Each category has different requirements that must be met. British citizenship through a UK-born father. UK Citizenship Requirements. Their passport ranks 7th in terms of travel freedom (tied with Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and the US) per the Henley Passport Index. British parents of children born outside of the UK will need to apply for British citizenship for child born abroad as their child will not be recognised as a British citizen at birth. Be over 18 years old; Be of “good character”. The Ancestry Visa requires the applicant to have at least one grandparent that was born in the UK among other eligibility requirements like a citizen from the Commonwealth countries. Determine if you are eligible because you were born in the U.K. on or after 1983, and lived in the U.K. until you were 10 years old. If this is the case, continue to Step 4. The law concerning British citizenship and nationality are complex due to the United Kingdom's long standing history of monarchist power. Check if you meet the citizenship requirements. British citizenship will also allow you to participate more fully in UK life, including the right to vote. Generally, this means not having committed any serious crimes or immigration fraud. Make sure the details on your current passport are the same as your citizenship certificate. British nationality rights can be passed down to children of a father born in the UK. However, the two basic ways you can become a citizen are through becoming a naturalized citizen after living in the UK for 5 years, or by marrying a British citizen and living in the country for 3 years. For foreign nationals who seek to naturalise as British, the following requirements need to be met: UK residency for at least 3 years and is a settled person (ILR/Permanent Residence) as of the time of the application; Determine whether you are eligible to apply because your mother was a British citizen and you were born before 1983. Through the Ancestry visa, you can then apply for ILR and further on to acquire British citizenship by descent. As a British citizen, you can live and work in the UK free of immigration controls. Visa requirements for British citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of the United Kingdom.As of 7 July 2020, British citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 185 countries and territories. Residency requirements under section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981 state that the applicant must meet the following requirements. There is no need to apply. It depends when the child was born, when the father was born and whether the parents were married at the time of the child’s birth. There are 5 basic requirements to apply for British citizenship through naturalisation that most candidates must meet. Travelling outside the UK after you get British citizenship If you want to travel outside the UK after getting British citizenship, you’ll need to apply for a British passport. No. If neither parent is a UK citizen or here on indefinite leave, but you lived in the UK from birth until the age of 10, apply with form T. If at least one parent was a UK citizen at the time of your birth, or was here on indefinite leave, you are automatically a citizen. This is for those who are not married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen: They must be in the UK at the beginning of the period of 5 years, ending on the date of their application. For British Citizenship applications by naturalisation under section 6(1), the Home Office may exercise discretion if an applicant has met all the other requirements, but during the qualifying period has spent more than 450 days outside the UK. You don't have to surrender your British nationality in order to be a US citizen. 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