§ Mr. Thompsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will specify the various categories into which citizens entitled to British citizenship but living outside the United Kingdom fall.
§ Mr. RaisonPeople living abroad may be citizens of the United Kingdom and colonies because of their birth, adoption, naturalisation or registration in the United Kingdom or islands; or because of their birth, naturalisation or registration in an existing colony or a former colony whose citizenship they did not acquire on independence; or because of their descent from a father in any of these categories. Others may be British subjects without citizenship under section 13 of the British Nationality Act 1948 or British protected persons as defined in section 32(1) of that Act. Citizens of Commonwealth countries may also be known as British subjects—section 1(2)—and certain citizens of the Republic of Ireland may also claim to remain British subjects under section 2. Persons in these categories do not necessarily have the right of abode in 377W the United Kingdom. This is defined in section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971.
§ Mr. Thompsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the cost of becoming a naturalised British subject; and what conditions are laid down on applicants.
§ Mr. RaisonA successful applicant for naturalisation is required to pay a fee under the British Nationality (Amendment) Regulations. The fees are amended from time to time and under the current British Nationality (Amendment) Regulations 1979 an application made after 4 April 1979 attracts a fee of £90 when successful. In addition, a commissioner for oaths or other authorised person is entitled to charge a fee of £1 for witnessing the signing of the application and for administering the oath of allegiance to a successful applicant, although applicants are told that a justice of the peace makes no charge for either of these legal requirements. An applicant is also required to give notice that he is applying for naturalisation in two separate issues of a newspaper circulating in the district in which he resides.
The residential and other qualifications for naturalisation are laid down in section 10 of the British Nationality Act 1948 and the related second schedule as amended. In general, they require an applicant to have completed five years' residence, to be of good character and have a sufficient knowledge of English, and to intend, if naturalised, to reside here.