Becoming a British citizen is a significant life event. For your application to succeed you will need to show that you satisfy a number of requirements that are set out in British nationality law, and in particular in the 1981 British Nationality Act.<\/p>\n
The requirements to naturalise as a British citizen differ depending on whether or not you are applying on the basis of your marriage or civil partnership with a British citizen, or if you are relying on your parents\u2019 nationality.<\/p>\n
If you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen, then section 6(2) will apply and the key requirements are:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you are NOT married to or the civil partner of a British citizen, then section 6(1) lists the following criteria:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When it comes to whether a child is British, the main distinction is whether a child has an automatic right to British Citizenship (BC) or whether the child could acquire BC by registration. According to section 1 (acquisition by birth), a child born<\/strong> in the UK<\/strong> to a parent who is a British citizen<\/strong> or ‘settled’ in the UK<\/strong> is automatically a British citizen<\/strong> by birth.\u00a0 The child is British by birth.<\/p>\n Similarly, according to section 2(1) (a) Acquisition by descent, a child born outside the UK on or after 1 January 1983 automatically acquires British citizenship by descent if either parent is a British citizen otherwise than by descent at the time of the birth. You are a British Citizen otherwise than by descent having been born in the UK.<\/p>\n\n
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