Revoking one's own UK citizinship - consequences?

I guess you mean renounce. I presume that would only be accepted as valid by HM Government if you have another citizenship to fall back on; I do not believe you can make yourself stateless by choice. So many of your questions will be answered by the status, right to reside etc. of citizens of whatever different state you will hold yourself out as a national.

Tony

AIUI you cannot "revoke" your citizenship. A fact which William Joyce discovered in 1946, when the British government hanged him.

However, you might find that "British Citizenship" is incompatible with citizenship of another country - although I have never heard of that. However, being a citizen of another country (and living within their jurisdiction) might insulate you from the actions of the British Government.

is it not the case that th UK will allow you to be joint cityzen with anywhere but that there are countries that will not allow you to adopt their nationality without renoucing all others. Austria for example.

Robert

The US in the 1920s was the same. In fact, a *British* citizen applying for US citizenship had to take an extra oath - specifically renouncing British citizenship.

Joyces problem was that the British government (at the time, I have no idea about now) had no recognition of renouncing British Citizenship. IIRC this was pivotal in the Joyce case, as he was charged with "treason" on the basis that as a British Citizen he enjoyed the Kings protection. If the British government had recognised his renouncing of Britishness, he would not have faced a treason charge.

One for the legal scholars and historians here : if that had been the case, what charge (if any) would he have faced for his wartime actions ?

Wouldn't be easier just to fake your own demise, and scurry off to live in Panama?

wrote

Come on, spill the dirt - you can't leave us dangling like this! What are the rights that we'll be denied?

Grenada (West Indies) used to issue passports to anyone who applied for a cost of about £250 IIRC. It seemed the best deal at the time, because while there were plenty of places offering similar facillities, many countries refused entry to people carrying those passports, or did not recognise the passport at all. A Grenadian passport OTOH is almost as universally accepted as a UK or a US passport.

I have no idea whether Grenada still offers that service. (I think most of the £250 was to buy your Grenadian (dual) citizenship, after which you could apply for a passport as a citizen).

I expect you can still purchase a Citizen of the World passport, with its rainbow coloured cover. No proof of identity is required. About the only disadvantage of a CotW passport is that it is not recognised as a valid travel document by any country at all - though most immigration officers will put a stamp in it if asked. It might come in handy once interplanetary tourism starts up.

You could if your new citizenship was that of another EU state, although of course you wouldn't want that if it's the EU you want to be outwith :-)

You'd be entitled to anything based on previous contributions, but not to anything that's not contribution based.

Yes.

You fill in a form.

You'd probably need to do that first, actually. You can't renounce British citizenship unless you are either already hold citizenship of another state or you you can satisfy the Home Secretary that you will acquire such a citizenship or nationality after renouncing British citizenship. In the latter case, your renunciation will be revoked if you haven't successfully gained another citizenship within 6 months.

Mark

If you change it to renounce I think you can but only formally. This is why Joyce was hanged.

Curiously, Joyce had nothing to renounce because he was never a British subject, he was born an American and died a German, and only obtained his British passport by lying. He was acquitted on two of the charges of high treason but then hanged just for the passport - the prosecution argued that the passport, albeit procured by fraud and albeit expired, had entitled Joyce to diplomatic protection at the time he started working for Germany in 1939, and so in return he had then owed an allegiance to the King.

Tony

We've established that you can hold dual nationality. Joyce also obtained the passport so, although there is a case for saying you cannot obtain something "legally" by fraud, it seems reasonable that if he is going to benefit from it's rights he should accept the obligations. The expiring of a passport doesn't end your nationality.

Does having a passport always equal citizenship/nationality?

Does this mean one would not get the basic state pension? AFAIK this is based on NICs.

The BSP is worth a pension pot of somewhere around £100k-£150k which one would not chuck away lightly.

Would this actually happen?

British Nationality Law states the following about renunciation:

"A declaration made by a person in pursuance of this section shall not be registered unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the person who made it will after the registration have or acquire some citizenship or nationality other than British citizenship; and if that person does not have any such citizenship or nationality on the date of registration and does not acquire some such citizenship or nationality within six months from that date, he shall be, and be deemed to have remained, a British citizen notwithstanding the registration."

So - they're saying that a person who renounces British nationality must show that they possess or will possess another nationality within six months of their renunciation being accepted. AND, if they do not acquire another nationality within six months then they will be viewed as never having lost their giving British nationality.

One question would be on what basis would such a person remain in the UK. If they give up their British citizenship, they would lose their right of abode. They would either need an EEA citizenship, or some other legal permission to remain in the UK, no?

No. For example Latvia now issues non-citizen passports to residents who are former U.S.S.R. citizens and who do not qualify for citizenship of Latvia. The UK issues (issued?) a range of passports, some to citizens, some to non-citizens with permission to reside in the UK and some (used to be - don't know if they are still issued) to residents of former colonies and with no right to reside in the UK. You need to read what is written on the front page to determine whether the passport confirms citizenship.

Tony

No.

I think Joyce must have held himself out to be a British citizen in his passport application. The law was different then anyway.

Is he thinking of the European arrest warrant? if you were not the cityzen of any EU country then perhaps some evidence would be requried before you could be extraditied from one EU state to another.

Robert