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a father born in present day Mauritius or the Chagos) in the
same way as through a connection with the United Kingdom. On
8 November 1965 the Chagos Archipelago was transferred to form
part of the new colony of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Thus before Mauritian independence on 12 March 1968 Mauritius
and the Archipelago were each part of the United Kingdom and
Colonies for the purposes of the 1948 Act and CUKC status was
acquired by virtue of a connection with either. On 12 March
1968 persons who, or whose fathers, had been born, registered or
naturalised before that date in Mauritius, as constituted before
BIOT was formed, automatically became citizens of Mauritius
under section 20 of the Constitution. Thus persons born, or
whose fathers were born, in the Chagos Islands before Independence Day became citizens of Mauritius.
10. When a Dependent Territory attained independence before 1 January 1983, UK legislation normally provided for citizenship
of the United Kingdom and Colonies to be lost by persons who
acquired citizenship of the newly independent country, unless they possessed one or more of specified connections with the United Kingdom or a remaining colony. Accordingly those with a
connection with the Chagos (or BIOT as it had become) retained
their CUKC status and became dual UK-Mauritius citizens.
11.
Persons born in the Chagos Archipelago after the independence of Mauritius became CUKCS. Of these, those whose
fathers were also born in the Chagos would normally have become mono-CUKCS and subsequently mono-British Dependent Territories
citizens under the British Nationality Act 1981. Those whose
fathers were born in Mauritius became dual UK-Mauritius citizens
and would now be dual Mauritius-British Dependent Territories
citizens.
12. It seems likely that most of the Ilois, certainly those
born before 12 March 1968, are now dual Mauritius-British
Dependent Territories citizens. Most of the contract workers
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