Two women who have lived almost all their lives in UK, but whose British fathers were not married, tell how they are having to battle for British citizenship
Two women who have lived almost all their lives in the UK have had their lives thrown into chaos due to the new border control rules for British dual nationals because their French mothers were not married to their British fathers.
Both women have been forced to prove their right to British passports as a result of archaic laws, which did not accord automatic citizenship to the children of unmarried British fathers in dual national relationships until the law was changed in 2005.
The women are among hundreds of people who have been hit by the new border rules for British dual nationals requiring a British passport or certificate of entitlement of abode costing £589 that must be shown to enter the UK.
Simon Cox, immigration barrister at Doughty Chambers, said parliament abolished other kinds of discrimination against the children of unmarried parents in 1987, but didn’t change the law for British citizenship until 2005.
