I am super curious to see how this all plays out. In my (100% non-lawyerly, or solicitorly) opinion, the BNA 1948 strongly suggests that registration of births in a foreign country's UK Consulate is as good as registration with the Secretary of State in the UK. If it is/was, then those who were (or could have been) registered were eligible for ROA as enacted. I am looking forward to hearing from those who have tried it!

Indeed! I have navigated through two different citizenship procedures and currently hold three passports (US, Germany, and Poland) and I have never seen anything as complicated as British citizenship law! The entire concept of Right of Abode is one that I struggle with. One of my citizenship cases was very straight forward as I was born to a Polish parent in the United States. But Poland allows for indefinite transmission of citizenship by descent so I was able to easily acquire for myself and children. Then Germany took a stab a rectifying gender discrimination and after three years, I was able to be declared a German citizen because my grandmother could not pass to my father and therefore my father could not pass to me. Again, in their case, they truly addressed the issue (no limits on generations, all that mattered was that my father, myself and my children would have become citizens if women could pass it down). Now it looks like the UK is giving it a go, and if Right of Abode is the determining factor, they are off to a horrible start. Second class citizenship pure and simple. A certain subset of "citizens" can do something while others cannot? I am not impacted by this, it's moreso for my wife who has the UK lineage. I just think that it is funny they are trying to atone for historical legislative unfairness while basing the success of an application on a piece of legislation (Immigration Act of 1971) that was on it's face discriminatory! Based on what I've read, the main reason for that act was to prevent the immigration of "new" Commonwealth (read non-white)citizens! Truly laughable. I will take back everything I've said if those applications come back approved because that means that they truly understand what historical legislative unfairness means. But I also know, especially in today's world, things seem to be moving towards restricting access as opposed to opening it up.

It has been 20 days since our enquiry was sent, and we haven't received anything yet. We're approaching 9 months since application, & 7 months since biometrics.

Everyone is anxiously waiting, even my mum and uncle, LOL.. All this started in May 2022 when we were notified that we are eligible.

The wait continues..

I had the same timeline of 9/7 months as you when I was notified my app was successful. I emailed at the 6 month mark, a month later exactly I got a reply saying it was taking longer thank 6 months, blah blah, and then just over a week later I got the approval email. It's been about 6 weeks since and just waiting on the ceremony invite now.

Hi,

Yes I know. I paid close attention to your posts/timeline. I was thrilled when I read your good news.

I hope you get your invite very soon

I will update when I do get it!

Hello,

We've received our approval letters earlier today in an email from Sable International.

It's been an emotional afternoon, we're so grateful.

To those of you waiting, hope you get your good news soon.

My friends received their responses today - a definite no for applications tied to great grandmothers unfortunately (all born before 1983 and would have become BOCs if they’d descended from a male). At least we tried and their mother and uncle were successful in theirs!

Thank you for the update, sorry to hear it did not work out for your friends. I am curious, do you happen to know if the Right of Abode was the underlying issue? This would absolutely suggest that consular registration is not the same as registration in the UK.

Yes, as they would have been BOCs, no right of abode was the issue. A shame as they were discriminated against but it seems the Home Office are content with that.

Just out of curiosity, do you know whether the Home Office accepted their payment? I am sorry to hear about their non-acceptance.

Very unfortunate. As for the omission in section 4L of a pathway to become a BOC, it looks like this has been picked up on by the ILPA and may ultimately be tested in the courts. After all, it seems the omission of such a clause was the result of a close vote in a sub-committee (I believe it was 9 (no) vs 7 (yes). As a result it wasn't included in the final bill. If tested, I don't see how it would stand up.

thepollyannasociety their £80 was refunded.

ChiTownViper yes, there is hope, but I suspect there won’t be much demand to contest this in the courts due to the cost involved and the limited value of a BOC passport for many. We shall see!

If you renew a passport what's the best way of letting UK Visa & Immigration know? Do I just send a colour photocopy of the new passport in the snail mail to Liverpool together with the original document checklist and an explanatory cover letter?

My son has just successfully had his biometrics done on Thursday using a state government issued photo ID card instead of his passport as it's in the UK. UKVI also said on Thursday they will be putting his current passport back in the post in "at least 10 working days" + transit time on top of that.

The reason I am considering renewing my son's passport next week is because I don't trust the original passport to arrive back in time for his holiday on 9th December, whereas 95% of new Australian passports are being turned around in 10 business days from application. I called them and they said I need to complete a declaration form to explain the location of the current passport in the UK. But it didn't sound a big deal.
And besides, his current passport will expire next year anyway, so I am doing it a few months earlier.

I just want to do it in a way that it doesn't cause my son's UK citizenship application to get unexpectedly cancelled. Thanks.

Hello,

I've been reading through the posts, the examples in the Home Office publications (Registration as a British citizen in special circumstances) and I'm fairly confident I may have a claim to Citizenship following the change in the law. I'd really appreciate the opinion of anyone who knows anything about my scenario, please. Currently I'm living in the UK on an Ancestry visa (going into year 3 shortly). I have no dependents on my ancestry visa as my children (both adults now) are both already British & living in England (their father is British, he was born in Northern Ireland). This is all probably less relevant in any case.

I was born in South Africa on 22nd January 1983.
My mother is a British Citizen, born in Umtali, Rhodesia on 1st March 1962 (I'm not sure what regulation applies but she's a British Citizen),
My maternal grandmother was born in Brighton, England on 13th August 1934 to British parents (both born in England),
My maternal grandfather was born in Birmingham, England on 7th July 1933 to British parents (both born in England),
My maternal grandparents were married in Southern Rhodesia on the 8th December 1959.

My father is South African, born in South Africa in 1957 to parents who were also both born in South Africa.

Is anyone able to provide further guidance (I think I have a rough idea from previous posts, just looking for absolute confirmation before I start the application process).

Thank you so much!