The British Nationality Act 1948 marked the first time that married British women gained independent nationality, regardless of the citizenship of their spouses.
Any person who obtains British nationality by this method is British otherwise than by descent, which means they have the same status as those born or naturalised in the UK and can pass on British nationality to their children.

Re-labelling nationalities on grounds of consistency—making every UK citizen "British", or converting each of those labelled "British" into their constituent nationalities—is strongly discouraged. [96], Law of the United Kingdom concerning citizenship and other categories of British nationality, British citizenship by birth in the United Kingdom or a qualified British Overseas Territory, Children ineligible for British citizenship at birth, For descendants of pre-1922 Irish emigrants, Differences of requirements, if applying from outside the UK, Acquisition of British Overseas Territories citizenship, Acquisition of other categories of British nationality, Persons connected with former British colonies, British Nationals (Overseas) and Hong Kong, Descendants of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, Renunciation and resumption of British nationality, Multiple nationality and multiple citizenship, Statistics on British Citizenship: 1998 to 2009. Usually this is granted provided the Secretary of State accepts the adoption is bona fide and the child would have been a British citizen if the natural child of the adopters. The Immigration Act 1971 introduced the concept of patriality, by which only British subjects (i.e. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 granted British Overseas Citizens, British Subjects and British Protected Persons the right to register as British citizens if they have no other citizenship or nationality and have not after 4 July 2002 renounced, voluntarily relinquished or lost through action or inaction any citizenship or nationality. Becoming a citizen, Life in the UK test and getting a passport, Nominating someone for an honour, setting up a charity, community participation, Petitioning the government, government statistics, national emergencies and terrorism, Register to vote, getting on the electoral register and voting by proxy. Charities, volunteering and honours Individuals may identify more closely with being "British" or with being "English", "Irish, "Northern Irish", "Scottish" or "Welsh", for example (see British people § Classification). They are not generally transmissible by descent, nor are they open to acquisition by registration, except for certain instances to prevent statelessness. However, there is no consensus on how this guideline should be applied to people from the United Kingdom.[1]. See chapter on "Legitimacy" in UK Border Agency Nationality Instructions, Volume 2, Section 2, paragraphs 1.1, 1.2 and 5.1.2 (second example). Much of Britain used Common Brittonic or related languages before migrations in Late Antiquity introduced the Germanic Anglo-Frisian languages which developed into modern Anglic languages like Scots and English via Old English. As they are possessions of the British Crown they are not sovereign nations in their own right, but they are governed by their own legislative assemblies. No specific provisions were made in the 1948 legislation for such former British subjects to acquire or otherwise resume British nationality, and hence such a person would not be a British citizen today. Only British citizens and certain Commonwealth citizens have the automatic right of abode in the UK, with the latter holding residual rights they had prior to 1983. Although holding the same nationality under the Chinese nationality law, Chinese nationals with a connection to Hong Kong or Macau have been categorised differently from Chinese nationals domiciled in Mainland China. Conduct research to be certain your choice is preferable (you can consult the guide above). [45] The UK Border Agency stated that this was occurring because of the widespread changes proposed to the immigration laws expected to take effect in late 2009.[46]. According to British nationality law there are six types of British nationality of which the main one is British citizenship. ", "Obama's secret kill list – the disposition matrix", CITIZENSHIP REMOVAL RESULTING IN STATELESSNESS - FIRST REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEWER ON THE OPERATION OF THE POWER TO REMOVE CITIZENSHIP OBTAINED BY NATURALISATION FROM PERSONS WHO HAVE NO OTHER CITIZENSHIP, DAVID ANDERSON Q.C., April 2016, "The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (Commencement No.

In 2017, British citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 173 countries and territories, ranking the British passport 4th in terms of travel freedom (tied with the Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, French, Luxembourgish, Norwegian and Singaporean passports) according to the Henley visa restrictions index. According to British nationality law there are six types of British nationality of which the main one is British citizenship[2][3]. The act doesn't detail the new immigration criteria for those people. The applicant must be of good character at the time the application is made. The powers to strip citizenship were initially very rarely used. local councils in England, Scotland, and Wales, the Governors of British Overseas Territories. In general, before 2 October 2000, any EEA citizen exercising Treaty rights in the United Kingdom was deemed "settled" in the United Kingdom.
British Overseas citizens (BOCs) do not lose their BOC status upon acquisition of another citizenship, but any entitlement to registration as a British citizen on the grounds of having no other nationality no longer applies after acquiring another citizenship. British Overseas citizens are unique in that their nationality status is not associated with a right of residence, and only certain types of BOCs are eligible to be registered as British citizens under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Where the father is not married to the mother, the Home Office usually registers the child as British provided an application is made and the child would have been British otherwise. In February 2006, in response to extensive representations made by Lord Avebury and Tameem Ebrahim,[74] British authorities announced that 600 British citizenship applications of ethnic minority children of Indian descent from Hong Kong were wrongly refused. After the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 came into force British nationals could be deprived of their citizenship if and only if the Secretary of State was satisfied they were responsible for acts seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom or an Overseas Territory. The remaining few became British Overseas citizens.

As of August 2019[update], there are six classes of British nationality.[2]. These islands included Ierne (Ireland) inhabited by the "Hiberni", and the larger insula Albionum, "island of the Albions". [6] Information is also available on provisions for reducing statelessness.[7].