British Nationality Act 1981

The British Nationality Act 1981, Chapter 61, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British nationality since 1 January 1983.

History

Further information: History of British nationality law

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:

• British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983
• Hong Kong Act 1985 and Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986
• British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990, which introduced the British Nationality Selection Scheme
• Hong Kong (War Wives and Widows) Act 1996
• British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997
• Adoption (Intercountry Aspects) Act 1999
• British Overseas Territories Act 2002
• Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002
• Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006
• Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009

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:

• British citizenship
• British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTC); and
• British Overseas citizenship.

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 either the United Kingdom or with the Crown Dependencies (that is to say, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands), or both—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.

Whilst in opposition in 1977, the Conservative Party asked Edward Gardner to chair a study group to provide advice on changes to the nationality laws. The resultant Green paper, "Who Do We Think We Are?", was published in 1980 and its threefold definition of nationality formed the basis for the Government's legislation. Originally the paper 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 (a permanent resident).

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:

• Mothers as well as fathers were allowed to pass on British citizenship to their children.
• The term Commonwealth citizen was used to replace British subject. Under the Act, the term British subject was restricted to certain persons holding British nationality through connections with British India or the Republic of Ireland before 1949.
• Right of Abode could no longer be acquired by non-British citizens. A limited number of Commonwealth citizens holding Right of Abode were allowed to retain it.
• The rights of Commonwealth and Irish citizens to become British citizens by registration were removed and instead they were to be expected to apply for naturalisation if they wanted to acquire British citizenship. Irish citizens, however, who were, or claim British subject nationality retain their right to acquire British citizenship nationality through registration.
• Special provision was made for persons from Gibraltar to acquire British citizenship.
• Women married to British men could no longer acquire British citizenship purely by marriage.
• British Crown Colonies were renamed British Dependent Territories (subsequently amended to British Overseas Territories)
• The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, references to which had been construed as references to colonies under the British Nationality Act 1948, were now to be construed as being part of the United Kingdom for nationality purposes.

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 ethnic Chinese the right of residency in the United Kingdom in the time preceding the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1985 and later the handover of Hong Kong (then the largest British colony), to the People's Republic of China 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 Islanders by the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983.

Other criticisms were leveled at the time at the removal of the automatic right to citizenship by birth in the United Kingdom. However, because 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) meant there is little pressure for any change to the current law. Similar legislation has been enacted in Australia (1986), the Republic of Ireland (2004) and New Zealand (2005).

See also

• Denaturalization laws
• British nationality law
• History of British nationality law

External links

• Text of the British Nationality Act 1981 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database (Note that this website does not always include the most recent amendments: see warning on website.)