Mother born as CUKC when father was in Crown Service

[anjanasanjith]

1. Grandfather was employed from 1947 - 1971 with Crown Service as Clerk in Singapore. We have original certificates from HM MOD for his 20 years service and retirement. He was born in India in 1925, but never a citizen here as he left for Singapore in the end of 1946 and joined the British Army in Colony of Singapore in 1947 as a clerk.
2. My mother was born in 1956 in the colony of Singapore and her original birth certificate refers to grandfather as a CUKC. She was a Singapore passport holder till 1980 and then changed citizenship to Indian. She on her own would lose her CUKC status due to Malaysia Act in 1963. But since her father was in 'Crown Service/armed forces' and if 'registered' she could have retained the status?
3. As per a 'copy of a confirmation of registration' issued by the BHC in Singapore, in 1968, grandfather registered as a CUKC in the British high commission and he was a British Citizen with the right to abode since then - but never lived in the UK died in India in 1981.
4. We are trying to establish if my mother can qualify for automatic acquisition - not by descent and I can qualify for registration.
5. I am based in India (Indian citizen), born in 1978 when my grandfather was still alive as a British Citizen.

Some initial questions I have:

Would his employment with Crown Service be considered to be a 'connect to the UK'? As a CUKC he might have registered only locally in the colony of Singapore and not in the UK before my mothers birth.
If he registered only locally in Colony of Singapore before mothers birth and then registered in UK (high commission) prior to the BNA 1971, does that help in anyway?
Or none of the above matters unless he actually registered in UK (and not colony) before my mothers birth.

[secret.simon]

Your mother likely retained her CUKC status because of Section 2, Schedule 1 of the Malaysia Act 1963.

2) A person shall not cease to be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under section 2(2) of this Act if he was born in a protectorate or protected state, or if his father or his father's father was so born and is or at any time was a British subject.

So, your mother can likely apply for a BOC passport. She can't however pass on that status to you.

The crux of the matter, and the reason that your mother is a BOC, is that she does not appear to have the Right of Abode in the UK. If you look at the requirements for Right of Abode, none of them list Crown Service. It is quite possible that people in Crown Service may have been eligible for registration, and possibly also their family members. But Crown Service on its own, without the accompanying registration, did not confer Right of Abode.

Would his employment with Crown Service be considered to be a 'connect to the UK'? As a CUKC he might have registered only locally in the colony of Singapore and not in the UK before my mothers birth

To the best of my knowledge (and I could be wrong), for Crown Service to count as if in the UK, the person needs to have been hired for the Crown Service in the UK before being deployed overseas. I doubt your grandfather meets those requirements.

none of the above matters unless he actually registered in UK (and not colony) before my mothers birth.

Registration with the British High Commission would have counted, provided the registration was done before 1971 (see Section 2(4) of the Immigration Act 1971).

Did you check with the British High Commission in Singapore if your mother was registered as a British citizen with them? You may also want to check with the National Archives in the UK.

[anjanasanjith]

Thanks Simon for a quick reply:

I am trying to get the confirmation of grandfathers registration done in the Colony of Singapore before mothers birth in 1956 and also if mother was registered in the British High commission in 1969. The National archives does not have any records, so checking with the local high commissions.

Didnt 'Crown Service recruited in the UK' wording only come later in the BNA 1983 Act. This was not the case in the BNA 1948 act under which he would have registered in the Colony of Singapore prior to my mother being born. If he has registered only in the Colony of Singapore (not the UK) under the 1948 act and being in the Crown service, would the following arguments apply to him (to prove that :

He would have registered under 6 (1) of BNA 1948
Under Section 8 (1) of BNA 1948 Reference to the governor not being able to substitute seems to be only for where 'ordinary residence' is mentioned. Does that apply to anyone in Crown service? As I read and understand it, it looks like that does not apply for anyone in Crown Services. And I believe any time in Crown Services is considered as time spent in the UK & Island (not colonies) and does that not qualify as the connect to UK?

Under section 27 Evidence (We have 2 certificate from HM MOD with his employee number/years of service)
(1)Every document purporting to be a notice, certificate, order or declaration, or an entry in a register, or a subscription of an oath of allegiance, given, granted or made under this Act, the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Acts, 1914 to 1943, or any Act repealed by those Acts, shall be received in evidence, and shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been given, granted or made by or on behalf of the person by whom or on whose behalf it purports to have been given, granted or made.
(4)For the purposes of this Act, a certificate given by or on behalf of the Secretary of State that a person was at any time in Crown service under His Majesty's government in the United Kingdom shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.

Definition of Crown service under BNA 1948

"Crown service under His Majesty's government in the United Kingdom" means the service of the Crown under His Majesty's government in the United Kingdom, or under His Majesty's government in Northern Ireland, or under the government of any colony, protectorate, protected state, United Kingdom mandated territory or United Kingdom trust territory, whether such service is in any part of His Majesty's dominions or elsewhere

Thank you again....

[secret.simon]

You are looking in the wrong Act. Look through Section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 (as enacted), to figure out a way to prove that your mother had Right of Abode from 1971 onwards.

The Crown Service element can come in handy with regards to the transmission of CUKC/British citizenship (after 1983) itself. And your mother was a CUKC by birth and likely retained it, as I suggested in my previous post.

But neither she nor either of her parents have a connection with the UK itself (as opposed to a colony) to acquire Right of Abode (which was an independent restriction introduced by the Immigration Act 1971) herself.

And without the Right of Abode, she would not have become a British citizen in 1983, but a BOC. Indeed, I suspect that she can apply for a BOC passport (thought that may have an impact on her Indian citizenship).

The connection to the UK is very specifically laid out in that Act, as birth, registration or naturalisation in the UK itself, though registration with the British High Commissions before 1971 was also accepted. And it sounds like your grandfather was aware of the distinction between registering with the local authorities in the colony before independence and registration with the British High Commission after independence, to have done both forms of registration.

[anjanasanjith]

So if grandfather had registered in the colony of Singapore before mothers birth and then again registered himself with the British high Commission before 1971 - would that normally entitle my mother to have a right of abode?

[secret.simon]

Nope. Given that your mother would have been born before 1963 (when Singapore ceased to be a British colony), your grandfather would have needed to register her with the British High Commission between 1963 and 1971, as he did himself, for her to have Right of Abode.

Have a look at his registration certificate. It is possible that his whole family may have been registered on the same certificate (though they would still be listed separately on that certificate).