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Aug. 12th, 2006 06:14 amOh wikipedia, how I love and hate thee.
From 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot, I got to the article on British Citizenship. Now, savvy readers will know that the concepts of citizenship are something that amuses me greatly. Let me begin by saying, that while having a continuous system of government since 1066 is good in some ways, in others in provides for some interesting (to say the least) concepts.
Mother England feels responsible, to varying levels, for a vast number of peoples from all over the world. You have the obvious class, people who were born in the United Kingdom to parents who were born there, but then things start getting weird. If you were born overseas, but your parents were born in the UK, you may have British Citizenship, depending on when you were born and if they were married. If you don't qualify for that, you would probably qualify for a Right of Abode. Right of Abode means you're almost a British Citizen, but you don't get a passport. This is not the same as Indefinate leave to remain, which in turn is also not the same as being a British Citizen.
But lets get back to the Right of Abode. You automatically have the right to abode in the UK under a large number of circumstances (see here), you just need to have a form filled out and have it stuck in your passport to prove it. My father, for example, has the right of abode, because he is born overseas to a British Citizen. My /mother/ has right of Abode since at 1 Jan 1983, she was a commenwealth citizen married to a man who at that time had Right of Abode. Now, keep in mind, they got divorced in 1988. This does not affect the fact that my mum still has the Right of Abode. In order to get the sticker, my mother would need to get a copy of both my father and paternal grandfather's birth certificates, which I guess would be non-trivial, but still. I, on the other hand, do not have the Right to Abode. I do however have the right to a UK Ancestry Entry Clearance. If I then wanted to live and work in the UK for 5 years, I could get an Indefinate Leave to Remain, and then 12 months after that, become a British Citizen, which would in turn give me the implicit Right to Abode. But those who think I may do that are perhaps overestimating how much I care about getting to go through a shorter immigration line at Heathrow.
Now, back to this Commenwealth Citizen thing. We're all good mates in this Commenwealth of ours. When in the UK, Liz and I were not legally considered foreigners or aliens, however we are subject to immigration control and restrictions of civic rights (such as the right to work). But y'know, when things are tough, the Commenwealth looks after its own. I know that if I'm ever in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cote D'ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Syria, Tanzania or Tunisia, my buds at the local Canadian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate have got my back. Likewise, if some of my toque wearing hoser friends find themselves in trouble in Laos, Burma or Slovenia, the local Australian rep will help them out. If either of us are unfortunate enough to have problems in Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Mongolia, Namibia, Oman, Uganda or Yemen, mother England will step into the fray and provide consular assistance.
For a minute, lets think of those poor Australian born citizens who lost citizenship between 1949 and 2002 by acquiring citizenship of another nation after birth, except by marriage, while those who had citizenship of another nation did not have to give it up to get that of Australia. I could go on about Australia's citizenship laws, but they in themselves are weird. Just read the wikipedia article and thank your lucky stars you weren't born in Burma before 1948 and were within Australian between 1948 and 1950 and failed to register your paperwork before 1952, let me tell you!
From 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot, I got to the article on British Citizenship. Now, savvy readers will know that the concepts of citizenship are something that amuses me greatly. Let me begin by saying, that while having a continuous system of government since 1066 is good in some ways, in others in provides for some interesting (to say the least) concepts.
Mother England feels responsible, to varying levels, for a vast number of peoples from all over the world. You have the obvious class, people who were born in the United Kingdom to parents who were born there, but then things start getting weird. If you were born overseas, but your parents were born in the UK, you may have British Citizenship, depending on when you were born and if they were married. If you don't qualify for that, you would probably qualify for a Right of Abode. Right of Abode means you're almost a British Citizen, but you don't get a passport. This is not the same as Indefinate leave to remain, which in turn is also not the same as being a British Citizen.
But lets get back to the Right of Abode. You automatically have the right to abode in the UK under a large number of circumstances (see here), you just need to have a form filled out and have it stuck in your passport to prove it. My father, for example, has the right of abode, because he is born overseas to a British Citizen. My /mother/ has right of Abode since at 1 Jan 1983, she was a commenwealth citizen married to a man who at that time had Right of Abode. Now, keep in mind, they got divorced in 1988. This does not affect the fact that my mum still has the Right of Abode. In order to get the sticker, my mother would need to get a copy of both my father and paternal grandfather's birth certificates, which I guess would be non-trivial, but still. I, on the other hand, do not have the Right to Abode. I do however have the right to a UK Ancestry Entry Clearance. If I then wanted to live and work in the UK for 5 years, I could get an Indefinate Leave to Remain, and then 12 months after that, become a British Citizen, which would in turn give me the implicit Right to Abode. But those who think I may do that are perhaps overestimating how much I care about getting to go through a shorter immigration line at Heathrow.
Now, back to this Commenwealth Citizen thing. We're all good mates in this Commenwealth of ours. When in the UK, Liz and I were not legally considered foreigners or aliens, however we are subject to immigration control and restrictions of civic rights (such as the right to work). But y'know, when things are tough, the Commenwealth looks after its own. I know that if I'm ever in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Cote D'ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Syria, Tanzania or Tunisia, my buds at the local Canadian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate have got my back. Likewise, if some of my toque wearing hoser friends find themselves in trouble in Laos, Burma or Slovenia, the local Australian rep will help them out. If either of us are unfortunate enough to have problems in Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Mongolia, Namibia, Oman, Uganda or Yemen, mother England will step into the fray and provide consular assistance.
For a minute, lets think of those poor Australian born citizens who lost citizenship between 1949 and 2002 by acquiring citizenship of another nation after birth, except by marriage, while those who had citizenship of another nation did not have to give it up to get that of Australia. I could go on about Australia's citizenship laws, but they in themselves are weird. Just read the wikipedia article and thank your lucky stars you weren't born in Burma before 1948 and were within Australian between 1948 and 1950 and failed to register your paperwork before 1952, let me tell you!
