Can I register as a citizen?

Ok, I have gone over the words with a fine tooth comb many times and am about to write the Home Office for an official opinion. But I thought I would throw it out to you guys first.
I know that I can come over to the Uk on  a UK ancestry visa, in fact that is what I am planning to do. But if I can get citizenship or right of abode, that would be even better.

I am asking if you think I can get either British citizenship, or Right of Abode.

Here's the story: All you lawyer types sharpen your pencils!
 
My maternal grandparents were born and married in Scotland. They had one child, my mother’s older sister. In 1926 or 1927 they left Scotland and settled in Canada. My mother was born 25 July 1927. Her parents were married at the time of her birth. My grandparents never became Canadian citizens or gave up their British nationality. I believe her status at the time of her birth would have been governed by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act -1914.

According to the Website I found published by the Embassy in New York my mother was a “British Subject” by right of her BIRTH in a Crown Dominion- http://www.britainusa.com/consular/bnatlaw.asp
(paragraph 2.)

In the British Nationality Act 1948, those of “British Subject” status were translated to a
“Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies”.  So my mother was now a citizen of the UK by virtue of her birth in a Crown Dominion as well as of Canada. Both being able to be held at the same time, (paragraph 3.)  This act governed her status until 1983 when the British Nationality Act of 1983 was enacted.

I was born in the USA to this citizen of the UK in 1960. I have an American father. They were legally married at the time of my birth. At the time of my birth her status would have been governed by the 1948 act. I have Canadian citizenship because my mother was born in Canada. My mother is now deceased.

So, I was born to a citizen of the UK who held that status by virtue of her birth at the time of MY birth.  I am a Commonwealth citizen and hold citizenship documents as well as a Canadian passport. According to the Website of the Home Office, I am entitled to registration and the Right of Abode in the UK.  ??

This, then, is my line of reasoning in claiming the Right of Abode in the UK. I think it all hinges on that act of 1914, and my mother’s gaining her British citizenship by birth rather than descent, or by the official status of Canada at the time of her birth as a
Crown Dominion.

Did my mother somehow lose that precious citizenship by BIRTH in one of the subsequent acts after her birth?
If she still held her status by birth as she did when she aquired it under the 1914 act, then I think I can claim Right to Abode.
Am I grasping at straws?

Any opinions?

What passport did your mother hold at the time of your birth?

Canada...
And she never wanted nor got her American citizenship.

The only real problem I can see is that the new law affects people born after 7 February 1961.

Check here for details:

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/header/search.html?search=ukm&size=10

Did you spend a lot of time in the UK growing up?  Does your mother live there now?  Is there any way you can apply for Canadian citizenship, and then go on from there?

Edited to add:  Duh.  I just saw in your intro that you are Canadian.  This means that as you have British grandparents you automatically qualify for, I believe, ILR.  I could be wrong on the exact Visa but you are qualified to live and work in the UK by right of your grandparents, if you are a citizen of a Commonwealth country.  Sorry, my bad.

I studied there for a year in the 80's.
I have Canadian citizenship and plan to enter the Uk in June with a Uk Ancesrty visa. I just thought that if I qualify for Right to abode or citizenship that would be even better.  I plan on naturalising and being British just as soon as I get the invite from the Queen.
My mother is dead. And I was born in 1960.
What do you think, do I have a chance?

I think it all hinges on if my mother had the staus of a citizen of the Uk and colonies at the time of my birth, 1960, and if she had that staus because she retained it from being born in a "crown dominion" under the 1914 act.
I think I should write them for a official opinion.

By all means, but check the IND website I linked to above first.  I really am fairly confident that you can claim ancestry through your grandparents.

This is straight from the website.
Paragraph 2 seems to say she (my mother)was a subject because she was BORN in a crown dominion (Canada).

Paragraph 3 seems to say she retained her British subject status whilst also gaining her Canadian citizenship.

Paragraph 4 implies that she was a UK/CUKC at the time of my birth as she was the first generation born abroad (at least).
Then I was born in 1960, before the law changed yet again.
I think I should have been a lawyer...
I know I can claim the Ancestry visa, but can I claim Right of Abode so I won't need a visa? The visa has a few restrictions on it, not many though. The RoA doesn't.



Background to British Nationality Law

1. This country had no nationality law until the coming into force, on 1 January 1915, of the British Nationality & Status of Aliens Act 1914. The Act conferred the common status of British subject upon those persons who had specified connections with the Crown's dominions. The status of British subject implied allegiance to the Crown.

2. In general terms, that status was held by those people born within the Crown's dominions or naturalised there, and by the first generation born elsewhere (legitimate descent in the male line only). The status could be lost by naturalisation in a foreign state, or by making a Declaration of Alienage. A British woman marrying an alien lost her British subject status automatically on marriage, before 1933 whether or not she acquired her husband's citizenship; from that date onwards she lost it only if she acquired the nationality of her husband. An alien woman who married a British subject automatically became a British subject on marriage. The nationality of minor children was tied to that of their father or widowed mother, and they gained or lost British subject status accordingly.

The British Nationality Act 1948

3. At the Commonwealth Conference in 1947 it was agreed that each of the self-governing dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Newfoundland, India, Pakistan, Southern Rhodesia and Ceylon) would introduce separate citizenships for those persons who belonged to each country, but all would continue to share the common status of British subject, or Commonwealth citizen, both terms to have the same meaning. The United Kingdom legislation, the British Nationality Act 1948, created the status of British subject: Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (BS/CUKC) for all those whose connection was with the United Kingdom itself or with a place which, on 1 January 1949, was still a colony. (This did NOT include those self-governing counties listed above).

4. The Act provided for the acquisition of BS/CUKC status by those born or naturalised in the UK or an existing colony, and by the first generation born abroad. There was no longer any restriction on the holding of dual nationality and persons acquiring citizenship of a foreign state did not automatically lose British nationality as a result. Adult aliens could acquire BS/CUKC status by naturalisation, but Commonwealth citizens and minor children were eligible in certain circumstances to acquire it by registration. Women who married CUKC husbands after 1 January 1949 had an entitlement to be registered as CUKCs themselves, subject only to the productions of evidence of a valid marriage.

Well it looks like you have found the answers you were looking for. I think you need to contact the Home Office if you want anything more definite than that.  Good luck.