United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - NEW - British Citizenship by Discretion (MGF - Reverse 12(5))
New legislation to remedy gender discrimination on the older British nationality laws were enacted in April 2022. If the legislation is taken literally, then it should be possible to lodge an application if one can demonstrate that - had it not been for gender discrimination in the old law - the applicant could have British nationality in the modern day. Based on your family tree, it appears that such an application might - in theory - be successful. While the theory is complex, this solution broadly requires the following:
- Candidate born after 31 December 1948;
- Candidate's parents were married before 1 January 1949;
- Candidate's maternal grandfather born in the UK.
This route to British nationality has not yet been approved by the UK Home Office. Their current view is that rights given to women should not now be given to men - that Section 4L should only work in favour of women, and not men. It is our view that this should be tested in the courts so - for now - such applicants would not succeed.