The type of citizenship you will acquire

If your application for registration is successful, you will acquire the same citizenship or status that your parent had.

If your parents each had a different type of citizenship, you will be eligible to acquire more than one type of citizenship and you will need to choose which type of citizenship you want. You should tick the relevant box in part 11 of the application form to show which type of citizenship or status you want.

You can only be registered as a British subject if one of your parents was a British subject when you were born and neither parent was at that time a British citizen, a British overseas territories citizen or a British overseas citizen.

Terms explained

  • Acquire

    Obtain or gain possession.

  • 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 overseas territories citizen

    You will be a British overseas territories citizen if you are connected with a British overseas territory because you or your parents were born, registered or naturalised in that British overseas territory. If you were born before 1 January 1983, you may gain the citizenship through your grandparents. (See British overseas territory.)

  • 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