What Is Citizenship By Discretion?

New routes for British citizenship have given many hope

New routes for British nationality have opened for thousands of South Africans and other countries, with the UK government changing legislation allowing people who have not previously qualified for British nationality to now be eligible.

This is called citizenship by discretion, or discretionary Double Descent. In April 2022, laws were passed through the Supreme Court and reached the Royal Assent for those with a UK born grandmother to qualify now for British nationality. Once you’ve got your British nationality, you can apply for a British passport.

Why have these new routes been introduced?

Due to discrimination regarding gender, it is now possible to obtain British citizenship through the female bloodline rather than only the male. We saw a similar change in 2018 with the law being passed for those born before 1983 who had a maternal grandfather being born in the UK. This route has also since extended to those born up until 31 December 1987.

Although this news is good, these cases can be very complicated

While these routes are now available and will be good news for many people, they are extremely complex and would require representation from a qualified Nationality expert for a positive result. An understanding of nationality legislation is needed in order to justify to the British authorities why you would be entitled to British nationality.

For more information on citizenship by discretion, contact a First Move citizenship expert. Our no-win, no-fee model gives our clients the security that we have a common goal in mind.