What Does It Mean To Be A British Citizen

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized as being a legal member of a country. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship is said to be stateless. A citizen is someone who legally belongs to a particular country although most people see citizenship as also meaning that you care about your local community and play and active part in the local community and also caring about and understanding the country in which you live.

Generally, citizenship is Being of a particular nationality and legally able to hold a passport for that country, Holding specific legal rights/responsibilities which are not given to people from outside of that country and moral and social qualities, such volunteering in their

People gain British nationality because they are connected with the UK in ways such as being born in the UK, Their parents were British citizens, they have registered to become British citizens or they have applied to become a British citizen. If you have settled here because of work or as an asylum seeker you can still apply for British citizenship. There are two main ways to do this registration or naturalisation. Registration is when you register to become a British citizen if you already have some connection with the UK such as being a British Overseas citizen, a British Protected Person or if you have previously given up British citizenship and want it back. Naturalisation is for individuals with no connection with the UK, including people from Ireland and the Commonwealth Nations must apply for a certificate of naturalisation. In order to qualify for a certificate you must have lived legally in the UK for 5 years and meet the following criteria: Be 18 or over, Be of sound mind, Be of good character, Have sufficient knowledge of English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic, Stay closely connected with the UK and be Married to a British citizen and lived in the UK for 3