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Who has the right to live in the United Kingdom? All British citizens have the right of abode in the United Kingdom. Some Commonwealth citizens also have the right of abode. If you wish to claim the right of abode, you must prove it by producing:

• a United Kingdom passport describing you as a British citizen or a British subject with the right of abode; or
• a United Kingdom identity card describing you as a British citizen or a British subject with the right of abode; or
• a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in the United Kingdom that has been issued by the Government of the United Kingdom or on its behalf What is the restrictions placed for Commonwealth Citizens to claim the right of abode?

If you were not a Commonwealth citizen on 31 December 1982 or stopped being a Commonwealth citizen (even temporarily) at any time after that date, you will not have right of abode. For example, citizens of South Africa and Pakistan do not have right of abode because those countries left the Commonwealth before 1983 and joined it again afterwards. If you gained the right of abode through marriage, as explained above, you will not be given a certificate of entitlement to right of abode if another living wife or widow of the same man:

• is (or, at any time since her marriage, has been) in the United Kingdom, unless she entered the country illegally, was here as a visitor, or had only temporary permission to stay; or
• has been given a certificate of entitlement to right of abode or permission to enter the country because of her marriage.

These restrictions do not apply if you:

• entered the United Kingdom as a wife before 1 August 1988, even if other wives of the same man are in the United Kingdom; or
• you have been in the United Kingdom at any time since your marriage and at that time you were the only wife of that man to have entered the United Kingdom or to have been given permission to do so.

This category applies mainly to people whose mothers were born in the United Kingdom but were not able to pass on their citizenship to their children born before 1983. If you were born between 7 February 1961 and 31 December 1982 and your mother was born in the United Kingdom, you may be able to register as a British citizen. For more information, see the section on children born to British mothers before 1983.

What is a Certificate to Right of Abode? A certificate of entitlement to right of abode in the United Kingdom is proof of your right to live and work in the United Kingdom without any immigration restrictions. The certificate will be issued only if you have right of abode but do not have another way of proving it, for example a United Kingdom passport or identity card showing you to be a British citizen or British subject with right of abode. The certificate is placed in a valid passport and expires when the passport expires. To have a certificate in your new passport, you must apply for one again. If you have a certificate that was issued after 21 December 2006, it can be withdrawn if we find out that you no longer qualify for one or if an official order is made to remove your right of abode.

Can I be naturalised as a British citizen? If you are over 18 and have been living in the United Kingdom for the last five years (or three years if you are married to or a civil partner of a British citizen) you may be able to apply for naturalisation as a British citizen. You may also be able to apply for naturalisation if you or your husband, wife or civil partner is in crown or designated service outside the United Kingdom. Applications for naturalisation are made using application form AN.

Can I register as a British citizen or British overseas territories citizen? You will have to meet the requirements to register as a British citizen in one of several categories, or as a British overseas territories citizen who has previously given up citizenship. You may be eligible to apply under several of the categories.

Can I register a person under 18 as a British citizen or for another form of nationality? A person under 18 can register as a British citizen, British overseas territories citizen, British overseas citizen, or British subject.

Can I register as a British citizen or for another form of British nationality if I am stateless? You can register as a British citizen, British overseas territories citizen, British overseas citizen, or British subject if you are currently stateless.

How do I give up more than one citizenship? If you are a British citizen, you may also be a British overseas territories citizen, a British national (overseas), a British overseas citizen, or a British subject. If you were a British overseas territories citizen, a British dependent territories citizen, a British national (overseas), or a British overseas citizen, and you then registered or were naturalised as a British citizen, you did not automatically lose your original citizenship and you should therefore check whether you need to give up any other citizenship you may have.

However, if you were a British subject, you lost that status when you gained another citizenship or nationality, unless you were a former citizen of Eire who had been a British subject before 1949. If you were a British dependent territories citizen only because you had a connection with Hong Kong immediately before 1 July 1997, you stopped being a British dependent territories citizen on that date.
If you became a British national (overseas), you now cannot be a British overseas territories citizen solely by connection with the former dependent territory of Hong Kong. You can be a British overseas territories citizen only if you have that citizenship by connection with another British overseas territory. (Before 26 February 2002, British overseas territories and British overseas territories citizenship were known as British dependent territories and British dependent territories citizenship.)

The process of giving up British citizenship? You can give up your British citizenship, British overseas territories citizenship, British overseas citizenship, British subject status or British national (overseas) status by completing the declaration on form RN. If you hold more than one of these citizenships, you can give them up together on one form. You will stop being a British citizen, British overseas territories citizen, British overseas citizen, British subject or British national (overseas) on the date your declaration is registered by the Home Secretary. The date will be shown on your copy of the form.

The declaration affects only your status and does not affect the status of any other member of your existing family. If we register your declaration because you expect to gain another citizenship, you must do that within six month of the registration. If you do not, the registration will not take effect and you will remain a British citizen, British overseas territories citizen, British overseas citizen, British subject or British national (overseas).

What if my application is refused? There is no appeal rights for unsuccessful applications, you would need to do further representations to the Home Office as to why the decision is not correct.

Can I be deprived of my British citizenship? Home Office may take away your British citizenship if they find that you obtained your registration or naturalisation by fraud, giving false information, or concealing facts that would have affected the Home Office decision. This is known as deprivation of citizenship.

Reasons for depriving you of citizenship might include if you:

• concealed information that might show you are not of good character, such as convictions overseas;
• obtained indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom by claiming to hold a different nationality;
• obtained citizenship as the spouse of a British citizen, but you were not validly married to that person; or
• used false documents to obtain citizenship, or cheated in the Life in the United Kingdom test.

Home Office may also take away your British citizenship if, in their opinion, it would be in the public interest for them to do so and you would not be made stateless as a result of us removing British citizenship. If you are deprived of citizenship, you stop being a British citizen on the date that a deprivation order is issued. After that you are no longer able to hold a British passport. Any rights you may have to live in the United Kingdom may also be lost. In serious cases, you may be removed from the United Kingdom.