This page provides details of how a person born before 1983 to a British mother can register as a British citizen.

The requirements you need to meet

To register as a British citizen you must:

• have been born after 7 February 1961 but before 1 January 1983; and
• have been born to a mother who was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies at the time of your birth and you would have been a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by descent if it had been possible for women to pass this citizenship on to their children in the same way as men; and
• had you been a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies you would have had the right of abode in the United Kingdom and have become a British citizen on 1 January 1983; and
• you are of good character.
• by birth, legal adoption, naturalisation or registration in the United Kingdom and Colonies; or
• by birth before 1 January 1949 in a British protectorate, protected state or United Kingdom trust territory; or
• you were born or your mother was born in a British protectorate, protected state, mandated territory or trust territory or in any foreign place in which British subjects came under British extraterritorial jurisdiction; or
• you were born in a non-Commonwealth country and your birth was registered within one year at a British consulate; or

You will meet the second requirement if at the time of your birth:

• your mother was in crown service under the United Kingdom Government at the time of your birth; or
• you were born in a Commonwealth country whose citizenship law had been the subject of an order under section 32(8) of the British Nationality Act 1948, but did not become a citizen of that country at birth.

You will meet the third requirement if:

• your mother was, at the time of your birth, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by birth, legal adoption, naturalisation or registration (except registration on the basis of marriage on or after 28 October 1971 to a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies) in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man; or
• one of your mother's parents was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies in the way mentioned above at the time of her birth; or
• you were settled in the United Kingdom before 1983 and had at that time been resident there for the last five years; or
• you are a woman who, before 1 January 1983, was or had been married to a man with the right of abode in the United Kingdom.