RoA (Right of Abode) - any help welcomed

[canlam]

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get a little advice on my RoA case, because I can't find any definite information on this. Any tips/advice/answers are appreciated...

My grandmother was a British Citizen, born in England. My grandmother married a Nigerian, and moved to Nigeria and lived there from the 1950's until she passed recently.

I have always held a Nigerian passport from my father's side since birth (1990). I was born in the Middle East, and did not grow up in England. Currently, I live in Canada.

My father only received a British passport within the last 5 years, as he was not entitled to a British passport, due to his British ancestry coming from his mother.

Reading through this page on the RoA process:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... t-of-abode

I don't see how I would be eligible for RoA status. However, my dad is a British citizen, and I do hold a commonwealth passport (Nigeria).

Does anyone have any suggestions/knowledge on this?


Thanks and happy Easter

[secret.simon]

You are correct. You are not eligible for a CoE-RoA.

Your British father would have been unable to pass on his citizenship to you even if he held it at your birth because he would be a British citizen by descent himself and children born to him outside the UK would not be British citizens.

The only way to have RoA after 1983 is to be a British citizen. Only Commonwealth citizens who held RoA before 1983 can continue to retain it. As you were born in 1990, that provision can not apply to you.

What you can do is move to the UK on an Ancestry visa, work here for five years and then apply for ILR and British citizenship a year later.

[canlam]

Thanks for the info secret.simon! Much appreciated.