UK Citizenship and Naturalisation Services

British Overseas Territories citizen

British Overseas Territories’ citizenship was called ‘British dependent territories’ citizenship’ before 26 February 2002.

If you were born before 1 January 1983

You became a British Overseas Territories’ citizen on 1 January 1983 if both of these applied:

you were a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies on 31 December 1982
you had connections with a British overseas territory because you, your parents or your grandparents were born, registered or naturalised in that British overseas territory
You also became a British Overseas Territories’ citizen if you were a woman married to a man who became a British Overseas Territories’ citizen on 1 January 1983.

If you were born on or after 1 January 1983

You’re a British Overseas Territories’ citizen if both the following apply:

you were born in a British overseas territory
at the time of your birth, one of your parents was a British Overseas Territories citizen or legally settled in a British overseas territory

You’re also a British Overseas Territories’ citizen if one of the following applies:

you were adopted in an overseas territory by a British Overseas Territories citizen
you were born outside the overseas territory to a parent who gained British Overseas Territories citizenship in their own right (known as ‘otherwise than by descent’)

Rights as a British Overseas Territories citizen

You can:

hold a British passport
get consular assistance and protection from UK diplomatic posts

Unless you’re also a British citizen:

you’re still subject to immigration controls – you don’t have the automatic right to live or work in the UK
you aren’t considered a UK national by the European Union (EU)

British citizenship

You automatically became a British citizen on 21 May 2002 if your British Overseas Territories’ citizenship was gained by connection with a qualifying territory.

The qualifying territories are:

Anguilla
Bermuda
British Antarctic Territory
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar
Montserrat
Pitcairn Islands
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands

Register as a British citizen

You may be able to register as a British citizen if you became a British Overseas Territories’ citizen after 21 May 2002 and meet certain conditions.