Ok, I have gone over the words with a fine tooth comb many times and am about to write the Home Office for an official opinion. But I thought I would throw it out to you guys first.
I know that I can come over to the Uk on a UK ancestry visa, in fact that is what I am planning to do. But if I can get citizenship or right of abode, that would be even better.
I am asking if you think I can get either British citizenship, or Right of Abode.
Here's the story: All you lawyer types sharpen your pencils!
My maternal grandparents were born and married in Scotland. In 1926 or 1927 they left Scotland and settled in Canada. My mother was born 25 July 1927. Her parents were married at the time of her birth. My grandparents never became Canadian citizens or gave up their British nationality. I believe her status at the time of her birth would have been governed by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act -1914.
According to the Website I found published by the Embassy in New York my mother was a “British Subject” by right of her BIRTH in a Crown Dominion-
http://www.britainusa.com/consular/bnatlaw.asp
(paragraph 2.)
In the British Nationality Act 1948, those of “British Subject” status were translated to a
“Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies”. So my mother was now a citizen of the UK by virtue of her birth in a Crown Dominion as well as a citizen of Canada. Both being able to be held at the same time, (paragraph 3.) This act governed her status until 1983 when the British Nationality Act of 1983 was enacted.
I was born in the USA to this citizen of the UK in 1960. I have an American father. They were legally married at the time of my birth. At the time of my birth my mother's status would have been governed by the 1948 act. I have Canadian citizenship because my mother was born in Canada. My mother is now deceased.
So, in 1960 I was born to a citizen of the UK who held that status by virtue of her birth. I am a Commonwealth citizen and hold citizenship documents as well as a Canadian passport. According to the Website of the Home Office, I am entitled to registration and the Right of Abode in the UK. Huh??
This, then, is my line of reasoning in claiming the Right of Abode in the UK. I think it all hinges on that act of 1914, and my mother’s gaining her British citizenship by birth rather than descent, or by the official status of Canada at the time of her birth as a Crown Dominion.
Did my mother somehow lose that precious citizenship by BIRTH in one of the subsequent acts after her birth? I have no idea if she ever actively did anything about her status through the years. (Registering or claiming anythng.)
If she still held her status by birth as she did when she aquired it under the 1914 act, then I think I can claim Right to Abode.
Am I grasping at straws?
If so how do I prove she still held that status?
Any opinions?
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