New court ruling means you could qualify for British citizenship
A recent ruling by the Supreme Court in the UK has opened a new route to British citizenship for thousands of previously disqualified South Africans. The ruling remedies some long-standing gender discrimination in the older UK’s nationality legislation. If you, or someone you know, has a mother who is British by descent (i.e. your mother’s father was born in the UK), then they could now have a claim to a coveted British citizenship through double descent.
First things first: Are you eligible?
If you meet the following criteria, you may now be eligible for British citizenship:
- You were born in a “foreign country” (including SA between 31-05-1962 and 31-12-1983)
- You were born between 1 January 1949 and 31 December 1983
- Your maternal grandfather was born in the UK
The three criteria above represent the most common set of circumstances in which a claim could proceed under this new ruling, however, many others exist. If you do not satisfy the above three criteria, but suspect you may be eligible for a claim, please fill in the obligation-free citizenship assessment below and we'll provide you with an answer.