The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom.
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) are the 14 territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, while not forming part of the United Kingdom itself, are part of its sovereign territory. The permanently inhabited territories are delegated varying degrees of internal self-governance, with the United Kingdom retaining responsibility for defence, foreign relations, and internal security, and ultimate responsibility for "good" governance. Three of the territories are chiefly or only inhabited by military or scientific personnel, the rest hosting significant civilian populations. All fourteen have the British monarch as head of state. These UK government responsibilities are assigned to various departments of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and are subject to change.
An identity document is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card, or passport card. Some countries issue formal identity documents, as national identification cards that may be compulsory or non-compulsory, while others may require identity verification using regional identification or informal documents. When the identity document incorporates a person's photograph, it may be called photo ID.
The Identity Cards Act 2006 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was repealed in 2011. It created National Identity Cards, a personal identification document and European Economic Area travel document, which were voluntarily issued to British citizens. It also created a resident registry database known as the National Identity Register (NIR), which has since been destroyed. In all around 15,000 National Identity Cards were issued until the act was repealed in 2011. The Identity Card for Foreign nationals was continued in the form of Biometric Residence Permits after 2011 under the provisions of the UK Borders Act 2007 and the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
British National (Overseas), abbreviated BN(O), is a class of British nationality associated with the former colony of Hong Kong. The status was acquired through voluntary registration by individuals with a connection to the territory who had been British Dependent Territories citizens (BDTCs) before the handover to China in 1997. Registration for BN(O) status was limited to the 10-year period preceding the transfer as a transitional arrangement for former BDTCs; current residents cannot newly acquire this nationality.
British nationality law as it pertains to Hong Kong has changed over time since it became a British colony in 1842. Hongkongers were given various nationality statuses, such as British subjects, Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies, British Dependent Territories Citizen and British Nationals (Overseas).
The British passport is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requirements and serves as proof of citizenship. It also facilitates access to consular assistance from British embassies around the world. Passports are issued using royal prerogative, which is exercised by His Majesty's Government; this means that the grant of a passport is a privilege, not a right, and may be withdrawn in some circumstances. British citizen passports have been issued in the UK by His Majesty's Passport Office, an agency of the Home Office, since 2014. All passports issued in the UK since 2006 have been biometric.
This article concerns the history of British nationality law.
A Commonwealth citizen is a citizen of a Commonwealth of Nations member state. Most member countries generally do not treat citizens of other Commonwealth states any differently from foreign nationals, but do grant limited citizenship rights to resident Commonwealth citizens. For example, in 14 member states, resident non-local Commonwealth citizens are eligible to vote in elections. The status is most significant in the United Kingdom, and carries few or no privileges in many other Commonwealth countries.
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) was the border control agency of the Government of the United Kingdom and part of the Home Office that was superseded by UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement in April 2013. It was formed as an executive agency on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA), UKvisas and the detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs. The decision to create a single border control organisation was taken following a Cabinet Office report.
The monarchy of Tuvalu is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Tuvalu. The current Tuvaluan monarch and head of state since 8 September 2022 is King Charles III. As sovereign, he is the personal embodiment of the Tuvaluan Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Tuvalu and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of the Tuvaluan state. However, the King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself and the Crown dependencies ; and the 14 British Overseas Territories.
The government of the United Kingdom is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the prime minister who selects all the other ministers. The country has had a Labour government since 2024. The prime minister Keir Starmer and his most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, known as the Cabinet.
The Isle of Man-variant British passport, also known as the Manx passport, is a type of British passport issued by the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, one of the Crown Dependencies associated with the United Kingdom, on behalf of the British sovereign under the Royal Prerogative, at the request of the Isle of Man Government, to British citizens and certain British subjects resident in the Isle of Man, or who have certain qualifying important connections to the Isle of Man but are currently resident in the United Kingdom.
The British National (Overseas) passport, commonly referred to as the BN(O) passport, is a British passport for people with British National (Overseas) status. BN(O) status was created in 1987 after the enactment of Hong Kong Act 1985, whose holders are permanent residents of Hong Kong who were British Overseas Territories citizens until 30 June 1997 and had registered as BN(O)s.
The visa policy of the United Kingdom is the policy by which His Majesty's Government determines visa requirements for visitors to the United Kingdom and those seeking to work, study or reside there. The visa policy of the UK also applies to the Crown dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, which each operate their own immigration enforcement and have separate work permit systems. The visa policy does not apply to any of the British Overseas Territories, who generally apply their own visa policies.
The Gibraltar identity card is an official identity document issued by Civil Status and Registration Office of the Government of Gibraltar to all British citizens living in Gibraltar. Validity of the document is 10 years.
Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) is a form of permanent residency available to people of Indian origin and their spouses which allows them to live and work in India indefinitely. It allows the cardholders a lifetime entry to the country along with benefits such as being able to own land and make other investments in the country.
British emergency passports (also known as Emergency Travel Documents (ETD)) are issued by British diplomatic posts to British nationals and unrepresented Commonwealth citizens for the purpose of urgent travel overseas with a maximum validity of one year.
The Five Nations Passport Group is an international forum for the passport-issuing authorities of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States to share best practices in the issuance, development, and management of passports. The annual Five Nations Passport Conference is a largely informal in-person meeting between officials of the participating agencies, with some additional invited guests such as the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2011. It has taken place since at least as far back as 2004.
