Immigrationboards.com

Hi all:

I am an US/EU citizen and I am trying to find a way to get my wife British citizenship. Her maternal grandmother was born in the UK and immigrated to the United States. She married an American. My wife' s mother was born in 1956 and my wife was born in 1985. Does anybody know if the Romein decision impacts this fact pattern at all? I think my wife's mother would clearly qualify for British citizenship, but I am more interested in my wife (even if that means my wife's mother would have to obtain British citizenship to get it).

Thanks.

The Romein judgment/decision would be irrelevant to the discussion as it only applies to people born before 1983. As your wife was born in 1985, it does not apply.

Your wife's mother may be able to apply for British citizenship on Form UKM. More research may be required on that.

Also see my reflections (in another thread) on acquiring British citizenship by descent.

The UK's immigration and citizenship system is strongly based on long-term residency within the UK, rather than having generations of citizens abroad who have no direct residential/live-in connection with the UK.

I understand that. The Petitioner in Romein was a woman born in the U.S to an American father and South African mother, who had U.K. citizenship through her father. In 1978, when she was born, her mother was unable to register her as a U.K. citizen at the consulate simply because the only claim to citizenship was through a woman. At least in my mind, it kind of stands to reason that the discrimination, while lawful at the time, would have a ripple effect through not only my mother-in-law's generation, but also my wife's. I'm having a hard time understanding why the Romein logic wouldn't be applied to my wife who, while born after 1983, was born to mother who was legally ineligible to register as a British citizen purely based on discrimination.

The basis of the Romein judgment was the nationality law between 1948 and 1983, where CUKC fathers could transmit their CUKC citizenship to their children born abroad indefinitely if the birth of each generation was registered with the British diplomatic authorities before the child's first birthday.

The Romein judgment considered that even if CUKC mothers tried to register their children with the British diplomatic authorities, as CUKC fathers could, it is likely that the diplomatic authorities either refused or did not have a procedure in place for this request.

So, that judgment tries to right that wrong by essentially directing the government to assume that such a registration was made for the children of CUKC mothers.

In 1983, the law changed significantly. After 1st January 1983, the children of both British fathers and British mothers born overseas were treated the same. Now, both British fathers and British mothers could transmit British citizenship only one generation abroad, except if they met certain conditions before the child's 18th birthday (registration under either Section 3(2) or Section 3(5)).

So, even if your mother-in-law was a British citizen by descent at the time of birth of your wife, your wife could not acquire British citizenship from her. And that would have been the case even if she had a British citizen by descent father.

So, in a sense, even if there had been no discrimination against your mother-in-law, your wife would still not have acquired British citizenship.