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The documents we require for registration as a British citizen by a British national with no other nationality

This page provides details of the documents you will need to supply to us to support your registration as a British citizen.

You should send the original document, not a copy. Your documents will be returned to you by secure post. If you wish your documents to be returned to you by an alternative postal service or by courier you should include a pre-paid delivery envelope with your application.

You should provide translations of any documents not in English.

Evidence that you are a British overseas citizen, a British subject or a British protected person

You should send:

  • your passport; or
  • your registration or naturalisation certification; or
    • your birth certificate; and/or
    • your parents' birth certificates and marriage certificate.

Evidence of no other citizenship or nationality

You should send written evidence that you do not hold and/or have not, since 4 July 2002, given up or lost any other citizenship or nationality. You should send:

  • a letter from the country in which you were born saying whether you have ever held that country?s citizenship or nationality;
  • if either of your parents holds a non-British citizenship or nationality, a letter from the authorities of the country concerned saying whether you have ever held that country?s citizenship or nationality; and
  • if you have lived for a period of five years or more outside the United Kingdom, outside the country where you were born and outside any country of which either of your parents is a citizen or national, a letter from the authorities of the country of residence saying whether you have ever held that country?s citizenship or nationality.

For all of the above, if you have at any time held that country?s citizenship or nationality but no longer hold it, the letter should also state the date on which you ceased to hold it and why.

If your parents hold different non-British citizenships or nationalities, or if either of them holds more than one citizenship or nationality, you will need to get letters of confirmation from all of the countries concerned.

If you have lived for five years or more in more than one country, you will need to get letters of confirmation from all countries concerned.

Application forms

Registration as a British citizen

Terms explained

  • British citizen

    British citizens have the right to live in the United Kingdom permanently and are free to leave and re-enter the country at any time. British citizenship is given to people who have a close connection with the United Kingdom, which includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. A close connection may be by birth, adoption, descent, marriage, registration or naturalisation.

  • British overseas citizen

    British overseas citizenship is a category of British citizenship that was gained by certain residents of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997, when sovereignty of Hong Kong returned to China.

  • British protected person

    This is a form of British nationality held by a resident of a former British protectorate who did not take the citizenship of the country to which he/she belonged before it stopped being a protectorate. See the page Who is a British protected person? for more information.

  • British subject

    Until 1949, nearly everyone with a close connection to the United Kingdom was called a British subject. All citizens of Commonwealth countries were British subjects until January 1983. Since that date, very few categories of people have qualified as British subjects. It is a form of British nationality.

All glossary terms