Apply for a British Passport

When applying for your own passport as we were born in the UK we were classed as a British citizen, if you are unsure - you are eligible for a UK British passport if you are a:

• British citizen
• British subject
• British national (overseas)
• British protected person
• British overseas territories citizen
• British overseas citizen

Obtaining a VISA if you are not a British Citizen

If you are not a British citizen but have a British passport, you may still need an additional VISA not needed by British citizens. In many cases you will need to consult with the embassy in your country of residence.

Checking to see if you class as a British citizen

If you were born in the UK before the first of January 1983

On 1 January 1983, anyone who use to be a citizen of the UK on thirty first of December 1982, & had the 'right of abode' in the UK, became a British citizen. If you are unsure what right of abode means then it is that you are entirely free from UK Immigration Control and have been in the UK sufficiently working or long enough not to need an Immigration Officer and can live and work in the UK without any restrictions on your part.

This includes people who:
• Were born in the UK
• Were born in a British colony and have been given the rights in the paragraph above.
• Have been naturalised in the UK
• Have been registered as a citizen of the UK & its various colonies
• If you can provide your legitimacy to a father under the above points.

Please note however that people that did not have the 'right of abode' classification at this time may not have been converted to British citizenship.

If you were born after 31 December 1982

After numerous conversations with customers wanting to check whether they where British citizens it can come down to many factors. This is because even though an individual is born in the UK it can still depend on the marital status of your parents, but in most situations you will be class as a British citizen if your father or mother was born in the United Kingdom.

When contacting the IPS service we were also informed that there may be other situations where a mother or father's nationality can pass down to children born abroad.