United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - British Overseas Citizen (BOC) - Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Watch our BRITISH NATIONALITY WEBINAR where our two British nationality experts - Philip Gamble and Mishal Patel - discuss a family birth in Northern Rhodesia and its implications for claims to British nationality in the modern day.
This route to British Overseas Citizenship (commonly referred to as a BOC) arises from a paternal grandfather's birth in Nyasaland or Northern Rhodesia. The circumstances that trigger this solution are:
- Candidate born between 1 January 1964 and 31 December 1982;
- Candidate's father born in one of the major Commonwealth countries formed on 1 January 1949 (South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh - but NOT Southern Rhodesia);
- Candidate's paternal grandfather (i.e. their father's father) born in Northern Rhodesia or Nyasaland; AND
- Father of the candidate's paternal grandfather born in the UK or Northern Ireland.
The candidate's father becomes a Citizen of the UK & Colonies because he escapes the automatic loss of citizenship provisions enacted upon the independence of Zambia and Malawi. This allows his British nationality to pass down to his children.
In some circumstances, the candidate can upgrade this BOC status to full British nationality if they have the Right of Abode (normally through a UK-born grandparent).