UK Citizenship
Istvan Simon writes: Randy Black asks if my son, who was born in Cambridge, England, has the option of becoming a British Citizen upon attaining a certain age. From what I could ascertain, after researching the subject prompted by Randy's question, the answer seems to be maybe. None of the explicit rules that I found applies to him, but apparently, at the discretion of the Home Secretary, he could become a British Citizen. Here are the rules that I found which seem to be relevant. [Quote from:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/applying/british_nationality/advice_about_nationality/bn1_-_british_citizenship.html?
"5. Will a child who is born in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1983 be a British citizen? (see Chart A) (94 Kb)
The child will be a British citizen if one of his or her parents (see Note 4) is a British citizen at the time of the birth. It does not matter how the parent concerned became a British citizen. If neither parent is a British citizen, the child
will still be a British citizen if one of his or her parents is settled here (see Note 5) at the time of the birth. If neither of the child's parents is a British citizen and neither is settled in the United Kingdom, then the child will not be a
British citizen when he or she is born.
6. Will a child who is born in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1983 be able to become a British citizen if neither parent is a British citizen or settled in the United Kingdom when the child is born? Yes.
(a) If one of the parents becomes a British citizen or becomes settled in the United Kingdom, the child will be entitled to registration as a British citizen but must apply before the age of 18.
(b) If the child lives in the United Kingdom for the first 10 years of his or her life, and is not absent more than 90 days in any one of those years, he or she will be entitled to registration as a British citizen. There is no time limit for
applying.
(c) If the child is a British overseas territories citizen (see Note 3), a British Overseas citizen, a British subject under the 1981 Act, a British protected person or a British National (Overseas), he or she will be entitled to registration as a British citizen if he or she lives legally in the United Kingdom for 5 years. He or she must not be absent during those 5 years for more than 450 days and must not be absent during the last 12 months of those 5 years for more than 90 days. There is no time limit for applying.
If the child is not entitled to registration in the circumstances described above, it may still be possible to register the child as a British citizen. Registration, in this case, would beat the Home Secretary's discretion."
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