United Kingdom - Passport & Nationality - British Overseas Citizen (BOC) - Nyasaland

Listen to our BRITISH NATIONALITY WEBINAR on Malawi where our two British nationality experts - Philip Gamble and Mishal Patel - discuss a family birth in Nyasaland and its implications for claims to British nationality in the modern day.

British Overseas Citizenship (commonly referred to as a BOC) is a residual status derived from a connection with a former British Territory. This particular BOC solution arises from a father's birth in Nyasaland (now Malawi) and occurs in the following set of circumstances:

BORN BEFORE MALAWIAN INDEPENDENCE ON 5 JULY 1964

 - Candidate was born after 1 January 1949;

 - Candidate was born outside of Nyasaland;

 - Candidate's father was born in Nyasaland before 1949; AND

 - Candidate's paternal grandfather was born in a former British Crown Dominion.

BORN AFTER MALAWIAN INDEPENDENCE ON 5 JULY 1964

 - Candidate was born before 1 January 1982;

 - Candidate's father was born in Nyasaland before 1949; AND

 - Candidate's paternal grandfather was born in a former British Crown Dominion.

It is possible, in some circumstances, to UPGRADE the BOC status to full British Citizenship, even if another nationality is held, but this would again require specialist advice.