BRITISH NATIONALITY ACT 1981
The British Nationality Act 1981 received Royal Assent on October 30 and is due to come into force on 1 January 1983 (apart from Section 49 which came into force on Royal Assent). The main provisions of the Act are summarised below.
The Act replaces the present citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies by three separate citizenships:
British citizenship for people closely connected with the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of
Man;
British Dependent Territories citizenship for people connected with the dependencies; and
British Overseas citizenship for those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who do not acquire either of the other citizenships at commencement.
The Act provides for the acquisition and renunciation of these
citizenships, and makes amendments to the Immigration Act 1971
so as to cast the right of abode in terms of the new British citizenship.
BRITISH CITIZENSHIP
All citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who have the
right of abode will acquire British citizenship automatically
at commencement, with the exception of those mentioned in the
footnote.
Footnote: A stateless person who has been registered as a citi-
zen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of his mother's citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies will acquire whichever of the 3 new citizen- ships his mother does. So those persons who have the right of abode only through their registration but whose mothers become citizens of the British Depen- dent Territories or British Overseas citizens will not become British citizens,
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