British Nationality Law - Classes of British Nationality

Classes of British Nationality

There are currently six classes of British national:

British citizens

British Citizens usually hold this status through a connection with the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man ("United Kingdom and Islands"). Former Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs) who possessed right of abode under the Immigration Act 1971 through a connection with the United Kingdom and Islands generally became British citizens on 1 January 1983.

British citizenship is the most common type of British nationality, and the only one that automatically carries a right of abode in the United Kingdom.

However, other rights can vary according to how the British citizenship was acquired. In particular there are restrictions for 'British citizens by descent' transmitting British citizenship to their children born outside the UK. These restrictions do not apply to 'British citizens other than by descent'.

British Overseas Territories citizens (formerly British Dependent Territories citizenship) (BOTC)

BOTC (formerly BDTC) is the form of British nationality held by connection with an existing overseas territory. Nearly all are now also British citizens as a result of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. It is possible to hold BOTC and British citizenship simultaneously.

British Overseas citizens (BOC)

BOCs are those former CUKCs who did not qualify for either British citizenship or British Dependent Territories citizenship. Most of these derived their status as CUKCs from former colonies, such as Malaysia and Kenya, because of various quirks and exceptions in the law that resulted in them retaining CUKC status in spite of the independence of their colonies. Note that this is fairly uncommon: most CUKCs (including those from Malaysia and Kenya) lost their CUKC status upon independence.

British subjects

British subjects (as defined in the 1981 Act) are those British subjects who were not CUKCs or citizens of any other Commonwealth country. Most of these derived their status as British subjects from British India or the Republic of Ireland as they existed before 1949.

British Nationals (Overseas) (BNO)

The status of BNO did not originally exist under the 1981 scheme, but was created by the Hong Kong Act 1985 and the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Order 1986. BNOs are those former Hong Kong BDTCs who applied for the status of BNO before the handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong BDTCs who did not apply to become BNOs, and who did not gain PRC nationality after the handover, became BOCs if they did not have any other nationality.

British protected persons (BPP)

BPPs derive from parts of the British Empire that were protectorates or protected states with nominally independent rulers under the "protection" of the British Crown – and not officially part of the Crown's dominions. The status of BPP is sui generis – BPPs are not Commonwealth citizens (British subjects, in the old sense) and were not traditionally considered British nationals, but are not aliens either.

Of the various classes of British nationality and BPP status, all except British citizenship and British Overseas Territories citizenship are residual categories. This means they become extinct with the passage of time, as they can only be passed down to the national's children in exceptional circumstances, e.g., if the child would otherwise be stateless. There is, consequently, little provision for the acquisition of these classes of nationality by people who do not already have them.

Of all the six classes of British nationality, only the status of British citizen carries with it the right of abode somewhere (in this case the UK), and all British passports include a note to this effect. However, in practice, BOTCs (except those associated with the Sovereign bases in Cyprus) were granted full British citizenship in 2002, BN(O)s have right of abode in Hong Kong, BSs and BPPs lose their statuses upon acquisition of another nationality (except BSs connected the Republic of Ireland, who have the right to live and work in the UK anyway because of EU treaties) and so should be eligible for registration as British Citizens under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.

This makes British Overseas Citizens unique in that their nationality status is not associated with the right of residence anywhere in the world.