Guidance

Form RN: guidance (accessible version)

Updated 18 November 2024

Declaration of renunciation:

• British citizenship

• British Overseas Territories citizenship

• British Overseas citizenship

• British subject status

• British National (Overseas) status

November 2024

About this guidance

This guide is for British citizens, British Overseas Territories citizens, British Overseas citizens, British subjects, and British Nationals (Overseas), who wish to renounce (give up) their citizenship or status.

This guide will help you to decide whether you can renounce your citizenship or status and tells you how to do it.

Introduction

The law covering renunciation is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981 and the Regulations made under it. Renunciation of British National (Overseas) status is covered by the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986.

The information in this guide is meant only as a brief guide to the law and to the Home Secretary’s policy. It is not a comprehensive statement of either the law or the policy.

OISC and Immigration Advice   

You may, if you wish, use the services of an agent such as a solicitor or other competent adviser to help you with your application.   

Immigration or nationality advisers acting in the course of business (whether paid or unpaid) are regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC), an independent body. Nationality advice should only be provided by a person who works for an organisation registered with, or exempted by, the OISC or who is authorised to practise (like solicitors and barristers) by a designated professional body. Certain categories (for example public health bodies) are exempted from the regulatory scheme by Ministerial Order. It is a criminal offence to provide advice or services in contravention of the regulatory scheme. Further information about the regulatory scheme and a full list of OISC regulated advisers is available on its website.

Who can renounce British nationality

If you are one of the following:

• a British citizen
• a British Overseas Territories citizen
• a British Overseas citizen
• a British subject
• a British National (Overseas)

You may renounce your citizenship or status if either:

• you are a citizen or national of another country, or
• you can satisfy the Home Secretary, or Governor (if you wish to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship), that you will acquire another citizenship or nationality within 6 months of renouncing your British nationality.

And:

• you are of full age (aged 18 or over).
  • if you are under 18 and have been married or in a civil partnership, you are treated as being of full age for this purpose
• you are of full capacity.
  • the British Nationality Act 1981 defines full capacity as being “not of unsound mind”. We consider this requirement met if you have some understanding of the meaning and consequences of renunciation

The Secretary of State or Governor has discretion to waive the requirement to be of full capacity if they think it is in the applicant’s best interests to do so. If you are applying on behalf of someone else who is not of full capacity and for whom you are responsible you will need to explain why it would be in the applicant’s best interests for them to renounce their citizenship, despite their inability to understand fully what is involved. This should be supported by confirmation of the applicant’s mental condition and of the fact that they are in your care.

For British Nationals (Overseas) and former British Dependent Territories citizens by connection with Hong Kong

If you were a British Dependent Territories citizen by virtue only of a connection with Hong Kong, you ceased to be a British Dependent Territories citizen on 1 July 1997. If you had no other nationality or citizenship on that date, you automatically became a British Overseas citizen.

A person who became a British National (Overseas) cannot also be a British Overseas Territories citizen through their connection to Hong Kong. They would need to have a connection to a current British Overseas Territory.

The British Overseas Territories are:

• Anguilla

• Bermuda

• British Antarctic Territory

• British Indian Ocean Territory

• Cayman Islands

• Falkland Islands

• Gibraltar

• Montserrat

• Pitcairn

• Henderson

• Ducie and Oeno Islands

• St. Helena

• Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

• The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia

• Turks and Caicos Islands

• The British Virgin Islands

Before 26 February 2002, British Overseas Territories and British Overseas Territories citizenship were called British Dependent Territories and British Dependent Territories citizenship respectively.

On 21 May 2002, all existing British Overseas Territories citizens, except those connected to the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (in Cyprus), became British citizens under Section 3 of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.

How to renounce British nationality

You can renounce your British citizenship, British Overseas Territories citizenship, British Overseas citizenship, British subject or British National (Overseas) status by completing a declaration of renunciation. You can apply online or by post.

If you live in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, or a British Overseas Territory, you must apply by post.

Pay the required fee.

If you hold more than one type of British nationality, apart from British Overseas Territories citizenship, you can renounce them all on one declaration.

If you wish to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship and another citizenship or status, you will need to complete two separate declarations. This is because the application to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship needs to be made to the Governor of the territory, but all other renunciations are made to the Home Secretary.

Documents to provide

As part of your application, you may need to provide supporting documentation such as:

• your birth certificate
• evidence of your British nationality (such as a passport or a certificate of registration or naturalisation)
  • if you have your citizenship or status through descent from a parent or grandparent, you should send documents proving that person’s citizenship or status and your relationship to them
• your marriage or civil partnership certificate if you are under the age of 18 and have been married or in a civil partnership
• evidence that you have, or will obtain, another citizenship or nationality after making a declaration of renunciation:
  • your current passport describing you as a citizen or national of the country concerned or a statement from the authorities of the country concerned confirming citizenship, or
  • a statement from the authorities of the country concerned confirming that you will become a citizen or national of that country if you do not currently hold citizenship of another country

Information you give us will be treated in confidence but may be disclosed to other government departments and agencies and local authorities to enable them to carry out their functions.

What to consider before you apply

Once your declaration of renunciation has been registered by the Home Secretary (or Governor if you are renouncing British Overseas Territories citizenship) – your renunciation will take effect on that date, and you will cease to hold the status(es) you have renounced.

In war time the Home Secretary or Governor can withhold registration.

If your declaration is registered in the expectation that you will acquire another citizenship, but you do not do so within 6 months of the registration, the renunciation will not take effect, and you will be considered to have remained a British national as before.

A declaration of renunciation affects only the status of the person making the declaration and does not affect the current status of any other member of their existing family.

British citizenship – immigration status in the UK after renouncing

A British citizen who renounces their citizenship will lose their right of abode in the United Kingdom, unless they also have that right as a Commonwealth citizen.

If you previously held permission to enter or remain in the UK (including indefinite leave to remain) before you became a British citizen, you cannot resume that status after you have renounced your citizenship. This is because any permission you held prior to obtaining British citizenship will have automatically fallen away at that point and is no longer valid.

If you renounce British citizenship and want to live in the UK, you will need to apply under the Immigration Rules. You must submit your application under the Immigration Rules within 14 days of your citizenship being renounced. Failure to do so may result in your application being refused.

Resuming British nationality

A person who renounces British citizenship or British Overseas Territories citizenship has a right (once only) to resume that citizenship if the renunciation was necessary to enable them to keep or obtain another citizenship.

A person who renounces British citizenship or British Overseas Territories citizenship more than once, or for any other reason, may be allowed to resume that citizenship if the Home Secretary or Governor thinks there are good reasons to grant their application.

Further information on resumption of citizenship is available in the published guidance on GOV.UK:

• Guide RS1 – application for registration as a British citizen by a person who has made a declaration of renunciation.
• Guide RS2 - application for registration as a British Overseas Territories citizen by a person who has made a declaration of renunciation.

A person who renounces British Overseas citizenship,  British subject or British National (Overseas) status cannot later resume that citizenship or status.

What happens afterwards

After the declaration has been registered, the declaration officially signed and stamped, will be sent to you, together with the documents that you sent. This copy will be formal evidence that your declaration of renunciation has become effective.

If you wish to remain in the UK after renouncing your British citizenship

If you are a British citizen and wish to remain in the UK after renouncing your British citizenship, you will need to make an application under the Immigration Rules (see ‘British citizenship – immigration status in the UK after renouncing’).

If you have a British passport or a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in the UK

Once your declaration of renunciation has been registered, your British passport or certificate of entitlement will be cancelled.

If you do not acquire another citizenship or nationality within 6 months of your declaration of renunciation being registered

If your declaration was registered in the expectation of your acquiring another citizenship, but you do not do so within 6 months of the registration, you should send your ‘Applicant’s Copy’ of the declaration, together with a letter from the authorities of the other country concerned confirming that you have not acquired that country’s citizenship to:

Department 1
UKVI
The Capital
New Hall Place
Liverpool
L3 9PP

Your declaration will then be forwarded to UK Visas and Immigration, or to the Governor of the relevant territory (if appropriate), and endorsed to show that your renunciation never took effect.

If you previously held a British passport or a certificate of entitlement, you can reapply for either of these documents after your renunciation has been voided.

You cannot have both a British passport and a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in the UK at the same time.

Further information on applying for British passports and certificates of entitlement is available on GOV.UK.

Citizenship-related queries

If, having read the information set out in this guidance, you have questions about renouncing British nationality, you can email the Citizenship and Nationality Enquiries team at [email protected].

If you’ve not had a response, we recommend checking your email’s spam or junk folder before contacting UKVI again.

Alternatively, you can get in touch via telephone on 0300 790 6268. You will need to select option 2, then option 2 again. You can get in touch Monday to Thursday from 9am to 4:45pm, or Friday, 9am to 4:30pm. Information about call charges are available on GOV.UK.