Border and Immigration Agency (BIA)
The name, as of 1 April 2007, for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND), the part of the UK Home Office dealing with immigration and nationality law.
British Citizen
The main form of British nationality, but not the only one: see also British Overseas Territories Citizens, British Overseas Citizens, British subjects and British Nationals (Overseas). British Citizens have the right freely to enter, remain in and to leave the UK (also known in immigration law as the right of abode). They are subdivided into two groups; those who can pass their nationality to their children, who are called British Citizens otherwise than by descent, and those who cannot, who are called British Citizens by descent.
British Dependent Territories
Now renamed British Overseas Territories.
This term is no longer current: BDTCs were renamed British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTCs) in 2002 but, at the same time, they were all made British Citizens except for those connected with the Sovereign Bases on Cyprus. The term is still relevant in nationality law, when looking a person’s former status. BDTCs had a link with a British territory. They kept that status for as long as the country was a colony. It gave them a right of abode in the territory, but no right to enter the UK and no right of abode in the UK.
British Nationality Act 1981
This law (Act of parliament) came into force in 1983. Although it has been updated several times, it is still the basis of modern British nationality law.
British Nationals (Overseas) (BN (O))
A form of British nationality for people who were British Dependent Territories Citizens in Hong Kong when Hong Kong returned to China. Having this status does not give a right of abode in enter any country, although it is possible to obtain, and to travel on, a BN(O) passport.
British Overseas Citizens (BOCs)
BOCs are people who were born in a British colony but, when that colony became independent, did not become nationals of that colony and held no other nationality. The status of BOC does not confer a right of abode in the UK or anywhere in the world, although certain BOCs can apply for British Citizenship.
British Overseas Territories
Places that are still connected with, and not wholly independent of, the UK. Previously called British Dependent Territories. The current British Overseas Territories are Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctica, the British Indian Ocean Territory (the Chagos Islands, including the island of Diego Garcia), the Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Island, St Helen, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Virgin Islands and the sovereign air bases of Akrotiri and Dhelekia on Cyprus.
British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTCS)
Citizens of the British Overseas Territories, who have not become British citizens. The status also renames what was formerly called British Dependent Territories Citizenship. At the same time as the status was renamed, people who were BOTCs, except those connected with the sovereign bases on Cyprus, became British Citizens. New BOTCS, with the exception of those connected with the sovereign bases, or who have renounced British citizenship, can become British Citizens.
British Protected Persons (BPPs)
People from a country formerly under British protection, who did not acquire the nationality of that country when it became independent, or the nationality of any other country.
British subjects
People from former colonies who did not acquire the nationality of those countries when they became independent, and did not become Citizens of the UK and Commonwealth (CUKCs) and who have not acquired the nationality of any other country. In early stages of British nationality law, the term had a wider meaning.