A Backdoor to British Citizenship?

You Could Live in the Caribbean and Become a UK Citizen… Maybe.

Now that President Trump is in office and acting on his agenda, I’m seeing the same spike in requests for consultations that I saw after the November election. Whether folks want to move abroad now or later, it seems like everyone is looking for a Plan B.

Sometimes I’m asked to help clients get residency in a place like the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Cayman Islands, or one of the other British territories in the Caribbean. But it’s important to be careful about this.

I can see the logic. You’re close to the States, they speak English, and the legal and investment frameworks are similar to the US and highly favorable.

All good!

But there’s one thing to keep in mind before you buy a property in Road Town or George Town: Citizenship.

Six clusters of islands in or near the Caribbean are under British sovereignty: Anguilla, Bermuda, the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Known as British Overseas Territories (BOTs), they have a unique constitutional status:

• The United Kingdom owns them, and their head of state is King Charles III, but they are not part of the United Kingdom itself. They are basically colonies.
• The UK parliament has the power to legislate for the BOTs, but it usually only does so on defense and foreign affairs matters. The BOTs have their own legislatures. A governor appointed by King Charles acts as an overseer, but rarely overrules the islanders.
• The BOTs have autonomy over immigration matters.
• BOT citizens are also British citizens in most cases, but not all.

Given the above, you might think a quick way to become British is to move to one of the BOTs, become a permanent resident, and eventually apply for citizenship through naturalization. Then you can move to the UK itself, and live and work as you please. I’ve seen plenty of websites that promote this as a back door into Britain.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. That’s because the citizenship status of BOT residents has been a moving target for decades.

Before 1983, anyone born in a British colony or territory was automatically a citizen of the United Kingdom. They could live and work in the mother country. But in 1981, the UK parliament created a separate category called British Overseas Territory Citizenship. After that, citizens of the BOTs lost the right to live and work in England.

In 2002, parliament again granted full British citizenship to almost all the BOTs. (The exception is the Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia, a military base.) That meant they could live and work freely in the UK.

Now remember that the BOTs have control over their immigration policies. They can let people live in their territories and grant them permanent resident status as they like. They can also grant them BOT citizenship status.

But here’s the catch: although native-born BOT citizens are automatically British citizens, naturalized BOT citizens aren’t. The latter must apply separately for British citizenship. The fact that they’re already citizens of a BOT helps but doesn’t guarantee that they’ll get a UK passport.

A second thing to be aware of is that the immigration policies of the BOTs differ considerably. Anguilla, Bermuda, and the BVI grant citizenship in five to seven years. But the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands have much stricter pathways.

For example, in the Caymans, you must live as a resident for eight years before you can get permanent residence. And then you must be a permanent resident for a whopping 15 years before you can apply for naturalization as a BOT citizen. Even then, there’s no guarantee that the British will give you one of their own passports.

So… be careful if someone proposes pursuing citizenship in Britain through the BOTs.

Of course, if you want to explore all of your options everywhere on the planet, you can sign up for a personal consultation with me, where I’ll examine your situation and make recommendations that can help you achieve your goals.

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