This is an important question to ask if you are looking into acquiring the British citizenship, because this act doesn’t necessarily mean that you want to give up your original nationality; it just means that, for a number of reasons, it is best for you now to live in the UK.
The fast and direct answer is yes, immigration UK law allows you to keep your old citizenship when becoming a British national. However, there are many other countries that will not let you keep the nationality if you choose to get another one; they only allow one nationality.
If you decide to become a British citizen and you are already a citizen of a country that does not allow dual nationality, the authorities will consider that you lost your previous nationality or may refuse to recognize your British one.
It is important that you check with the pertinent authorities how applying for the British nationality will affect your current one.
In the case of the UK, you normally don’t lose your British citizenship when you decide to become a citizen of another country. If you are a British subject otherwise than by connection with the Republic of Ireland, you will lose that status when acquiring any other nationality. Equally, if you are a British protected person, you lose that status when you acquire any other nationality.
Some countries have citizenship laws that automatically give a person’s partner citizenship after marriage. Children will also automatically acquire their parents’ nationality even if they were born in another country.
If your partner, husband or wife, or your children, are visiting the country you are a national to, check with the country’s consulate or high commission in the UK before travelling.
British authorities are not able to give you diplomatic help, under international law, if you are in a country where you are a national. This is, if for example, you hold both citizenships, the British and the Brazilian, British authorities will not be able to offer diplomatic help while you are in Brazil.
In case you are planning a trip to your previous homeland and are not sure if you still hold its nationality, the first thing you should do is check with the country’s consulate or high commission in the UK to ensure you know under what conditions you are setting foot there. If you are still a citizen but don’t want to be anymore, they will inform you what to do to achieve that.
If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.ukmigrationlawyers.co.uk as the original source).
Please note that these articles and the information contained herein are purely for general guidance and do not constitute a professional legal or any other opinion as to the merits of a particular application or whether specific immigration requirements have been met of a particular category. This information is generic and should not be relied upon as a definitive guide to fulfilling specific category requirements. However should any individual do so it is at his or her own risk for which UK Migration Lawyers Limited cannot be held responsible in any way.
Related posts:
- The Law on UK Citizenship Has Changed The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, has established changes...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
