United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - British Nationality for Grandchildren

Listen to our RECENT WEBINAR where our two British nationality experts - Philip Gamble and Mishal Patel - discuss the ways in which children under 18 can have rights to British nationality.

There are provisions in British nationality law allowing a claim for grandchildren of a person born in the UK. It's a complex area, and any claim for grandchildren would be termed a Non-Standard route to British Nationality and (in most cases) requires specialist advice*.

We cover three scenarios relevant to a claim:

• Grandchildren Under 18
• Grandchildren Born After 1 Jan 1983
• Grandchildren Born Between 1 Jan 1949 and 31 Dec 1982

 

Grandchildren Under 18

You must take action before they're 18.

 

Grandchildren Born After 1 Jan 1983

Not many solutions, but here are some:

• Grandchild (or their parent) born in former British Colony
• Grandchild (or their parent) registered as British Citizen
• Grandchild's grandfather in Crown Service

 

Grandchildren Born Between 1 Jan 1949 and 31 Dec 1982

Several scenarios, here are some:

• Grandchild (or their parent) born in former British territory
• Grandchild (or their parent) registered as British Citizen
• Grandchild's parent in Crown Service
• Grandchild's parents married pre 49

Former British Territories include:

• British Protectorates
• British Protected States
• Mandated Territories
• Foreign Countries with ETJ
• Post 1949 Colonies

 

Do my Grandchildren have a claim to British Nationality?

Given the complexities of British nationality legislation, and because we handle hundreds of complex enquiries every day, we have developed a simple 4 STEP PROCESS as the most effective way of giving you the answer you’re looking for.

The steps are as follows: 

• Step 1: Standard vs Non-Standard. Determine whether the grandchild has a Standard claim to British Nationality. They have a Standard claim if they were born in the UK before 1983, a parent was Naturalised before their birth, or they have a parent born in the UK before 1983 (provided that their parents were married at the time of birth). All other claims are considered Non-Standard.

• Step 2: Nationality Assessment: If the grandchild does NOT have a Standard Route (as determined in Step 1 above), complete our FREE on-line Nationality Assessment. Your input is filtered against the criteria of hundreds of Non-Standard British nationality solutions that we know of. Your Results Page - the final page on the assessment - will set out all their possible solutions.

• Step 3: British Passport Review. From your Results Page (reached in Step 2), you can instruct Philip Gamble (our founder and senior partner, and widely regarded as the world's leading expert on the subject) to review your family tree that you create in Step 2. By ordering this FREE review, you are asking Philip for his opinion on your grandchild's chances of claiming British Nationality. Philip will respond by email with a Definite, Likely, Possible, Unlikely or Remote answer.

• Step 4: Status Trace. You instruct Philip Gamble and his team of specialists in London to review copies of your family documents and research your grandchild's rights to British Nationality. After searching for any possible way in which you can qualify, they will write a detailed Nationality Report, giving you a Yes/No answer. A fee of £350 applies.

 

What should I do NOW?

To avoid incurring unnecessary research or application fees at this point, we suggest you complete Steps 2 and 3 by:

1. Completing our FREE online Nationality Assessment
2. Ordering our FREE British Passport Review

You will receive a series of emails, setting out clearly the solutions that your grandchild appears to qualify for, as well as Philip’s response to your British Passport Review. Once you have completed these two steps, we will contact you by phone or email and discuss their nationality situation and talk you through what steps you can take.

 

Key Terms

British Nationality for Grandchildren
British Nationality Grandchildren
Grandchildren British Nationality
British Nationality if my Grandchildren

Read here for more information on British nationality by Double Descent.