In February 2018, a ruling by the United Kingdom's Supreme Court appeared to extend the right to register as a British citizen to many people who were previously ineligible. Until recently, this brand new route to British citizenship remained untested and somewhat uncertain.
In what will come as positive news for many, the Home Office has now begun to approve applications made according to the judgement of the UK Supreme Court on the case Advocate General for Scotland v Romein. The landmark ruling attempts to correct historic gender discrimination in UK nationality law and practice. As a result of the ruling, thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands, of people who were previously unable to register as British citizens can now do so. The ruling effectively removed the requirement that a birth to a British citizen mother in a foreign country needed to be registered within 12 months in order for the child to gain British citizenship. That much was clear from the ruling itself, however before the submission and approval of test cases it remained uncertain whether this route would work in practice. However, it appears that the Home Office began approving applications relying on this ruling from August 2018, demonstrating that this route is an effective option for people who were born in a foreign country to a British citizen mother between 1949 and 1983, regardless of whether the mother was born in the UK or was a British Citizen by descent. M. Jamal, a UK nationality and immigration adviser at Passportia Limited, explains that "this is now a tried and tested route to British Citizenship. It will benefit a lot of people with a mother's father born in the UK." "We began submitting applications of this type in early April 2018 and got our first approvals in the last couple of weeks. We have had several applications approved already and expect more to follow". In the future it is possible that the law will be changed to make claiming British Citizenship by descent more difficult. For this reason, anyone who may be eligible is encouraged to seek advice and apply while it is possible to do so. In the meantime, explains M. Jamal "it is great to be able to share the good news with our clients."
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