Guidance

Civil Service recruitment: nationality rules

This guide is intended to assist departments with managing their responsibilities on nationality rules related to Civil Service recruitment.

Documents

Annex A - Nationality Rules (PDF)

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email accessible.formats@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Annex B – Territories forming part of the Commonwealth

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email accessible.formats@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Annex C – Flowchart for checking eligibility

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email accessible.formats@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Annex D – Aliens’ certificates

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email accessible.formats@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Annex E – Prescribed public bodies

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email accessible.formats@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Annex F – Suggested nationality questions

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email accessible.formats@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

You can apply for any job in the Civil Service as long as you are a UK national or have dual nationality with one part being British. In addition, about 75% of Civil Service posts are open to Commonwealth citizens and nationals of any of the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA). The remainder, which require special allegiance to the state, are reserved for UK nationals.

The “Civil Service Nationality Rules: Guidance on Checking Eligibility” has recently been updated. It is intended to assist departments and agencies to discharge effectively their responsibilities on nationality matters related to Civil Service recruitment. For ease of reference, specific aspects of nationality have been addressed in separate annexes to the guidance.

A flow chart for checking eligibility can be found in Annex C.

Updates to this page

Published 9 May 2014
Last updated 8 August 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated the documents: Civil Service Nationality Rules, Annex A - Nationality Rules Removed the document: Changes to the Civil Service Nationality Rules from 1 January 2021 - Guidance and departmental actions - file attachment DELETED

  2. Civil Service Nationality Rules, Annex A and Annex C updated.

  3. Addition of document 'Changes to the Civil Service Nationality Rules from 1 January 2021 - Guidance and departmental actions'.

  4. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page