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Is my Rhodesian father British by descent?
Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:03 am
by mark2508
I am an American citizen living in California with my father who is also an American citizen.
My father was born in Rhodesia in 1940. His parents were also both born in Rhodesia.
He was issued with a British Passport in 1970.
Would it be possible for me to get a British Passport?
Your Date of Birth is needed
Posted: Tue Aug 13, 2013 5:31 pm
by VR
Mark,
When were you born?? Let us know and we will see what chances you stand?
cheers
VR
Re: Your Date of Birth is needed
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 12:49 am
by mark2508
VR wrote:Mark,
When were you born?? Let us know and we will see what chances you stand?
cheers
VR
I was born in 1975 in Utah, USA.
Can you tell me why my date of birth is relevant. I thought that my eligibility for a passport would lie with the exact nature of my father's British citizenship?
Re: Possible to tell type of Citizenship by examining passpo
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:06 am
by vinny
mark2508 wrote:It seems there are many types of Citizenship that one could have (some may be historical):
British Citizen by birth
British Citizen by descent
British Overseas Citizen
and so forth
Is it possible to determine the type of Citizenship somebody has by looking at their passport or do you have to examine supporting documentation e.g. birth certificate, parents or grandparents birth certificate etc to make a determination?
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 7:07 am
by vinny
No. It may be difficult to tell just from the passport without further documents.
Type of citizenship is also relevant for you.
If a holder was born in the UK prior to
1983, then one may deduce citizenship by birth in the UK.
However, type of citizenship, if born outside the UK, may be difficult to deduce. There may be other factors, such as parent's occupation.
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:03 am
by Amber
Sounds like the father may be a British subject. On his passport under nationality does it say British Subject?
See
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... hsubjects/ and
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... /children/ and perhaps go from there.
One more question
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:08 pm
by VR
Mark,
Apologies for the late response. Was caught up with several things. I have one more question. What kind of passport did your father hold? By this I mean what kind of stamp he had on his passport? Check the below link for the different categories (I posted for another user).
http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=142987
cheers
VR
Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:24 pm
by JAJ
Southern Rhodesia was treated as an independent Commonwealth country for nationality purposes from 1949. However, there are a number of special British nationality provisions made that affected Southern Rhodesia:
- the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1957 and its subsequent dissolution at the end of 1963; and
- following the declaration of independence in 1965, certain provisions were made to allow Southern Rhodesians become U.K. & Colonies citizens.
If a British passport was issued in 1970, it would be necessary to know (as a start) where and how it was issued, and in particular, what is said for nationality status.