Monday 31 March 2025

Were you born before 1983 to a British mother?

If so, you may have a path towards British citizenship. Note: for the purposes of this article, ‘British’ has been used in place of ‘Citizen of the UK and Colonies’ to avoid confusion.

Prior to 1 January 1983, British women were unable to pass their citizenship to their children in the same way that men could at the time. This historical unfairness was remedied by the addition of section 4C to the British Nationality Act (BNA) 1981 which provided for the registration of certain individuals born outside the UK before 1983 to British mothers. Although section 4C appeared to have rectified the historical unfairness towards women, it did not (until the case of Advocate General for Scotland v Romein [2018]) take into account the inability of British women to register their children’s births at UK consulates. Between 1949 and 1983, children born in foreign countries (such as the US) to British fathers who were born outside the UK (i.e. those who were British ‘by descent’ only) could acquire British citizenship from their fathers under section 5(1)(b) of the BNA 1948 provided their births were registered at a UK consulate within a year of its occurrence or later, with the permission of the Secretary of State (this is sometimes referred to as ‘double descent’). When section 4C was added to the BNA 1981, it directed for the assumption that the law had always treated men and women equally which meant that children who were born between 1949 to 1983 in foreign countries to British mothers ‘by descent’ should now be able to register as British citizens if their mothers had been permitted to register their births at UK consulates in the same way that men could.

In the landmark case of Romein, Ms Romein was born in the US on 16 June 1978 to a British mother who was born in South Africa on 16 February 1948. As Ms Romein’s mother was born outside of the UK and Colonies (South Africa became independent for UK nationality law purposes on 1 January 1949), she was a British citizen ‘by descent’. Ms Romein’s mother resided in South Africa when she was pregnant and enquired with the British consulate in Johannesburg regarding the possibility of passing her citizenship to her then unborn child. She was informed by a consular official (correctly at the time) that the child would not be eligible as UK nationality could only be passed through the male line and therefore, she did not register Ms Romein’s birth. The Supreme Court in its judgment ruled that “the past is done, and cannot be undone” and that “the only way in which effect can be given to section 4C(3) is to treat the registration condition in section 5(1)(b) as being inapplicable in cases where citizenship is claimed by descent from a mother”. Ms Romein was successfully registered under section 4C following the ruling.

The Supreme Court’s judgment opened British citizenship by double descent up to certain individuals who were born in non-Commonwealth countries to British mothers between 1949 and 1983. It should be noted however that the removal of the consular registration requirement does not apply to cases in which a consular registration of birth did not occur but would have been permissible (i.e. those born to British fathers).

If you think that you could be eligible for registration under section 4C, please contact our enquiries team at enquiries@lauradevine.com and our experienced solicitors would be pleased to advise.