Please consult the British Nationality Act of 1981, available through the REFWORLD database at your Regional Documentation Centre, for information on entitlement to British nationality. The document indicates that, in principle, children born on or after 1983 to persons who were not British citizens or settled in the United Kingdom at the time are not considered British citizens, although their immigration status might change if their parents' status changes before the children reach the age of majority. Additional information can be found in the section "Children born in the United Kingdom who are not British citizens" of the Immigration Rules HC 395 of 1994, also available through the REFWORLD database.

Additional information on entitlement to British citizenship can be found in Responses to Information Requests GBR24988 of 21 August 1996, GBR24009 of 28 May 1996 and GBR24341 of 24 June 1996. More recent information affecting the contents of the documents mentioned in this Response could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

27 May 1998

1998/05/00eSubject:

United Kingdom: Whether sexual orientation (i.e. homosexuality) is considered under the Convention grounds of "membership in a particular social group" in determining Convention refugee status, and if so, statistics of positive decisions since January 1998
Regional Office:

7
From:

Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa
Keywords:

CSR51; homosexuals; social group persecution; United Kingdom

Information on whether sexual orientation (i.e. homosexuality) is considered under the Convention grounds of "membership in a particular social group" in determining Convention refugee status could not be obtained from the sources consulted by the Research Directorate, including the British High Commission in Ottawa and the (British) Refugee Council in London.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Sources Consulted

British High Commission, Ottawa.

International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), San Francisco, Calif.

(British) Refugee Council, London, United Kingdom.
Secretariat of the Inter-Governmental Consultations, Geneva. September 1997.

Report on Asylum Procedures: Overview of Policies and Practices in IGC Participating States.

United Kingdom. 1996. The Asylum Appeals (Procedure) Rules 1996

.

_____. 1996. Asylum and Immigration Act 1996.

_____. 1993. Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993.
US Committee for Refugees (USCR). 1997.

World Refugee Survey 1997.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, LEXIS/NEXIS, REFWORLD.

Oral sources: Unsuccessful attempts to contact five oral sources.