on the same terms as men, but it is doubtful whether this increase would justify a complete ban on dual nationality, with all its attendant problems. After all, most of the children born abroad to British women would probably decide for themselves which nationality they wanted to use.
64. A ban on dual nationality where it arises from a voluntary act would not present so many problems. It could indeed be part of the clearer and better defined British Citizenship for which we are aiming. Some foreign and Common- wealth citizens might be reluctant to give up their citizenship on acquiring ours, though at present many do so automatically under their own country's laws, but it would be difficult to justify setting a more severe standard for our own citizens who want to acquire a foreign or Commonwealth citizenship than for foreign and Commonwealth nationals who want to acquire our citizenship. We should require the same degree of commitment from both groups.
65. Some concessions, however, might perhaps be made in connection with marriage, so that, for instance, those who apply for British Citizenship, or acquire another by virtue of marriage, might be allowed to keep both their citizenships (provided the laws of the other country concerned permit this). Such persons would then still have the right of entry to their country of origin if the marriage failed.
(f) Civic privileges
66. An important aspect of citizenship is the privileges associated with it. In this country the common status of British subject, held in our law not only by citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies but by all other Commonwealth citizens, carries with it voting and other privileges. There are also special arrangements for citizens of the Irish Republic. Such privileges do not stem directly from the law of nationality and so are not dealt with in this document.
A BRITISH OVERSEAS CITIZENSHIP
Transitional arrangements
67. The core of this status would be those who have ties with an existing dependency. The status might therefore be conferred in the first place on those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies born, naturalised or registered in an existing dependency, or whose fathers were so born, naturalised or registered. Some of these people might be eligible for British Citizenship too, in one of the ways described in paragraphs 19-23; but in general only British Overseas Citizens would have a right of entry to a dependency so it is important that any British Citizen suitably connected with a dependency should hold British Overseas Citizenship as well in order to secure his right of entry there.
68. The transitional arrangements would also have to cover all other citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who do not become British Citizens. These hold their present citizenship for a variety of reasons. Some have con- nections with the United Kingdom or existing dependencies, but of so remote a nature as not to bring them within the qualifications for British Citizenship, or those for British Overseas Citizenship suggested in paragraph 67. Most people in this group, however, would have acquired citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies through their links with a former dependency, and
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would have no links by birth or ancestry with either the United Kingdom or an existing dependency.
69. One other group of people eligible to hold British passports might also become British Overseas Citizens. These are British Protected Persons who are connected with former dependencies and who would not become British Citizens; nearly all of them would be living overseas.
70. The creation of a British Overseas Citizenship with no right of entry into the United Kingdom would not affect the responsibility which the Government have assumed towards holders of United Kingdom passports from East Africa, and the special voucher scheme would continue.
Permanent arrangements
Linking the citizenship to the right of entry to a dependency
71. The arrangements for acquiring British Overseas Citizenship after a new citizenship scheme came into force-by birth, descent or voluntary act-might be so drawn that we would eventually reach a state of affairs in which British Overseas Citizenship would be derived solely from connection with the dependencies which still exist, and would confer the right of entry to one of them. If this were not done, there would still be many British Overseas Citizens scattered over the world in a hundred years' time with the right of entry neither to the United Kingdom nor to a dependency. The rules for acquiring and transmitting British Overseas Citizenship would have to take account of the difficulties faced by dependencies and the pressure on their resources, which means that they can give the right of entry only to those who have very close ties with them. They could not radically alter these arrangements; there could not, for example, be an understanding that a British Overseas Citizen could go to live in any dependency he might choose unless he had such ties with it. 72. Accordingly, it seems inevitable that the standards for British Overseas Citizenship should differ from those for British Citizenship. British Citizenship could not be adjusted so as to follow the limits proposed for British Overseas Citizenship; the shape of British Citizenship could hardly be determined by the limits placed by dependencies on those with a right of entry to them. On the other hand it would be fruitless to provide that British Overseas Citizenship should follow British Citizenship in all respects. To do so would simply mean that some people who would acquire British Overseas Citizenship, for example through birth to a woman from a dependency, would find that they had no right of entry to the dependency from which their status was derived. Moreover, if British Overseas Citizenship is to be confined to those who "belong" to the dependencies, the arrangements for holding it must reflect the outlook and attitudes of the peoples of the dependencies, and these are bound to differ from those of the people of the United Kingdom.
73. In general, therefore, the long-term aim ought to be to confine British Overseas Citizenship to those with a right of entry to a dependency. To take first of all the arrangements for transmission of citizenship, it ought not to pass automatically to a child born outside a dependency unless the father is a citizen by birth, registration or naturalisation in an existing dependency. This would, of course, mean that some British Overseas Citizens would be able to transmit citizenship to their children while others would not. There could be some minor exceptions to the general rule. For example, it might be right to include
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