(iii) citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies from overseas who were at one time settled in the United Kingdom and resident here for five years, but who could not meet the residence qualifications for British Citizenship.
Although it is intended that only British Citizens should have the right of entry to the United Kingdom, there might be a case for making some exceptions for the people in these groups and allowing them to retain their present right of entry for their lifetimes.
British Citizenship and the right of free movement within the European Community 30. The establishment of a British Citizenship would make it necessary to re-examine in consultation with our partners, the present definition of United Kingdom national for European Community purposes. If the transitional arrangements suggested above were to be enacted, there would be some people who would become British Citizens but who have not the right of free movement under the definition now in force. These would include those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, British Protected Persons and British Subjects without Citizenship, who have been resident in the United Kingdom for less than five years and are settled here.
Permanent arrangements
31. These would be the arrangements for acquiring British Citizenship by birth, descent or a voluntary act such as applying for naturalisation, once a new scheme of citizenship had come into force. There is a wide range of possible courses to be considered. Some ideas are set out below.
(a) Citizenship by birth
32. The United Kingdom, in common with the USA, Latin American and many Commonwealth countries, at present confers citizenship on everyone who is born in the United Kingdom (or indeed in the Colonies), irrespective of their parents' citizenship. In contrast, Continental countries confer their citizenship on those born in their territories only if the child's parent is himself (or herself) a citizen of the country. These two methods of conferring citizenship are known respectively as the ius soli and the ius sanguinis.
33. The ius soli method-traditionally used in the United Kingdom-is simple and inclusive. Anyone who is born here is a citizen unless his father is a diplomat of another country. This encourages the integration of people from abroad. The child born here to, say, Polish or Indian parents is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies from birth; he is encouraged in this way to identify himself with this country. Under the ius sanguinis method he would have to take his parent's nationality, and could acquire our citizenship only by some voluntary act, such as naturalisation. It is possible, under such a system, for successive generations to live in a country and never become citizens.
34. On the other hand, some people might think that the ius soli method is too generous. It confers citizenship indiscriminately on all who happen to be born here, even if, for instance, the mother is en route elsewhere. The problems caused by transient visitors can, however, be exaggerated; a child born here by accident is not likely, by and large, to exercise his claim to our citizenship. But it is true that we confer citizenship on children who, though born here, may
14
be brought up and live their lives abroad, and on children whose parents, though entirely unconnected with the United Kingdom, have arranged for the child to be born here to acquire citizenship for its possible usefulness later. On the whole the Government consider that the simplicity and inclusiveness of the ius soli method outweighs its drawbacks.
(b) Citizenship by adoption
35. Under the Adoption Acts 1958 and 1964 a child who is adopted in the United Kingdom (including, for this purpose, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) automatically becomes a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies if the person adopting the child is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies, or in the case of a joint adoption, the man is such a citizen.
36. This principle might well be carried over into a new British Citizenship. But in the case of a joint adoption, it should suffice if either parent was a British Citizen. This would be in line with the Government's general policy of working towards equal treatment of the sexes.
(c) Citizenship by descent
37. Under United Kingdom law, as mentioned above, everyone who is born here is automatically a citizen. So the only people who are citizens by descent in our law are people born abroad who have some link with this country through their fathers, which gives them a claim to our citizenship. In looking to the future, there are two main issues to be considered. First, whether the present inability of a woman to transmit her citizenship to her children born abroad is justified. Second, how far citizenship by descent should be allowed to go that is, how many successive generations born abroad should be allowed to have our citizenship.
Descent through the female line
38. In the past, nearly all countries allowed only men citizens to transmit their citizenship to their children born abroad. This was based on two arguments. First, countries were reluctant to see dual nationality proliferate—as would happen when nationals of two countries married and both were able to transmit their citizenship to their children. Second, in such "mixed" marriages it was thought that the man's occupation was crucial in deciding where the family would live. The man would tend to work in his own country rather than his wife's; the family home would therefore be established there; the children of the marriage would grow up there and would inevitably associate themselves more strongly with their father's country than with their mother's.
39. As to the first of these arguments, the United Kingdom has adopted a very tolerant attitude to dual nationality. The second argument is certainly no longer so powerful or so generally accepted. Family patterns are altering; the woman's interests can be as important as the man's in deciding where the family home should be; in any case, families are more mobile. These changes have led a number of countries, including West Germany, Canada and the USA, to permit their women citizens to transmit their citizenship on broadly the same terms as men. In the United Kingdom much has been done to end discrimination on grounds of sex, and the Government consider that the opportunity should be taken to do so in nationality law, by changing the rules for citizenship by descent in a new scheme of citizenship.
15