Why can’t I Claim British Citizenship?

By Emma Norton

The Guardian – ukccen was born abroad to an unmarried British father, and so cannot apply for a British passport. Is this discriminatory?

ukccen asks:

I was born outside the UK to an unmarried British father. As of 13 January 2010, all children born to a British parent will have the right to apply for a British passport, except those who fall under my category. Adult children of unmarried British fathers born before 1 July 2006 are the only group of children being discriminated against in terms of a path to British citizenship … Why does this unfairness continue to be allowed?

Both ukccen and EqualityMatters have raised similar issues in the same week. The issues are, however, different and, as replying to both would be very lengthy we are going to reply to ukccen’s this week and will try to come back to EqualityMatter in a future week. It is not clear from the enquiry whether ukccen is male or female but I shall assume for purposes of the advice that she is female. In any case, the advice offered is not affected by her sex.

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