Am I a British citizen

[miRanda981]

My name is khaled xxxx & I'm newto this forum. I was wondering if am considered a British citizen. This email is quite long, but I would be more than grateful if someone can advise me on whether am considered British according to my situation.

I live in Yemen with my mother. I’m 28 years old. I have been to the UK several times. My mum has been to the UK 8 times. Her first entry was in 1983. I personally have been to the UK four times. Of all the times I have entered the UK, I entered with my mother & sister. We entered & stayed with my father because he already lived there. My sister is British, her name is Randa xxxx. She lives in Falmouth. My father is British, his name is Abdo xxx & he lives in Sheffield.

Here are the following times I’ve entered the UK:
· The 1st time was in 1988, I was 11 months old. We stayed in Cardiff for about 3 months.


· The 2nd time was in 1990. I was 2 & a half. We celebrated my 3rd birthday there. We stayed in Birmingham, but I’m not sure for how long. It was probably several months.


· The 3rd time was in 1993. We stayed in Sheffield. I was 6 years old & I attended Daniel Hill Primary school, we stayed there for about 18 months.


· The 4th time was in 1999, I stayed till Aug 2003, a little more than 4 years. We stayed in Sheffield. I attended Meadow Head school. In the summer of 1999, my father was naturalized as a British citizen. This time I personally came alone in August 2003, I was 16 at the time. My mum was already in Yemen. She went back to Yemen alone in February 2000, because my father ordered her too.



You see whenever we went back to Yemen it was because there were problems between my parents, We went back because my father ordered us too. We could’ve stayed, but unfortunately my mother didn’t know her rights or our rights. Whenever he ordered us, we just simply packed & went back to Yemen. He ordered us, & we’re in the airport within a very short time, just a couple of days. My mum wasn’t even allowed to learn English. We had to take permission to go out, to do anything for that matter.

When mum came back in Feb 2000, my father didn’t give her the passport she entered the UK with, but a new passport that he applied for from the Yemeni embassy. The reason was, he doesn’t want her to come back to the UK, because the original passport had the “ indefinite leave to remain“. He took all the possible routes to prevent my mum from ever coming back. Unfortunately my mums lack of knowledge of the English language and knowledge of her rights prevented her from knowing any of this. My mum never knew that she had a right to stay in the UK. My father hid everything from her that related to her benefit, or our benefit. He was a dictator. When my mum was ordered by my father to go back to Yemen in Feb 2000, she decided to go alone. She wanted us to stay and have a better future.Please Note that my mum was a history teacher here in Yemen. She recently retired.

After my mum left, the years my sister & I lived with my father, were the worst times in our lives. More than 3 years of we suffered mental & physical abuse. He did he’s very best to prevent us from communicating with mum. My mum even sent us letters to my school address. we secretly found out that he would hide the letters, and so we gave mum my school address.

By July 2003, my sister and I finally had the guts to run away, we took our passports and mums original passport with us, because we knew where he hid them. We stayed at a friend’s house. She was my friend from school, her name is Amy xxxx.

Within 2 weeks, the court ordered an injunction against him to stay away from us. We were finally set free.

I decided then to visit my mother in Yemen, in August 2003. I was 16 years old. My sister was supposed to visit her a month later. Unfortunately my father met me in Yemen, he knew I’d be visiting my mum. He was already in Sanaa before me. To make a long story short, he met me on the same day I arrived, he took my passport & my mums passport by force. He had some men with him, & he was violent, & in Yemen it’s a patriarchal society, the father is above the law when it comes to his children. Unfortunately I went back to Taiz in Yemen, beaten & without my passport or my mums passport, which both clarify that we have indefinite leave to remain. That was the day I knew neither will I or my mum be able to enter the UK. Fortunately I emailed my sister telling her not to come to Yemen or she’ll face the same destiny.


On that same year, while he was in Yemen, he tricked my mum into giving him her passport, the new passport she came with in Feb 2000, promising her that he’ll help her to enter the UK to see her daughter, and she believed him. He literally exploited her weak spot of not seeing her daughter.

Sadly my mum haven’t seen my sister since year 2000, which is 16 years till now. My mum haven’t seen her daughter since my sister was 18 years old, & now my sister is soon to be 35 years of age.

My sister wants to see my mum, she wants to visit her, but she fears that coming to Yemen she might face the same destiny as me, or our father might force her into something such as marriage, which he might actually do. On the other hand, my mum cant visit her daughter because its too difficult, she doesn’t even have copies of her past passport that prove she was in the UK, and so entering the UK is a very difficult process. Though she does have the passport of the 1990 entry.


I tried to email the Home Office, but to no avail, I know that I am a British citizen, because I’ve lived for 4 years after my father’s naturalization. I do have documents that prove I was in the UK, such as my RECORD OF ACHIEVMENT. My mums hospital papers when she was a patient in hospital, documents relating her doctor whenever she got treated, these kind of things.

I know it’s a long email, but I have to explain the situation clearly, & there’s no other way.

Lately, a friend has been persuading me to write an email to explain our situation, he said that he’s sure that I’m a British citizen, & my mother too.


At these times in war torn Yemen, we’ve been moving from place to place. My father hasn’t helped us to flee to another country, he doesn’t care.

Thank you

Moderator Edit: Surnames removed to protect personal privacy.

[LilyLalilu]

As your father was naturalised only after your birth, you would not automatically have become a British citizen.
You would only be British now if you were subsequently registered as a BC as a child, or naturalised later on as an adult.

[Casa]

As your father was naturalised only after your birth, you would not automatically have become a British citizen.
You would only be British now if you were subsequently registered as a BC as a child, or naturalised later on as an adult.

Also your mother would only hold British citizenship if she had applied for it, which it appears she didn't.

[miRanda981]

The thing is, I know someone living in Egypt. He became a naturalized citizen, even though his circumstances were more complicated than mine. He was naturalized by descent. He told me that since I stayed in the UK for more than 2 years since my father was naturalized (( & I stayed for more than 4 years )), then I am eligible to apply overseas to be naturalized as British citizen.

[LilyLalilu]

Sorry, but he appears to have given you incorrect advice. Maybe his circumstances were different but from what I can gather from your post you are not a British citizen, not are you currently entitled to register or naturalise.

[miRanda981]

I forgot to thank those who replied, I'm grateful. Yet I still have hope, I feel like there is something, , I'm sure.

[noajthan]

I forgot to thank those who replied, I'm grateful. Yet I still have hope, I feel like there is something, , I'm sure.

There is no nationality option based on 2 (or 4 years) residence in UK.
Many people might live in UK for 2 or 4 years, it doesn't make them British.

You need to find out under which section of British Nationality Act (BNA) you could possibly apply.
For example, Sections 6(1) and 6(2) of BNA clearly do not apply to you unless you are, as a minimum, settled in UK.