Questions about otherwise than by decent or by decent

[Belleee]

Hello everyone,

I’d be grateful for some guidance on my situation.

My mother was born in Rwanda in 1961. Her father was a CUKC otherwise than by descent. She moved to the UK in 1974 and lived there for 22 years. My three older siblings were born in the UK and are British citizens.

My mother has always held British citizenship. Her older passports show her as BCUKC under section 5(1) of the BNA 1948 (BUSUKC). However, in the 1990s her passport was misclassified as BOC. This error was corrected in the 2000s, but in 2009 it was changed back again to BOC, and only in 2023 was her status regularised.

I was born abroad in 1998, and because of this misclassification, I missed out on a claim to British citizenship.

My question is: given her long residence in the UK, and the fact that her status was wrongly recorded for years, is there any chance my mother should be considered British otherwise than by descent? And if so, could that open a route for me?

Any advice or insight would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[secret.simon]

You may have to give us some more details for us to advise you correctly.

Presumably your mother acquired CUKC status from her father. What was her father doing in Rwanda and when (month/year) and where was the father born? Also, where and when was her mother born (that is not relevant for CUKC status, but for RoA status)?

As a rule of thumb, British citizenship can only be passed on one generation outside the UK. Assuming that her father (your grandfather) was not in Crown Service in Rwanda (such as a diplomat or military staff posted there by the British government), your mother herself would have been a British citizen by descent and so would have been unable to pass on British citizenship to you automatically.

given her long residence in the UK

That may affect her RoA status, but it won't have affected her CUKC status.

There is where the confusion between her being a British citizen by descent and her being a BOC likely arose. If she had not resided in the UK for at least five continuous years before 1983, she would have most likely become a BOC.

Essentially a CUKC with RoA became a British citizen on 1st January 1983. A CUKC without RoA became a BOC on that date.

And to become a British citizen otherwise than by descent, the person would have needed to have both a CUKC status not by descent and an RoA status not by descent. Your mother obviously had RoA status not by descent (but by five years residence in the UK). But that didn't change her CUKC status.

the fact that her status was wrongly recorded for years

Irrelevant. Keep in mind that there is no central database where British citizenship is recorded. She would need to keep the records of the basis of her citizenship. All the Home Office does is that when presented the documents, they assess and make a determination of your mother's status. If they assess it incorrectly, based on the documents that she (your mother) provided, she can appeal that assessment and/or reapply with more documents.

The Home Office can be faulted for making incorrect assessments. But the proof of maintaining and providing the documentation lies with your mother (the applicant). The Home Office may have made the correct assessment if she did not provide all relevant documentation.

is there any chance my mother should be considered British otherwise than by descent?

No, because the requirements for being a British citizen by descent or otherwise is spelt out in Section 14 of the the British Nationality Act 1981 and is not something for a caseworker to decide on with discretion. Either she meets the requirements spelt out by the law or she doesn't.

Her older passports show her as BCUKC under section 5(1) of the BNA 1948

If her older passports explicitly stated as such, your mother is a British citizen by descent under Section 14(1)(b)(i) of the British Nationality Act 1981.

For the purposes of this Act a British citizen is a British citizen “by descent” if and only if—
...
(b)subject to subsection (2), he is a person born outside the United Kingdom before commencement who became a British citizen at commencement and immediately before commencement—
(i)was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of section 5 of the 1948 Act (citizenship by descent);

The exception in subsection (2) is based on her father being in Crown Service. So, (a) what was her father's job in Rwanda and (b) do you have documentary proof of that job?

[Belleee]

You may have to give us some more details for us to advise you correctly.

Presumably your mother acquired CUKC status from her father. What was her father doing in Rwanda and when (month/year) and where was the father born? Also, where and when was her mother born (that is not relevant for CUKC status, but for RoA status)?

As a rule of thumb, British citizenship can only be passed on one generation outside the UK. Assuming that her father (your grandfather) was not in Crown Service in Rwanda (such as a diplomat or military staff posted there by the British government), your mother herself would have been a British citizen by descent and so would have been unable to pass on British citizenship to you automatically.

given her long residence in the UK

That may affect her RoA status, but it won't have affected her CUKC status.

There is where the confusion between her being a British citizen by descent and her being a BOC likely arose. If she had not resided in the UK for at least five continuous years before 1983, she would have most likely become a BOC.

Essentially a CUKC with RoA became a British citizen on 1st January 1983. A CUKC without RoA became a BOC on that date.

And to become a British citizen otherwise than by descent, the person would have needed to have both a CUKC status not by descent and an RoA status not by descent. Your mother obviously had RoA status not by descent (but by five years residence in the UK). But that didn't change her CUKC status.

the fact that her status was wrongly recorded for years

Irrelevant. Keep in mind that there is no central database where British citizenship is recorded. She would need to keep the records of the basis of her citizenship. All the Home Office does is that when presented the documents, they assess and make a determination of your mother's status. If they assess it incorrectly, based on the documents that she (your mother) provided, she can appeal that assessment and/or reapply with more documents.

The Home Office can be faulted for making incorrect assessments. But the proof of maintaining and providing the documentation lies with your mother (the applicant). The Home Office may have made the correct assessment if she did not provide all relevant documentation.

is there any chance my mother should be considered British otherwise than by descent?

No, because the requirements for being a British citizen by descent or otherwise is spelt out in Section 14 of the the British Nationality Act 1981 and is not something for a caseworker to decide on with discretion. Either she meets the requirements spelt out by the law or she doesn't.

Her older passports show her as BCUKC under section 5(1) of the BNA 1948

If her older passports explicitly stated as such, your mother is a British citizen by descent under Section 14(1)(b)(i) of the British Nationality Act 1981.

For the purposes of this Act a British citizen is a British citizen “by descent” if and only if—
...
(b)subject to subsection (2), he is a person born outside the United Kingdom before commencement who became a British citizen at commencement and immediately before commencement—
(i)was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of section 5 of the 1948 Act (citizenship by descent);

The exception in subsection (2) is based on her father being in Crown Service. So, (a) what was her father's job in Rwanda and (b) do you have documentary proof of that job?

I apologise for not giving enough information earlier, and thank you very much for taking the time to respond so thoroughly.

Here are the details:
• My grandfather was born in Uganda in 1923 (when it was still a British Protectorate). He became a CUKC by registration under section 6(1) of the BNA 1948 in December 1955. His old passport from 1986 describes him as a British citizen under section 11(1) of the BNA 1981, and also references his earlier status as a British subject and CUKC under section 12(3) of the 1948 Act, with Right of Abode under section 2(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1971.
• My grandmother was born in India in 1931 and registered as a CUKC under section 6(2) in Uganda in December 1955.
• They moved to Rwanda in the late 1950s, where my mother was born in 1961.
• The family all moved to the UK in 1974. My mother lived there for over 20 years and had three children there, all of whom are British citizens.

My mother’s second passport shows “RUK,” but the Home Office has said they no longer have a copy of her first passport. I understand that some people registered their children under section 7 of the 1948 Act, though I don’t know if that applied in her case.

To answer your question directly, my grandfather was not in Crown Service while in Rwanda.

What I’m trying to understand is: given that both her parents were registered as CUKCs, is there any reason my mother would have been issued a BOC passport twice? Could this have been an administrative error at the time, and if so, might that error have had consequences for the status passed on to her children?

Also, one of her older passports actually describes her as a BCUKC under section 5(1) of the BNA 1948, which adds to my confusion about how her status was assessed over the years. And if section 6(1) registrations effectively transitioned into section 5(a) of the 1971 Act, should her father not have been regarded that way? If so, I’m not sure whether my mother could or could not have inherited her father’s CUKC/ROA before 1983, maybe I’m misunderstanding something there.

Thank you again for your patience and guidance, I really appreciate the time you’ve taken to go through this.