Australian Nationality Law - Australians and British Nationality

Australians and British Nationality

When Australia created Australian citizenship on 26 January 1949, not all British subjects connected with Australia became Australian citizens on that date. The most notable exceptions were:

• children born outside Australia to Australian fathers; and
• women married to Australian men;

where the child or woman had not entered Australia with a permanent entry permit before 26 January 1949.

Under the terms of section 12(4) of the British Nationality Act 1948:

• such persons acquired citizenship of the UK & Colonies (CUKC) on 26 January 1949 on the basis of being British subjects connected with Australia, if they did not have citizenship of, or connections with, another Commonwealth country or Ireland

• where a person had connections with another Commonwealth country that had not introduced a citizenship law as of 26 January 1949, they acquired citizenship of the UK and Colonies on the date the other country introduced a citizenship law if they did not become a citizen of that country at the time, if they had not acquired Australian citizenship by that point.

• A complication arises if the person had a connection with India or Pakistan and such a person may have remained a British subject without citizenship if he did not acquire Indian or Pakistani citizenship, or the citizenship of any other Commonwealth country or Ireland.

Persons acquiring CUKC would have retained it upon a later acquisition of Australian citizenship. However they would only be British citizens today if they had obtained a 'right of abode' in the UK under the terms of the Immigration Act 1971, such as by having a UK-born grandparent. Otherwise they would be British Overseas citizens.

British subjects without citizenship would have retained that status only if they did not acquire a Commonwealth nationality (or Irish citizenship) before 1983, or any citizenship from 1983 or later.

British Overseas citizens and British subjects may register as British citizens if they have no other nationality (and have not lost another nationality since 4 July 2002), but otherwise do not have an automatic right to live in the United Kingdom.