United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - British Citizenship and Nyasaland
Join our BRITISH NATIONALITY WEBINAR on Nyasaland on TUESDAY 20 APRIL at 12pm UK TIME. Our two British nationality experts - Philip Gamble and Mishal Patel - will discuss a family birth in the former British Protectorate of Nyasaland (now modern-day Malawi) and its implications for claims to British nationality in the modern day, and will run a Q&A session afterwards.
A birth in Nyasaland (or Malawi) does not normally give rights to British nationality in the modern day. However, where a parent or grandparent was born in the UK, Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, or registered as a British citizen in the period before Independence, it is possible to have claims to British or Irish citizenship in the modern day.
Other than during the period of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Nyasaland was British Protectorate up until its Independence on 6 July 1964. Nyasaland formed part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1 March 1958 to 31 December 1964, a territory treated as an independent Commonwealth country for British nationality purposes.
The most common routes to British nationality for those with a family member born in Nyasaland are as follows:
Woman Married to British Husband
The most common routes to Irish nationality are as follows:
Parent Born in Ireland (including Northern Ireland)
Grandparent Born in Ireland (including Northern Ireland)
The UK, Ireland and Malawi allow Dual nationality - the right to hold more than one citizenship.