With many South Africans looking to pack their bags and move overseas, Sable International has provided a comprehensive list of ways for South Africans to get a British passport through their UK-born grandparent.

There is a huge South African community in the UK. According to the latest United Nations’ International Migration Stock Report, 250,000 people living in the UK listed South Africa as their country of birth.

JP Breytenbach, the Director of Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, said that the UK is a highly desired by South Africans for several reasons:

• No language or cultural barriers;

• Easy to fly between South Africa and the UK;

• The UK is the hub of economic activity in Europe; and

• A large number of South Africans already live in the UK.

Many South Africans are looking to emigrate and people with grandparents born in the UK may be able to claim British citizenship via a number of different avenues.

Double descent is where a parent is also born out of the UK and acquired citizenship via a parent (the applicant’s grandparent) who was born in the UK.

Mishal Patel from Sable International said that claiming UK citizenship from double descent is more complicated than getting it from a parent.

“A practical scenario like this would have a child born, let’s say in South Africa in 2006, their parent is also born in South Africa, in the 1970s, with the grandparent born in the UK. How can this child claim citizenship automatically through their parent, even though the parent themselves is British by descent?”

“That’s where the UK usually has their stance where the answer is, “no”. There are certain interpretations that allow us to claim citizenship for that child by double descent,” Patel said.

Citizenship via a UK-born grandmother

One route that South Africans can go to get citizenship is via an automatic claim through a parent who has been registered to a UK-born mother.

Patel said that people who are born in South Africa before 1983 could not claim citizenship via their UK-born mother. However, in 1979, the UK changes its law and told its British posts to register such children, who were minors, as British citizens.

“So, if I was someone born, let’s say, in 1979 in South Africa to a mother born in the UK, I will be registered under Section 7 of the law that was prevailing at that point. Now, what that means is, in the modern day, that parent has a full British passport, having been registered through their mom before 1983,” he said.

This means that citizenship passes on to one further generation born out of the UK to children born after 1 January 1983.

“In other words, in terms of a family tree, let’s say your child was born in 1995 and you, the father, were born in South Africa before 1983, and you have been registered in this fashion before 1983, your child is British by descent and has always been British.”

If the parent has a British passport while not being born in the UK, and they got it via their mom, or they were registered before 1983, the law would still be applicable to children, even if they are over 18.

Crown service

Another less common way is via crown service, which allows a British classified parent with a father (the grandparent) born in the UK to pass on citizenship to a further generation born out of the UK if the child was born in South Africa after 1 January 1983.

Crown Service most commonly refers to the British South African Police, where UK-born grandfathers went to Zimbabwe – Southern Rhodesia at the time.

Parents not born in the UK but had fathers (grandfathers) who were in the British South African Police Service can claim citizenship and pass it on to further generations.

These parents have always had the right to pass on British citizenship to their children.

“A lot of people are under the wrong impression that Crown Service means army service only for the UK government. But not necessarily. It includes teachers, civil officers, and so on,” Patel said.

Citizenship is not a passport

Patel said that people often misunderstand that British citizenship does not automatically lead to a British passport, with that only happening when the passport office can be convinced.

If a parent can prove to the passport office that their child has always been British, this will get a British passport.

However, some double-descent claims give the option to register the child as a British citizen as they are not already British.

Parents can then use the registration certificate to apply for their first British passport. However, there is an age limit, and applications need to be submitted before the child turns 18.

“In a practical sense, the most common way is where a double descent claim would first need to go through a registration process, which is a formal way to acquire British citizenship. It’s about an application to the Home Office in the UK, rather than the passport office. They are two separate entities in the UK. One grants passports, the other grants nationality.”

Parent lived in the UK for three years

A common way where double descent claims have led to a registration option is where the parent lived in the UK for a set period of time.

Parents who are British by descent and were not born in the UK cannot pass their citizenship straight to their children.

However, if these parents lived in the UK for three years, where no more than 270 days out before the child’s birth, they can pass citizenship on to their child.

It doesn’t matter if the parent didn’t have a British passport when they travelled in the UK, as they were British citizens when they travelled to the UK.

However, to use this method, the child needs to be under the age of 18.

source:These are the easiest ways for South Africans to claim British citizenship from their grandparent – BusinessTech