UKM Query, SA born mother.

[Jessedi]

Hi there, I was hpoing to apply for UK citizenship under UKM but am unsure if I meet all the requirements.

My situation is this:

My maternal grandparents were born in the UK and emigrated to South Africa while it was still a dominion in 1948.

My mother was born in 1952 in SA and registered at the British High Commission.

I was born in 1982 and my mother tried to register me at the British High Commision within a year of my birth but was refused by the staff as at that time women couldn't.

At the time of my birth my mother was a CUKC with ROA.

She is still a UK citizen with ROA.

I have her old passport from 1976 showing this, as well as my grandparent's original birth certificates and a copy (but no original) of their marriage certificate.

So I am unclear whether I meet the requirements for UKM, in particular the second requirement. I haven't had much luck finding out what the legal status of a "dominion" was. Also I'm not sure if my mother's registration at birth is valid as the registration required to fulfil requirement 2.

Any advice would be welcome.

[newperson]

Unless your maternal grandparents were on official UK government business in South Africa (i.e., Crown service) at the time of your mother's birth, your mother is British by descent. The provisions of UKM are mainly for those children of mothers who are themselves British otherwise than by descent (i.e., via naturalisation or the mother's birth in the UK).

People who are British by descent cannot pass that nationality on to their children unless he/she (i.e., the British by descent parent) has lived in the UK for at least three years prior to his/her child's birth. Before 2009, this registration also had to be applied for within a year of the child's birth. It is now before the child's 18th birthday. Children registered in this manner were themselves deemed British by descent.

Your mother does not appear to have lived in the UK for three years prior to your birth in South Africa in 1982. This would likely have been another reason for the refusal at the time, not to mention the issues surrounding mothers passing along their nationality to their foreign-born children.

Unless there is some other information you have not shared, you are not British. You are also not entitled to be registered as British under any previous or current rules.

You may, however, apply for a UK ancestry visa based on the connection to your UK-born maternal grandparents. On that route, you may feasibly become British after six years' residency in the UK. Until you become British, however, the ability to live and work in Europe is limited to just the UK.

For more information:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas ... -ancestry/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_na ... by_descent

[Jessedi]

I was not sure if SA fell under the territories mentioned in requirement 2(b)(i), or what the registration requirement meant.

Thanks for clearing it up for me.

[newperson]

I was not sure if SA fell under the territories mentioned in requirement 2(b)(i), or what the registration requirement meant.

Thanks for clearing it up for me.

Following the activation of the British Nationality Act 1948 on 1 January 1949, South Africa (as well as the other Dominions) were henceforth treated as independent, sovereign nations for UK nationality purposes.