Page:British Nationality Act 1981.pdf/31

28c. 61

31.—(1) A person is within this subsection if immediately before 1st January 1949 he was both a citizen of Eire and a British subject.

(2) A person within subsection (1) who immediately before commencement was a British subject by virtue of section 2 of the 1948 Act (continuance of certain citizens of Eire as British subjects) shall as from commencement be a British subject by virtue of this subsection.

(3) If at any time after commencement a citizen of the Republic of Ireland who is within subsection (1) but is not a British subject by virtue of subsection (2) gives notice in writing to the Secretary of State claiming to remain a British subject on either or both of the following grounds, namely—
 * (a) that he is or has been in Crown Service under the government of the United Kingdom; and
 * (b) that he has associations by way of descent, residence or otherwise with the United Kingdom or with any dependent territory,

he shall as from that time be a British subject by virtue of this subsection.

(4) A person who is a British subject by virtue of subsection (2) or (3) shall be deemed to have remained a British subject from 1st January 1949 to the time when (whether already a British subject by virtue of the said section 2 or not) he became a British subject by virtue of that subsection.

32. If while a person is a minor an application is made for his registration as a British subject, the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, cause him to be registered as a British subject.

33. A woman who immediately before commencement was the wife of a British subject shall be entitled, on an application for her registration as a British subject made within five years after commencement, to be registered as a British subject if—
 * (a) immediately before commencement she would (if she had applied for it) have been entitled under section 1 of the British Nationality Act 1965 to be registered as a British subject by virtue of her marriage to the man who was then her husband; and
 * (b) on the date of the application under this section that man is a British subject; and
 * (c) she remained married to him throughout the period from commencement to that date.