UK overseas citizenship

[rogerroger]

hey
does not a UK overseas citizenship allow the holder to reside in the UK?


i read this piece of news where this guy was stranded in kenya because the authorities in the UK would nto let him in?

then what good is a UKoversaes citizenship?

[Smit]

His case was complex, a bit like the rubbish, The Terminal. BOC passport holders no not have automatic UK residency, they could apply for settlement vouchers, he probably did not have one and was grilled at Heathrow about his intentions of staying in the UK. BOC's do not require visas to enter the UK as visitors for 6 months or less, he probably wanted to settle here on his BOC passport. He could enter Kenya on a Kenyan Visitors Visa but chose not to and camped at JKIA as he was protesting against the UK immigration system.

Nowadays BOC's can register as British Citizens who have right of abode in the UK.

[rogerroger]

so, he did have the qautomatic right to enter the UK for a period of 6 months

do BOC's need to be in the UK to register as British Citizens who have right of abode in the UK?

[Kayalami]

As per smit's post note that only a select group of people holding various types of British Nationality have a right of abode (ROA) in the UK. This does not include British Overseas Citizens (an amendment to the Nationality Act allows them to register as British Citizens with corresponding ROA).

The person was returned to his departure point pending resolution of the matter. The Kenyan authorities have exercised considerable restraint given the person in question renounced his Kenyan citizenship and as such had no entitlement to enter the country let alone return (as a visitor). Although there are exclusions to the amended UK Nationality Act vis a vis renunciation the person has now been granted British Citizenship. The JKIA community will no doubt count this as a historic tale for many generations and so will future caselaw.

[Smit]

Good to read that the man finally obtained BC.

As the UK Government conceded, they were correcting a historic wrong by allowing BOC's to register as BC's. By the very nature of their BOC, these people are effectively stateless (no right of abode in the UK and no right of residency in the countries that they currently live in).

[penanglad]

Does this mean the Secretary of State was satisfied that he had not renounced or lost his Kenyan citizenship after 4/7/2002? I assumed from the news reports that he had renounced his citizenship in about August 2003, when he applied for his BOC passport.

[rogerroger]

i guess teh definition of the BOAC has been modified in recent years