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Pathway

British Citizenship for Chagossian Families

United Kingdom Citizenship
Pathway overview

At a glance

If an ancestor was born on an island forming the British Indian Ocean Territory, you may be able to register as a British overseas territories citizen and usually as a British citizen at the same time. The route is free but has deadlines. The family line must run directly through a parent, grandparent, or earlier ancestor.

Family connection
A direct ancestor born on an island forming the British Indian Ocean Territory
Deadline
November 23, 2027 for adults aged 18 or older on November 23, 2022; covered younger applicants must apply before turning 23
Family records
Civil and name-change records connecting each generation to the qualifying ancestor

Summary

The Chagossian descendant route lets eligible people seek British Overseas Territories and British citizenship through a documented direct family line to someone born in the British Indian Ocean Territory. Children, grandchildren, and more distant direct descendants can be covered, but their filing deadlines must be checked. Adults already 18 on November 23, 2022 have the stated November 23, 2027 deadline.

Build the direct family chain and act within the registration window
  1. Identify the qualifying island-born ancestor The connection must run through a direct line of descent.
  2. Document every generation to the applicant Collect civil and name-change records; provide available evidence if an original record is missing.
  3. Apply before the applicable deadline Use the online service or Form BIOT and specify whether both citizenship statuses are requested.

Siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins do not create a direct-descendant claim. UKVI may be able to check missing historical records.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

For BOTC registration, the applicant must be a direct descendant of a BIOT-born person and must never previously have been a BOTC or British dependent territories citizen. The linked British-citizenship rules also consider whether the person has already been British; someone who already holds one status can apply only for the other where permitted.

An adult who was 18 or older on 23 November 2022 must apply by 23 November 2027. Anyone younger on that date, or born during the five-year application window, must apply before their 23rd birthday. The announced UK–Mauritius arrangements did not remove or extend these legal deadlines; official July 2025 guidance says the citizenship rights remain unchanged.

What This Route Allows

Registration can give both BOTC and British citizenship otherwise than by descent, so citizenship can normally pass to a future child born abroad. There is no application or ceremony fee. British citizenship gives the right of abode in the UK; BOTC records the BIOT nationality connection. There is no visa, renewal or settlement stage. A certificate is not a travel document, so a passport is normally needed afterward.

What This Route Is Not

It is not available through collateral relatives and does not require proving every missing historical document where official records can fill gaps. It is also separate from local residence, land or compensation questions.

Next Steps

  1. Apply well before the applicable deadline.
  2. Build the direct chain with full birth, marriage, partnership and name-change records.
  3. If an ancestor's records are missing, submit what exists; UKVI states it can search its records.
  4. Use the online service or Form BIOT and indicate whether applying for both statuses.

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Other routes in United Kingdom.

Sources