Future of British Overseas Citizenship
The 2002 Act resolved the issue of de facto statelessness for most BOCs; however, those who lost their other nationalities after 4 July 2002 are not eligible. This means that de facto statelessness can still be an issue for BOCs in situations like the following:
- A BOC acquires a BOC passport after 4 July 2002, and the country of his other nationality (e.g. Malaysia) considers the acquisition of a foreign passport to mean an automatic relinquishment of that country's citizenship.
- A BOC holds citizenship of a country (e.g. Kenya) that permits dual citizenship only for minors, and that requires such minors to renounce all other nationalities at the age of majority. (For example, those with BOC and Kenyan citizenship as minors will automatically lose their Kenyan citizenship at age 21 if they do not renounce their British Nationality then.) Such BOCs will be de facto stateless if they reach the age of majority after 4 July 2002 as they cannot benefit from the 2002 Act.
Of all the six classes of British nationality, only the status of British citizen carries with it the right of abode somewhere (in this case the UK). However, in practice, British Overseas Territories Citizens (except those associated with the Sovereign bases in Cyprus) were granted full British citizenship in 2002, British Nationals (Overseas) have right of abode in Hong Kong, British subjects and British Protected Persons lose their statuses upon acquisition of another nationality (except British subjects connected the Republic of Ireland, who have the right to live and work in the UK anyway because of EU treaties) and so should be eligible for registration as British Citizens under the 2002 Act.
This makes British Overseas Citizens unique in that their nationality status is not associated with the right of residence anywhere in the world.
In 2007-2008, Lord Goldsmith suggested in his Citizenship Review that the category of British Overseas Citizenship (along with other residual classes of British Nationality) be abolished, and existing BOCs be given a window to register as British Citizens. However, this suggestion was never made into law.
Read more about this topic: British Overseas Citizen
Famous quotes containing the words future of, future, british and/or citizenship:
“The future of America may or may not bring forth a black President, a woman President, a Jewish President, but it most certainly always will have a suburban President. A President whose senses have been defined by the suburbs, where lakes and public baths mutate into back yards and freeways, where walking means driving, where talking means telephoning, where watching means TV, and where living means real, imitation life.”
—Arthur Kroker (b. 1945)
“He who asks fortune-tellers the future unwittingly forfeits an inner intimation of coming events that is a thousand times more exact than anything they may say. He is impelled by inertia, rather than curiosity, and nothing is more unlike the submissive apathy with which he hears his fate revealed than the alert dexterity with which the man of courage lays hands on the future.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“Wearing overalls on weekdays, painting somebody else’s house to earn money? You’re working class. Wearing overalls at weekends, painting your own house to save money? You’re middle class.”
—Lawrence Sutton, British prizewinner in competition in Sunday Correspondent (London)
“Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS—our inferior one varies with the place.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)