Our Plan B

British and European Citizenship by Descent in South Africa

Tens of thousands of South Africans have a potential claim for British and European citizenship. Many potential applicants have not taken up their claim or do not know that they have a claim. In the modern day, many Citizenship Acts are rectifying various degrees of discrimination that existed in the past. These new laws are creating new routes to citizenship. Specifically speaking, UK law now allows applicants to use the maternal line to apply for British citizenship, including grandmother and even great-grandmother at times.

If you have British or European ancestry in your family, we investigate some of the potential routes to citizenship.

See our blog: British and European Citizenship by Descent in South Africa

Mauritius citizenship Act - Time for a revisit

The Indian Ocean paradise introduced its own Citizenship Act in 1968. However, the last time the act was amended in detail was in 1995.

The country hosts multiple ways to obtain residence on the island through investment, but should the island introduce a Citizenship by Investment Program similar to those in the Caribbean?

We investigate this hypothetical in more detail along with other potential changes to the Mauritian Citizenship Act.

See our full blog: Mauritius Citizenship Act - Time for a revisit

Shorter Version: Mauritius Citizenship Act

Uae providing choice to its investors and residents

Although there is no path towards citizenship for the majority of expats, the UAE has made it far easier for hopeful candidates to obtain long-term residence permits.

Key topics such as regulation of cryptocurrency, easing residence requirements, and no personal income taxes is culminating into a perfect storm for economic growth.

A dominant property developer accepting cryptocurrency for real-estate further adds to the positive outlook.

See our blog: UAE Culminating the Perfect Economic Storm

british citizenship: nationality law changes open door for citizenship by descent

Changes have been rife for the United Kingdom since 2020. The passport has changed “back to blue” and British citizens are no longer considered part of the European Union.

British citizenship is still one of the best in the world. However, the British Empire made for determining citizenship an incredibly difficult process for many previous colonies, protectorates and even current British Oversees Territories.

Potential Law changes will correct several historical injustices to claim citizenship by descent.

See our blog: Potential Law Changes Open Doors for British Citizenship

European citizenship series: Irish Citizenship by descent and Ministerial Discretion

Irish Citizenship is arguably one of the strongest in the world, giving its citizens the ability to visit, work and study anywhere in the European Union as well as the United Kingdom. The bilateral agreement with the UK gives Irish passport holders the freedom of movement and other benefits, which other European citizens are no longer able to enjoy.

Obtaining Irish citizenship through descent is straight forward for foreign births. However, if previous generations did not register births on the Irish Foreign Births Registry, all is not lost, there is a non-standard opportunity to apply and claim Irish citizenship.

See our blog: Irish Citizenship by Descent and Ministerial Discretion

european citizenship series: lithuanian citizenship by RESTORATION

Lithuanian Citizenship Laws were amended in 2016 to allow for dual citizenship and removed the requirement to prove your ancestors were forced out of the country. This was previously a bottle neck for potential applicants as documentation was often lost, not available, or no details of their migration out of Lithuania were recored. The law changes have made it possible for hundreds of thousands of people to apply for Lithuanian ancestry by descent. If you have Eastern European ancestry this is an important blog to read.

See our blog: Lithuanian Citizenship by Restoration

what would the cape of good hope’s citizenship and passport be like?

There is a movement in the Western Cape of South Africa to secede from the country and become an independent country. This is an extremely unlikely to happen but if it did what would the Cape of Good Hope’s citizenship and passport look like? We investigate hypothetical possibilities for how to obtain citizenship to how strong could the passport be?

See our blog on The Cape of Good Hope