The Present Law
4.
The provisions of the present law which relate to people who are connected
with the United Kingdom (rather than with colonies) are:-
(a)
a child born outside the United Kingdom is a citizen by descent
if his father was one by birth, naturalisation or registration in
the United Kingdom;
(b) descent to the second and later generations depends on two things:
(i)
it can be continued to subsequent generations if
successive fathers are themselves in Crown Service
at the time of the child's birth;
(ii) in foreign countries it is possible for the child
of a male citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies
to acquire citizenship of his birth is registered,
normally within 12 months, at a British Consulate.
Citizenship can be transmitted in this way to
successive generations without limit. In 1977, 732 children of the
second and later generations acquired citizenship in this way.
This arrangement applies to births in foreign countries only, not
to births in Commonwealth countries, and has its origins
in the time when all people born in the Empire were
simply British subjects. It is relevant to note that
in a thoroughgoing review of nationality law we could
hardly justify continuing this facility in foreign
countries without extending it to independent Commonwealth
countries.
(c) under the present law, a woman born in the United Kingdom does
not transmit her citizenship to her children born outside the
United Kingdom.
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