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Can anyone PLEASE assist me?

I was adopted at birth in Rhodesia in 1971 by a Scottish born Mother and Rhodesian father.

I am unsure if my adoption was UK registered.

I have my original birth and adoption certificates
indicating both parents and my adoptive Mothers identity and nationality.

I have my Mothers and both Grandparents Scottish birth certificates.

I have my adoptive parents marriage certificate

My adoptive Mother passed when I was young.

As the adopted child of a UK born mother do I have the right to claim UK citizenship by descent?

My understanding was that as a Commonwealth citizen with a British-born mother (adopted)
I already have Right of Abode in the UK but not British
citizenship.

In order to obtain British citizenship I could register under Section 4C of the British Nationality Act 1981 through my adopted mother.

This would give me British citizenship by descent which doesn’t allow me to automatically pass on my citizenship to my children subsequently born outside the UK.

However my UKM application was denied and the reason given was -

Adoption outside the UK did not confer any CUKC status whether the adoptive CUKC parent was the father or mother, and you are therefore unable to derive any status through your adoptive mother.
As the requirements for registration under section 4C are not met application falls for refusal.

Please advise if I used the incorrect Section of the Nationality Act and what I have done incorrectly resulting in this refusal.

Thanks in advance

As the adopted child of a UK born mother do I have the right to claim UK citizenship by descent?

No. I tried the same for my South African mother adopted by a British mother in 1954 and also failed for the same reasons. My mother even lived in England as a child after the adoption and the application for UKM still failed. UKM is specifically for children born abroad to British mothers who would have been able to pass their citizenship on if the rules permitted it. It does not confer the same right to adopted children who were born and adopted abroad. When we submitted the UKM application, my mother was already living in the UK on an Ancestry Visa.

Note that you do not automatically have the right of abode either.

You do however qualify for an Ancestry Visa through your British mother and British grandparents.