rayd wrote:
My many thanks to all who have given very complete answers to my questions. I will have to think seriously about registering as a BC. Having lived in the UK since my father retired from the British Army in 1954, I haven't ever considered myself to be anything other than British until the 1981 act reared its ugly head. It wasn't until I actually needed a passport that the reality of my situation was put into print.
The 1981 Act isn't what created your problem. Your status was created by the British Nationality Act 1948.
Had you been born in the exact same circumstances in another Dominion - eg Australia, Canada or New Zealand - you would almost certainly have become a citizen of that country in 1947-49 and not held any form of UK citizenship. And had India enacted a law like Australia's, for example, you would have become an Indian citizen.
It was expected that a small number of people connected with these Dominions would not be "caught" by the citizenship laws of those countries, and in those cases the UK granted them UK & Colonies citizenship (known as the "mop-up" provisions). A few cases of people who acquired UK citizenship this way crop up from time to time, but it's not very common.
But the initial citizenship laws of India and Pakistan excluded a
lot of people, so the UK never activated the "mop-up" provision to give UK citizenship to those so excluded connected with those countries.
Hence, what was expected to be a "temporary" status of British subject without citizenship, effectively became permanent for quite a few people connected with India and Pakistan before 1949.
And you are "British" - just a British subject, not a British citizen.
Does anyone know the lead time for registration at the moment? We hope to go abroad again in March and don't want to be left with my passport in the hands of the IND.
As others have said, average Home Office processing time of 2 months. Registrations get priority over naturalisation. Add a month or so for a citizenship ceremony afterwards.
You can send a solicitor certified copy of your passport (all pages) to the Home Office instead of the original. In fact as a general rule, all documents you send, including your proof of residence, should be certified copies.
Incidentally, if you have been living in the UK since the 1950s, you have been entitled to apply for registration as a British citizen (or UK & Colonies citizen prior to 1983) all along.