Is he already a British citizen?

[lainybug]

Hi everyone,

I was browsing a website the other day that claimed that a fair number of people holding Ancestry visas are also British Citizens. I tried to read up more about it, but found the laws very confusing. So...I was wondering if someone could please shed some light on this scenario...

My husband was born in 1968 in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), and his family moved to South Africa in 1978. He was naturalized as a South African citizen at that time.

His father was born in 1931 in South Africa, to a UK-born father (hence the Ancestry visa my husband currently holds) and a SA-born mother. His father held a British passport that listed him as a "Citizen of the UK and Colonies (CUKC)", and stated that he had right of abode in UK. A later passport that his father held listed him as a British Citizen.

His mother was born in 1934 in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) to a SA-born father and UK-born mother. She also had a British passport, but we don't have a copy of this, so I do not know what her status was.

When my husband was younger, and living in Zimbabwe, he went to the High Commission and enquired about getting a British Passport, but was told he wasn't eligible as he wasn't registered before age one, but had right of abode in the UK. He didn't take it further. However, reading the website mentioned above, we were wondering if he actually is eligible?

The Home Office website says that one can register as British Citizen, if:

*you were born before 1 Jan 1983 (which he was)
*your mother was a CUKC at the time of your birth (which she was)
*you're of good character (which he is)
*you would have been a CUKC by descent if women had been able to pass on citizenship
*had you been a CUKC, you would have had right of abode in the UK.

The last two points are very confusing to me, and where I'm asking for clarification.

The last point has additional notes attached with scenarios about when a person would have had right of abode, and I think the one which may apply in my husband's case states "CUKCs would have had right of abode in the UK if they were born to a parent who, at the time of the birth, was a CUKC and whose own parent was a CUKC by birth in the UK". His mom was a CUKC at the time of his birth, and was born to a UK-born mother. His father was also a CUKC at the time of his birth, and was born to a UK-born father.

The second last point also refers the reader to additional documents. I have read through them, and wonder whether the following would apply in my husband's case:
It states that children born outside the UK before 1983 were normaly CUKCs if their father (or here mother) was a CUKC when they were born and either the child or the father (here mother) were born in a British Protectorate, protected state, mandatory territory or trust. As far as I can tell, Northern Rhodesia was a British Protectorate from 1924, and would have been so at the time of his mother's birth in 1934?

So...does this mean he meets the requirements to register as a British Citizen? Or have I maybe missed something or muddled the facts? (The laws are very confusing!)

Any insight, comments or other feedback would be most appreciated!

Thanks