Nationality and Borders Act 2022
| Year | 2022 |
Nationality and Borders Act 2022
2022 Chapter 36
An Act to make provision about nationality, asylum and immigration; to make provision about victims of slavery or human trafficking; to provide a power for Tribunals to charge participants where their behaviour has wasted the Tribunal’s resources; and for connected purposes.
[28 April 2022]
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
PART 1
Nationality
British overseas territories citizenship
1 Historical inability of mothers to transmit citizenship
(1) Part 2 of the British Nationality Act 1981 (British overseas territories citizenship) is amended as follows.
(2) After section 17, insert—
17A
“17A. Registration: remedying inability of mothers to transmit citizenship
(1) On an application for registration under this section, a person (“”) is entitled to be registered as a British overseas territories citizen if the following three conditions are met.
(2) The first condition is that—
(a)
(a) P would have become a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under any of the following provisions of the British Nationality Act 1948—
(i) section 5 (person born on or after 1 January 1949: citizenship by descent);
(ii) section 12(2) (person born before 1 January 1949: citizenship by descent);
(iii) section 12(3) (person born before 1 January 1949 in British protectorate etc);
(iv) section 12(4) (person born before January 1949 not becoming citizen of other country);
(v) section 12(5) (woman married before 1 January 1949 to a man who became or would have become a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies);
(vi) paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 (person born on or after 1 January 1949 to a British subject without citizenship);
had P’s parents been treated equally, by that Act or by any relevant previous provision, for the purposes of determining P’s nationality status; or
(b)
(b) P would have been a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies immediately before commencement had P’s parents been treated equally, for the purposes of determining P’s nationality status, by any independence legislation that caused P to lose that citizenship.
(3) In subsection (2)—
“” means a provision of the law that was in force at some time before 1 January 1949 which provided for a nationality status to be transmitted from a parent to a child without the need for an application to be made for the child to be registered as a person with that nationality status;
“” means an Act of Parliament or any subordinate legislation (within the meaning of the Interpretation Act 1978) forming part of the law in the United Kingdom (whenever passed or made, and whether or not still in force)—(a) providing for a country or territory to become independent from the United Kingdom, or(b) dealing with nationality, or any other ancillary matters, in connection with a country or territory becoming independent from the United Kingdom.
(4) In determining for the purposes of subsection (2) whether a person would have become a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under section 5 of the British Nationality Act 1948, the requirement that a person’s birth was registered at a United Kingdom consulate, as set out in subsection (1)(b) of that section, is to be ignored.
(5) The second condition is that, if P had become or been a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies as mentioned in subsection (2), P would at commencement have become a British Dependent Territories citizen under section 23(1)(b) or (c).
(6) The third condition is that, if P had become a British Dependent Territories citizen as mentioned in subsection (5), P would have become a British overseas territories citizen on the commencement of section 2 of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.”
(3) In section 25 (meaning of British overseas territories citizen “by descent”), in subsection (1), after paragraph (c) insert—
“(ca)
“(ca) the person is a British overseas territories citizen by virtue of registration under section 17A; or”.
2 Historical inability of unmarried fathers to transmit citizenship
(1) Part 2 of the British Nationality Act 1981 (British overseas territories citizenship) is amended as follows.
(2) After section 17A (as inserted by section 1), insert—
17B
“17B. Registration: unmarried fathers; the general conditions
For the purposes of sections 17C to 17F, a person (“”) meets the general conditions if—
(a) at the time of P’s birth, P’s mother—
(i) was not married, or
(ii) was married to a person other than P’s natural father;
(b) no person is treated as the father of P under—
(i) section 28 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, or
(ii) section 35 or 36 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008;
(c) no person is treated as a parent of P under section 42 or 43 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008; and
(d) P has never been a British overseas territories citizen or a British Dependent Territories citizen.
17C
(1) A person (“”) is entitled to be registered as a British overseas territories citizen on an application made under this section if—
(a)
(a) P meets the general conditions; and
(b)
(b) P would be entitled to be registered as a British overseas territories citizen under—
(i) section 15(3),
(ii) section 17(2),
(iii) section 17(5),
(iv) paragraph 4 of Schedule 2, or
(v) paragraph 5 of Schedule 2,
had P’s mother been married to P’s natural father at the time of P’s birth.
(2) In the following provisions of this section, “” means the provision under which P would be entitled to be registered as a British overseas territories citizen (as mentioned in subsection (1)(b)).
(3) If the relevant registration provision is section 17(2), a person who is registered as a British overseas territories citizen under this section is a British overseas territories citizen by descent.
(4) If the relevant registration provision is section 17(5), the Secretary of State may, in the special circumstances of the particular case, waive the need for any or all of the parental consents to be given.
(5) For that purpose, the “parental consents” are—
(a)
(a) the consent of P’s natural father, and
(b)
(b) the consent of P’s mother,
insofar as they would be required by section 17(5)(c) (as read with section 17(6)(b)), had P’s mother been married to P’s natural father at the time of P’s birth.
17D
(1) A person (“”) is entitled to be registered as a British overseas territories citizen on an application made under this section if—
(a)
(a) P meets the general conditions;
(b)
(b) at any time in the period after commencement, P would have automatically become a British Dependent Territories citizen or a British overseas territories citizen at birth by the operation of—
(i) section 15(1),
(ii) section 16, or
(iii) paragraph 1 of Schedule 2,
had P’s mother been married to P’s natural father at the time of P’s birth; and
(c)
(c) in a case where P would have become a British Dependent Territories citizen as mentioned in paragraph (b), P would then have automatically become a British overseas territories citizen by the operation of section 2 of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.
(2) A person who is registered as a British overseas territories citizen under this section is a British overseas territories citizen by descent if the citizenship which the person would have acquired at birth (as mentioned in subsection (1)(b)) would (by virtue of section 25) have been citizenship by descent.
(3) If P is under the age of 18, no application may be made unless the consent of P’s natural father and mother to the registration has been signified in the prescribed manner.
(4) But if P’s natural father or mother has died on or before the date of the application, the reference in subsection (3) to P’s natural father and mother is to be read as a reference to either of them.
(5) The Secretary of State may, in the special circumstances of a particular case, waive the need for any or all of the consents required by subsection (3) (as read with subsection (4)) to be given.
(6) The reference in this section to the period after commencement does not include the time of commencement (and, accordingly, this section does not apply to any case in which a person was unable to become a British Dependent Territories citizen at commencement).
17E
(1) A person (“”) is entitled to be registered as a British overseas territories citizen on an application made under this section if—
(a)
(a) P meets the general conditions;
(b)
(b) P—
(i) was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies immediately before commencement, or
(ii) would have become such a citizen as mentioned in section 17A(2)(a), or
(iii) would have been such a citizen immediately before commencement as mentioned in section 17A(2)(b);
(c)
(c) P would then have automatically become a British Dependent Territories citizen at commencement by the operation of section 23, had P’s mother been married to P’s natural father at the time of P’s birth; and
(d)
(d) P would then have automatically become a British overseas territories citizen by the operation of section 2 of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.
(2) A person who is registered as a British overseas territories citizen under this section is a British overseas territories citizen by descent if the citizenship which the person would have acquired at commencement (as mentioned in subsection (1)(c)) would (by virtue of section 25) have been citizenship by descent.
17F
(1) A person (“”) is entitled to be registered as a British overseas territories citizen on an application made under this section if—
(a)
(a) P meets the...
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