Cancelled British passport

[naturallyblessed]

Hello,

My mother has/had British citizenship along with my grandmother aunts etc. They were born in Jamaica. My mother lived in England for over 10 years and had me in London and went back shortly after I was born in 1978. She has since cancelled her British passport but wants to come back to live in the UK. Can she still do that? Is she still a citizen even though she hasnt got a passport anymore?

Thanks in advance!

[ppron747]

I'm not sure what you mean, exactly...

Virtually everyone born in Jamaica before independence in 1962 was British - just by being born in a British colony. Most people lost British nationality automatically at independence, and became citizens of Jamaica. This applied even to those who were living in the UK at the time, and there are many older people living in UK who are in precisely this position.

The British Nationality Act 1948 gave Commonwealth citizens resident in UK the entitlement to be registered as British by the Home Office, on grounds of residence, and this entitlement continued until the end of 1987.

If your mother was in this position, and was registered as a "British subject; citizen of the UK & Colonies" after 1962 (or as a "British citizen" after 1.1.83), then it is very likely that she is still British, and still able to return to UK if she applies for a new British passport to the BHC in Kingston.

But if she lost British nationality at independence and didn't apply for registration, but lived in the UK as a Jamaican citizen, then I fear that she lost her "settled" status in the UK after two years absence, and she would now need to find a category under which she could qualify under the Immigration Rules, in order to return here to live.

When was the old passport issued, by whom, and what does it say for her nationality on the front page? And does it, on page 5 or elsewhere, say anything about "right of abode" in UK?