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Guidance

British overseas territories citizens: caseworker guidance

Tells HM Passport Office staff about the British overseas territories citizen (BOTC) nationality status and how to deal with BOTC passport applications.

Updates to this page

From:
HM Passport Office
Published:
2 November 2021
Last updated:
28 September 2026
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  1. This guidance has been updated in: - BOTC: born, registered or naturalised before 1 January 1983, (#BOTC_born_registered_or_naturalised) to tell examiners to record BOTC status under section 23(1)(b) of the British nationality Act 1981 (‘otherwise than by descent’) if there is evidence the intended passport holder’s father was in Crown or designated service at the time of their birth - BOTC: born, registered or naturalised before 1 January 1983 and BOTC: born, adopted, registered or naturalised on or after 1 January 1983, to add the correct year of enactment to the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 - BOTC immigration observations, to clarify a BOTC customer will not need a UK immigration observation if they are also a British citizen (terminology changed from ‘dual British citizen’)

  2. Updated the guidance to include registrations under section 17(5) of the British Nationality Act 1981, reorganise registration sections introduced by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, and clarify when the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 came into force.

  3. Updated the guidance to version 26.0, a full list of the changes can be found in the guide.

  4. Updated guidance - a list of changes can be found in the 'Changes from last version of this guidance' section within the guidance.

  5. The guidance has been updated to tell examiners what to do if the customer is applying for their first British citizen passport (rather than renewing their British overseas territories citizenship passport).

  6. This document has had considerable updates and has been replaced.

  7. Accessible version added.

  8. First published.

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British overseas territories citizens

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This guidance tells HM Passport Office staff how to deal with applications sent directly to us, from customers who hold British overseas territories citizenship (BOTC).

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