British Citizenship - Downsides of British Citizenship?

[atkuzmanov]

Hello everyone,

I will be applying for British Citizenship soon and I am going through the application form and I have the following questions.

Question 1: Are there any downsides or negatives to becoming a British Citizen?

I am currently a national of an EU country which supports dual citizenship, same as Britain.
This means I will not loose my current citizenship and instead have dual citizenship for both countries.

I couldn't think of any negatives or downsides to that.
I can only think of positives, such as being able to feel like part of the society even more and contribute to it more fully.

Perhaps there are some downsides, so that's why I wanted to ask a wider audience and see if anyone has anything in mind or has had any experiences relating to this?

So far the only topic in the forum that I have found to have some info on this question is this one, however this is not something that concerns me and that I would consider a downside for me personally:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... e#p1114940


The Application Form AN, Guide AN and Booklet AN can be found here:

Application for naturalisation as a British citizen: form AN:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... N_v1_0.pdf

Naturalisation as a British citizen - a guide for applicants: guide AN:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... N_v1_0.pdf

Naturalisation booklet - the requirements: booklet AN:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... c_2014.pdf


I apologise for being so thorough, it's a very expensive application and I really want to get it right the first time.

Thanks,
atkuzmanov

[secret.simon]

While I do not see any immediate downsides to British citizenship, not everybody feels that way.

See http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... y#p1147266, which while not an argument against British citizenship, demonstrates that it is not to everybody's liking.

[blooms]

There are downsides.

As a British citizen, you can no longer appeal to EU law to help you out. In some cases, Britain is tougher on its citizens than on EU residents.

A specific example is marriage. The Surinder Singh cases are all about people appealing to the less restrictive EU law.

[atkuzmanov]

Thank you very much for your reply @secret.simon!
A very interesting thread indeed.

I think I should be fine in this case though because:
- My home country - Bulgaria supports dual citizenship.
- Bulgaria is part of the EU and the EEA, so even if I ever want to renounce my uk citizenship, which I doubt I ever will, I don't think I will be having the problems the OP from the other thread has.
- The UK supports dual citizenship.

In one of the posts from the other thread I did not understand the following:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... y#p1147266

The number of countries that allow dual citizenship, either de jure or de facto, is on the increase. Given time, it may be that the country of your roots may offer it, in the fullness of time.

What does "de jure" and "de facto" mean in the context of dual citizenship?
I googled and found out that "de jure" means "concerning law" and that "de facto" means "concerning fact", but I still struggle a bit with the context of "allow dual citizenship, either de jure or de facto"?

[atkuzmanov]

Thank you @blooms, I did not think of the implications of British law vs EU law.
I was also not aware of the Surinder Singh cases.

[atkuzmanov]

Are there any other downsides, such as for example mandatory army service or something like that?

Bulgaria used to have mandatory army service, but that got cancelled years ago.

[fwd079]

Difference is you are a Royal subject after Naturalisation as British Citizen, so if queen asks you to jump you ask how high other than that, you have to follow all rules UK introduces before, on or after the day you became citizen.

[atkuzmanov]

Difference is you are a Royal subject after Naturalisation as British Citizen, so if queen asks you to jump you ask how high other than that, you have to follow all rules UK introduces before, on or after the day you became citizen.

Good point, I think that's fair enough.

Thanks for the reply @fwd079!

[secret.simon]

Thankfully the Queen is not that foolish. In any case, she would not pass any orders except on advice of her ministers. So as long as you can trust her ministers, you are safe.

About my comments about de jure and de facto dual citizenships, some countries explicitly allow multiple citizenships in their laws. That is de jure citizenship.

In other countries (such as the US), the laws do not forbid holding another citizenship but they ignore a dual citizen's other nationality in their country. So, for instance, in the US citizenship oath, you explicitly renounce allegiance to any foreign prince or potentate. Multiple citizenship is not forbidden, but can not be exercised within the US. That is de facto dual citizenship.

Hope that it helps.

[atkuzmanov]

Thankfully the Queen is not that foolish. In any case, she would not pass any orders except on advice of her ministers. So as long as you can trust her ministers, you are safe.

About my comments about de jure and de facto dual citizenships, some countries explicitly allow multiple citizenships in their laws. That is de jure citizenship.

In other countries (such as the US), the laws do not forbid holding another citizenship but they ignore a dual citizen's other nationality in their country. So, for instance, in the US citizenship oath, you explicitly renounce allegiance to any foreign prince or potentate. Multiple citizenship is not forbidden, but can not be exercised within the US. That is de facto dual citizenship.

Hope that it helps.

Thank you so much for your reply @secret.simon!

That was a great example for de jure and de facto, makes it a lot clearer!

So, for example in the US if you have British Citizenship, and you obtain US citizenship, you have dual citizenship, but when in the US, none of the laws that the British Citizenship covers you for will be valid, and US laws will apply instead? Is this correct?