British Overseas Territories Act 2002
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| Long title | An Act to make provision about the name “British overseas territories” and British citizenship so far as relating to the British overseas territories. |
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| Citation | 2002 c.8 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 26 February 2002 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The British Overseas Territories Act 2002 (c.8) is an Act of Parliament in the UK, which superseded parts of the British Nationality Act 1981. It makes provision for the renaming of the British Dependent Territories as British Overseas Territories, and the renaming of associated citizenship.
As a result of the act, all who were British Overseas Territories citizens (apart from those solely connected with the Cyprus Sovereign Base Areas) immediately prior to 21 May 2002 automatically became full British Citizens on that date (previously full British citizenship was available only to people from Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands).
The law was enacted five years after the end of British sovereignty over Hong Kong, whose population had been vastly greater than all other British Dependent Territories put together.
The qualifying territories for the purposes of the 2002 Act include the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and the British Antarctic Territory. At the time, there was discussion as to whether either of these territories should be treated as qualifying territories for the purposes of the Act, when neither have a permanent population and in the case of the British Antarctic Territory there are competing territorial claims that are held in abeyance.
Although it is not normally possible under either territory's immigration laws to acquire British Overseas Territories citizenship (BOTC) by naturalisation in that territory, the former inhabitants of the BIOT still hold BOTC by virtue of their birth, or a parent's birth, in that territory. It also appears that at least one person (Emilio Palma) holds British nationality by virtue of birth in the British Antarctic Territory prior to 1983.
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