British mother currently has a right to register as a British citizen under section 4C of the British Nationality Act 1981 if:

    * he or she was born between 7 February 1961 and 1 January 1983; and
    * he or she would have become a British citizen if women had been able to pass on citizenship in the same way as men at that time.

If successful, this Bill will extend the provisions of section 4C to those born before 1961.

Further information about registration under section 4C can be found in Guide UKM, which you can download from the right side of this page.

The Government is also planning to make changes to the requirements for naturalisation, to introduce "Earned Citizenship".

Information about the progress of the Bill can be found on the Parliament website.