I was surprised to learn recently that as a Canadian citizen (born before 1983), I can legally live, work, vote, and even run for Parliament in the UK if I so choose. (My primary source for this is the Wikipedia page on the subject, so feel free to disabuse me of this notion if it’s false.) However, the page also says that one can apply for British citizenship after meeting certain requirements.
Suppose I were to move to the UK. Since I would already have right of abode, I would already be conferred a fair number of privileges that are usually associated with full citizenship. Are there any other functional benefits that I could gain from becoming a British citizen that are not conferred by right of abode? Or would applying for British citizenship be something I would do because I think the Windsors are fine chaps — i.e. only for patriotism’s sake?
As far as I can see (as a person who has right of abode, though I have not exercised this right), this odd status comes about because of changes in UK citizenship law in 1983. Prior to that, if born overseas you only became a UK citizen if your father was a UK citizen; after then, you could get UK citizenship by descent from either your father or your mother. The right of abode partially redresses that pre-1983 gender bias, by giving people like me (born in Australia with a UK-born UK-citizen mother) practically all the rights of UK citizenship.
(And I just realised that, since we married before 1983, my wife is entitled to right of abode in the UK too).
In addition, my children, because they have a UK-born grandparent, are entitled to an ancestry visa. One of my sons is currently living in England with such a visa, and my daughter plans to go to England with one in the near future.
What might be missing in terms of rights of UK citizens is the right to live and work in other countries of the EU – I’m not sure of that – but of course you can freely visit the other countries of the EU as a tourist.
