Check if you're a British citizen
Your parents' immigration status when you were born
If you were born in the UK after 31 December 1982 and your parents were not British or Irish, you’ll need check their immigration status to be sure you’re automatically a British citizen.
At least one of your parents will usually need to have had one of the following when you were born:
- indefinite leave to remain (ILR)
- right to re-admission
- right of abode
- permanent residence status, if you were born on or before 30 June 2021
- settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
Your parent would have been able to live and work in the UK without restrictions if they had any of these statuses.
Indefinite leave to remain (ILR)
ILR is not usually a status you get automatically - your parent would have applied for it before getting it.
If your parent has ILR, they will usually have one of the following to prove it:
- a stamp in their passport
- a letter from the Home Office
- a ‘vignette’ (sticker)
- a biometric residence permit
Right of abode
Your parent may have got right of abode automatically if they were a British national or from a Commonwealth country - they will not have applied for it.
If your parent has ‘right of abode’, they’ll usually have either:
- a UK passport describing them as a ‘British citizen’ or ‘British subject with right of abode’
- a non-UK passport with a ‘certificate of entitlement to the right of abode’
Find out more about right of abode.
Right to re-admission
Your parent may have got right to re-admission automatically if they were from a Commonwealth country - they will not have applied for it.
If your parent has ‘right to re-admission’, they’ll usually have a passport that says they’re ‘entitled to readmission to the United Kingdom’.
Permanent residence status
Your parent will usually have got permanent residence status automatically if both the following applied by 30 June 2021:
- they were from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
- they lived in the UK for 5 years and were working, studying, self-sufficient or looking for work here
Your parent did not need to have applied for a permanent residence document to have permanent residence status.
Permanent residence status stopped being valid on 1 July 2021. If you were born on or after this date, you will only be a British citizen automatically if:
- your parent applied for settled status on or before 30 June 2021
- their application was approved after you were born
Settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
Settled status is also known as ‘indefinite leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme’.
Settled status is not a status you get automatically - EU citizens have been able to apply for settled status since March 2019.
You’re usually eligible for settled status if you started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 and you’ve been living here for at least 5 years.
Someone with settled status can view or prove their status online.