British & Commonwealth citizens

British nationality law History of British nationality law Classes of subjects Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom concerning British citizenship and other categories of British nationality. ... This article concerns the History of British nationality law. ... British citizen British subject Commonwealth citizen British Overseas Territories citizen British Overseas citizen British National (Overseas) British protected person Commonwealth British Nationality Law ... In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. ... 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. ... // British Nationality Act 1981 The British Nationality Act 1981 came into force on 1 January 1983, and divided Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs) into three categories: British citizens CUKCs with the right of abode in the United Kingdom and Islands (i. ... In British nationality law, the status of British Overseas citizen (BOC) is one of several categories of British national. ... This article concerns matters of British nationality law in relation to Hong Kong. ... British Protected Person (BPP) is a form of British nationality under the British Nationality Act 1981. ... Republic of Ireland South African nationality law Australian nationality law History of Canadian nationality law Rights South Africa rewrote its nationality law since the end of apartheid in 1994 and the establishment of majority (i. ... Australian citizenship was created on 26 January 1949 by the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 (later renamed the Australian Citizenship Act 1948). ... Right of abode Indefinite leave to remain Belonger status Ancestry Visa Acts Indefinite Leave to Remain or 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 his stay and who is free to take up employment, without restriction. ... A legal classification normally associated with Britains Overseas Territories. ... The Ancestry Visa is a form of United Kingdom immigration status for Commonwealth citizens with a grandparent born in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. ... Ireland Act 1949 British Nationality Act 1981 Falkland Islands (1983) Overseas Territories Act 2002 Canadian Citizenship Act 1946

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 The Ireland Act 1949 is a UK Act of Parliament which was intended to deal with the consequences of the then recently passed Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament (Oireachtas). ... The British Nationality Act 1981 was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament. ... The British Overseas Territories Act 2002 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom in 2002, which superseded the British Nationality Act 1981. ... The Canadian Citizenship Act is an Act of the Government of Canada, which came into effect on July 1, 1947, recognizing the definition of a Canadian, including reference to them being British subjects. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of 53 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Canadian Citizenship Act is an Act of the Government of Canada, which came into effect on July 1, 1947, recognizing the definition of a Canadian, including reference to them being British subjects. ...

The first Commonwealth nation to have done so was the Irish Free State, a Commonwealth member until 1949, which establised its own nationality law in 1935.

Under current Canadian law, Canada recognizes and allows for dual citizenship but Passport Canada encourages its citizens to travel abroad on their Canadian Passport, so they can access Canadian consular services. Multiple citizenship is simultaneous citizenship in two or more countries (whether it is recognized by all countries or not). ... Cover of a Canadian Passport Passport Canada is an independent operating agency of the Government of Canada and Foreign Affairs Canada. ... The term Consulate can refer to: the office or the period in office of a consul a diplomatic consulate the French Consulate which governed between 1799 and 1804 a brand of menthol cigarettes Consulate This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share...

Canadian citizens and Canadian nationals (prior to 1947)

Canadian citizenship was originally created under the Immigration Act, 1910, to designate those British subjects who were domiciled in Canada. All other British subjects required permission to land. "Domicile" was defined as having been resident in Canada for five years, excluding any time spent in prisons or lunatic asylums.

A separate status of "Canadian national" was created under the Canadian Nationals Act, 1921, which was defined as being a Canadian citizen as defined above, their wifes, and any children (fathered by such citizens) that had not yet landed in Canada.

After the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, whereby each self-governing dominion of the British Empire was henceforth considered equal in status to all the others, with the Crown becoming one that is shared and operating independently in each realm rather than as a unitary British Crown under which all the dominions were subordinate, the monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution. Because of this Canadians, and others living in countries that became known as Commonwealth Realms, were known as subjects of the Crown. However in legal documents the term "British subject" continued to be used. The Statute of Westminster 1931 was the enactment of the United Kingdom Parliament (December 11, 1931) which established a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the British Empire and the United Kingdom. ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in red, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... The Commonwealth Realms, shown in pink A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth of Nations that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their Queen and head of state. ...

Prior to 1947, Canada issued two types of passports: those to Canadian nationals (coloured blue), and those to all other British subjects (coloured burgundy).

Acquisition of Canadian Citizenship (1 January, 1947)

In order to acquire Canadian citizenship on 1 January 1947 one generally had to be a British subject on that date. The phrase British subject refers in general to anyone from the UK, its colonies at the time, or a Commonwealth country.

Acquisition and loss of British subject status before 1947 was determined by United Kingdom law, although the Canadian government had the authority to confer British subject status on foreign persons through naturalisation. See History of British nationality law This article concerns the History of British nationality law. ...

Canadian citizenship was generally conferred on the following persons:

• British subjects born or naturalised in Canada
• British subjects who had resided in Canada as immigrants since 1 January 1942
• British subjects born outside Canada whose father met one of the above criteria and either were aged under 21 on 1 January 1947, or had been admitted to Canada as landed immigrants before that date
• Women who were British subjects married to Canadian men
• Those defined as Indians or Eskimos who were domiciled in Canada on 1 January 1947 (did not need to be British subjects)

Newfoundland

Newfoundland joined Confederation on 1 April 1949, having previously been a separate British dominion. Amendments were made to the Citizenship Act to confer Canadian citizenship on British subjects from Newfoundland from 1 April 1949 on broadly similar terms to those applying in the rest of Canada since 1947.

Acquisition and Loss of Canadian Citizenship (1947 to 1977)

Canadian citizenship was generally acquired as follows:

• birth in Canada (except in the case of those born to non-British diplomats)
• naturalisation in Canada after five years residence as an immigrant
• grant of citizenship to a foreign woman married to a Canadian man after one year's residence in Canada
• grant of citizenship to women who lost British subject status prior to 1947 upon marriage to a foreign man or his subsequent naturalisation
• registration of child born outside Canada to a Canadian father (in exceptional cases a Canadian mother)

Loss of Canadian citizenship generally occurred in the following cases:

• voluntary acquisition of another citizenship by a Canadian citizen aged 21 or over while outside Canada
• in the case of a person aged under 21, Canadian citizenship was lost if the responsible parent (usually the father, in exceptional cases the mother) lost Canadian citizenship and the child possessed another citizenship at the time
• naturalised Canadians who lived outside Canada for 10 years and did not file a declaration of retention (repealed 7 July 1967)
• where a Canadian had acquired that status by descent from a Canadian parent, loss of citizenship could occur on the person's 24th birthday unless the person was living in Canada on that date or had filed a declaration of retention

Although Canada restricted dual citizenship between 1947 and 1977, there were some situations where Canadians could nevertheless legally possess another citizenship. For example, migrants becoming Canadian citizens were not asked to formally prove that they had ceased to hold the nationality of their former country. Similarly children born in Canada to non-Canadian parents were not under any obligation to renounce a foreign citizenship they had acquired by descent. Holding a foreign passport did not in itself cause loss of Canadian citizenship.

Acquisition and Loss of Canadian Citizenship (from 1977)

From 15th February 1977, Canada removed restrictions on dual citizenship. Many of the provisions to acquire or lose Canadian citizenship that existed under the 1946 legislation were repealed.

Under the 1977 legislation, Canadian citizenship is acquired by:

• birth in Canada (except in cases where parents are diplomats)
• birth overseas to a Canadian parent
• naturalisation (grant) after three years residence in Canada
• notification in the case of a woman who lost British subject status by marriage before 1947
• registration in some cases of persons born outside Canada to a Canadian citizen before 15th February 1977 (these provisions were terminated on 14th August 2004).

Canadian citizens are in general no longer subject to involuntary loss of citizenship, barring revocation on the grounds of immigration fraud.

The one exception is section 8 of the Citizenship Act which applies to Canadians born outside Canada to a Canadian parent who also acquired Canadian citizenship by birth outside to a Canadian parent. Such persons lose Canadian citizenship at age 28 unless they have established specific ties to Canada and applied to retain Canadian citizenship.

Children born outside Canada to naturalised Canadian citizens are not subject to the section 8 provisions. Nor is anyone born before 15th February 1977. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizen/retention.html

Canadians and British nationality

While Canada created Canadian citizenship on 1 January 1947, the United Kingdom nationality legislation continued to grant British nationality to Canadians until 31 December 1948.

At this point, Canadian citizens generally lost British nationality unless they had specific ties to the UK & Colonies itself. However, in the intervening period some people acquired British nationality based on ties solely with Canada, while not acquiring Canadian citizenship. These included:

• women from outside the Commonwealth who married Canadian men in 1947 and 1948 who did not register as Canadian citizens before 1 January 1949.
• children born outside Canada to Canadian fathers in 1947 and 1948 who were not registered as Canadian citizens before 1 January 1949.

Additionally, some British subjects connected with Canada did not become Canadians in 1947. This includes children born outside Canada to Canadian fathers where the child was born before 1926 (hence aged over 21 on 1 January 1947) and had not been admitted to Canada as a landed immigrant before 1947.

Under the terms of section 12(4) of the British Nationality Act 1948:

• such persons acquired citizenship of the UK & Colonies (CUKC) on 1 January 1949 on the basis of being British subjects connected with Canada, if they did not have citizenship of, or connections with, another Commonwealth country or Ireland.
• where a person had connections with another Commonwealth country that had not introduced a citizenship law as of 1 January 1949, they acquired citizenship of the UK and Colonies on the date the other country introduced a citizenship law if they did not become a citizen of that country at the time
• A complication arises if the person had a connection with India or Pakistan and such a person may have remained a British subject without citizenship if he did not acquire Indian or Pakistani citizenship.

Persons acquiring CUKC would have retained it upon a later acquisition of Canadian citizenship. However they would only be British citizens today if they had obtained a 'right of abode' in the UK under the terms of the Immigration Act 1971, such as by having a UK-born grandparent. Otherwise they would be British Overseas citizens.

British subjects without citizenship would have retained that status only if they did not acquire a Commonwealth nationality (or Irish citizenship) before 1983, or any citizenship from 1983 or later.

British Overseas citizens and British subjects may register as British citizens if they have no other nationality (and have not lost another nationality since 4 July 2002), but otherwise do not have an automatic right to live in the United Kingdom.

See also

• Canadian immigration law
• Canadian nationality law