Thursday 3 April 2025

British nationality law has been riddled with discrimination, and it has evolved to put this right. This article focuses on one of the latest changes, the introduction of Section 4L to the British Nationality Act 1981 in 2022, which offers a route of last resort to put right wrongs of the past in British nationality law.     

Section 4L compliments other amendments contained within the Act, such as Section 4C, which was introduced to give a person born before 1 January 1983 the right to register as British citizen if they would have been a British citizen had their mother been able to pass on her nationality in the same way as a man.  

Section 4L allows the Home Office to grant British citizenship in special circumstances where, a person would have been or would have been able to become, a British citizen but was prevented from doing so by the following limited and specific set of scenarios: 

• historical legislative unfairness; 

• an act or omission of a public authority; or 

• exceptional circumstances relating to that person. 

A successful application to register under Section 4L grants British citizenship otherwise than by descent, meaning the applicant may be able to pass on citizenship to a child born outside of the UK.  

Historical legislative unfairness 

Historical legislative unfairness includes but is not limited to scenarios where the person would have become or would not have ceased to be, a British subject, citizen of the UK and Colonies or a British citizen, if an act of Parliament or subordinate legislation had: 

• treated men and women equally; 

• treated children of unmarried couples in the same way as children of married couples; or 

• treated children of couples where the mother was married to someone other than the natural father in the same way as children of couples where the mother was married to the natural father. 

The examples provided above are not exhaustive and, as a guide, a piece of legislation may be considered unfair if it treated one group differently from another, particularly based on a protected characteristic (age, gender reassignment, disability, race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation). 

It is important to note that this section is not intended for situations where the law has changed over time and applied equally to everyone.  

Act or omission of a public authority  

A potential to become a British citizen is also available to those whose inability to do so was because of an act or omission of a public authority. 

The scope of what falls under the definition of ‘public authority’ is broad and includes any person whose functions are of a public nature. This can extend to a government department, including the Home Office itself, or a local authority but not to a court or a tribunal. 

Potential cases which can be covered under this provision include: 

• where an incorrect Home Office decision or interpretation of the law, which has been overturned later, prevented someone from applying for settlement with the intention to naturalise after (based on the recent R(oao) APD v SSHD [2025] EWHC 246 (Admin), or simply to naturalise, 

• where an age-related, time bound British registration opportunity was missed for a person under the care of local authority, who did realise that an application needed to be made. 

Exceptional circumstances 

The final provision of Section 4L applies to people who did not become or were not able to become British citizens due to exceptional circumstances relating to them directly preventing them from doing so. There is no definition on what qualifies as an exceptional circumstance; however, the guidance is clear that it not a catch-all provision intended to be used to cover cases where a person does not meet the requirements for other routes. 

The success of an application under Section 4L will very much depend on the facts of each case but it is an interesting development in British nationality law that offers more possibilities, particularly when a claim to British citizenship relies on a grandparent. The impact is likely to be seen overtime as more applications are decided on this basis and cases appear before the courts.  

Get in touch 

If you would like assistance with a British nationality matter, contact our enquiries team at enquiries@lauradevine.com.