Ceylon and my eligibility confusion

[matjcarter]

Hey well I'm really getting nowhere and going around in circles with different call centers and officers giving completely different advice. So I was hoping someone could shine some light on my situation? I want to apply to become a British citizen and obtain a passport.

My name's Lindy. My grandparents on my father's side are British, and my father has a British passport. He was born in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), in Hatton, in April, 1948, but his birth was registered in England and for all intents and purposes, he was a British citizen. He married my mother who was a New Zealand citizen. Her parents are New Zealanders.

I was born in March 1982 in NZ also.

Any help is SO much appreciated thank you

[JAJ]

Under the British Nationality Act, in force from 1 January 1949, Ceylon was a Dominion rather than a colony. So your father became a Citizen of the UK & Colonies by descent on 1 January 1949.

Accordingly, I cannot see how you could have become a British citizen automatically when you were born. Did your father make any application for you to be registered as British when you were a child?

If your grandparents were in UK-recruited Crown Service when your father was born it might help any siblings you have born in 1983 or later, but I don't think it will help you.
If your father was in Crown Service when you were born in NZ in 1982, that might help.

You do appear to be eligible for an Ancestry Visa, to let you work in Britain and become British in due course: http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk

Another item to check is to see if any of your British grandparents were born in Ireland or Northern Ireland - this would make you eligible to register as an Irish citizen, that would allow you to live in Britain.