mad city fan

We are STILL doing the form 80 and the 47sk, on form 80 asking parents details and country of birth my OH mum was born in America left there when she was 8, moved to Ireland ,then at 28 moved to England when filling out these forms it asks about citizenship she has never held a british passport and never claimed citizenship any advice on this would be greatly appreciated Please dont tell me she could be an illegal immigrant shes nearly 80

yanH

Sounds like the only citizenship she would automatically get is US (due to being born there). I think you might be right that she could be classed as an illegal immigrant in the UK. I remember a similar case recently where an elderly person travelled abroad for the first time and discovered that they weren't a British Citizen due to being born overseas. I think that the Government jobsworths then actually wanted to deport this person (in spite of the fact that they had lived in the UK for 95%+ of their life. My advice would be to check things out very carefully.

Here's a link to the story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/s...al/6756341.stm

JAJ

Not if she legally entered the United Kingdom as a migrant in the first place. The immigration laws were very different 50 years ago. And even the current laws allow someone to be given permanent residence (even if illegal) after 14 years.

If her father was born in the UK, she may be a British citizen by descent anyway. And if either parent was born in the Republic of Ireland then she is an Irish citizen and UK permanent resident (and can apply directly for naturalisation as a British citizen).

Otherwise, it's obviously essential for her to obtain evidence of her lawful immigrant status in the UK, and then preferably apply for naturalisation as a British citizen.

And she ought not to leave the UK without some evidence of her right to return. An American passport on its own won't do, as someone else has already found out.