United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - British Citizenship by Double Descent (Pre 1949 Commonwealth)

Solutions for those born before 01.01.1949 are quite rare unless the applicant has a standard route to British Nationality through a parent born in the UK. This solution relies on the fact that several of the major Commonwealth countries at the time did not have Nationality Laws in place on 01.01.1949.

This particular solution requires the following set of criteria:

• Candidate born before 1949 in a country that was a post-1949 Protectorate, Protected State, Mandated Territory or Foreign Country;
• Their father was born in a Foreign Country, Protectorate, Protected State or Mandated Territory;
• Their mother born in a major Commonwealth country that did not have citizenship law in effect on 01.01.1949 (South Africa, India, Pakistan and Southern Rhodesia); AND
• A Maternal Grandfather (i.e. mother's father) born in the UK (or a post-1949 Colony where the maternal grandmother was born in the UK, or the subject otherwise holds the Right of Abode).

In this case, the subject does not become a potential citizen of the Commonwealth country. The mother is a pre-1949 British Subject and becomes a CUKC under Section 12(2) on 01.01.149. The subject is a pre-1949 British Subject who does not become a Citizen of a Section 1(3) Country and is not a potential citizen of any Commonwealth Country.