British Overseas Citizen - Benefits of British Overseas Citizenship

Benefits of British Overseas Citizenship

Because the status of British Overseas Citizen is not associated with the right to live or work anywhere in the world, it is often considered a useless citizenship (unless the holder has no other nationality, in which case he or she may register as a British Citizen). However, there are some minor benefits to having British Overseas Citizenship.

Some of these rights are common to all Commonwealth citizens (i.e. British Overseas Citizens with another form of Commonwealth citizenship already have these rights):

• Right to vote in the UK if resident in the UK.

Other rights are specific only to British Overseas Citizens but not to commonwealth citizens (holders of some other classes of British nationality may also qualify for some of these rights):

• Acquiring British Citizenship is simpler and cheaper (registration instead of naturalization), although residency requirements are the same as for other nationalities.
• Indefinite Leave to Remain is valid for life, regardless of time spent outside of United Kingdom.
• Ability to hold certain jobs and offices in the UK that are restricted to British Nationals (although positions restricted to British Citizens remain off-limits).
• Ability to benefit from the Youth Mobility Scheme with no quotas.
• Ability to claim personal exemptions on UK income if considered non-resident for UK tax purposes. (Prior to 6 Apr 2010 this was available to all Commonwealth Citizens).
• Consular protection from the UK government if outside the UK and travelling on a British passport.
• Visa-free access to the UK for visits up to 6 months, if travelling on a BOC passport. (Many other nationalities, commonwealth and non-commonwealth, also have this benefit.)

Some rights that British Overseas Citizens used to have are no longer effective:

• Before 2002, British Overseas Citizens with work permits or entering as persons of independent means were given Indefinite Leave to Enter/Remain immediately.