British Nationality

Mr. Jenkins
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate her Department has made of the number of people eligible for UK citizenship as a result of their ancestry who have not taken up citizenship;

(2) how many people were granted UK citizenship as a result of their ancestry in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Mr. Byrne
The requested information is not available

There is no provision by which someone can gain British citizenship on the basis of United Kingdom ‘ancestry’.

Those with a United Kingdom born father, or a mother born in the United Kingdom after 1 January 1983, will normally acquire citizenship automatically.

Those Commonwealth citizens who can apply for ancestry visas to enter the United Kingdom, on the basis of having a United Kingdom born grandparent, do not have a specific avenue to acquire citizenship on similar grounds. They would need to qualify for naturalisation in the usual way. There is no way of establishing how many of those naturalised had a United Kingdom born grandparent.