Automatic British citizenship?

My dad's grandparents were British, and he has been considering claiming dual citizenship because of this. I was just curious if this would automatically make me a British citizen. (I kind of doubt it's that simple, but I guess it's worth asking!  )

My dad's grandparents were British, and he has been considering claiming dual citizenship because of this. I was just curious if this would automatically make me a British citizen. (I kind of doubt it's that simple, but I guess it's worth asking!  )

Was he born in the US and were his parents both born in the US? I didn't think you could make an ancenstry claim on grandparents birth---there is an exception for Ireland as I remember. I'm sure others on here have more info,
Bethany

You need to trawl through this to find out for sure ...

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/laws___policy/policy_instructions/nis.html

Honeybee, the UK makes a distinction between citizenship by descent and citizenship otherwise than by descent.

Basically, the reason for the distinction is to cut off the passage of citizenship one generation out of the UK.

If your dad was born in the US and you were as well, then it would also be important to know when both of you were born.

Check with Garry on this one, because it involves looking at British nationality law at several points in time. My suspicion however is that neither of you would be eligible.

This is from the UKVisa website:

Do I qualify for UK Ancestry?
You will qualify if you can show that:
you are a Commonwealth citizen
you are aged 17 or over
you have a grandparent who was born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man*
you have a grandparent who was born in what is now the Republic of Ireland before 31 March 1922*
you are able to work and intend to do so in the UK
you can support and accommodate yourself and any dependants without any help from public funds

You will qualify if you can show that:
you are a Commonwealth citizen
you are aged 17 or over
you have a grandparent who was born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man*
you have a grandparent who was born in what is now the Republic of Ireland before 31 March 1922*
you are able to work and intend to do so in the UK
you can support and accommodate yourself and any dependants without any help from public funds

Just out of curiosity, do you know if ALL of those points have to be satisfied? Or a certain number of them? Purely curiosity on my part - I suppose I could just look it up, but it's Friday, I have to work at 7:30 tomorrow morning and I just can't exert any effort right now.   

Just out of curiosity, do you know if ALL of those points have to be satisfied? Or a certain number of them? Purely curiosity on my part - I suppose I could just look it up, but it's Friday, I have to work at 7:30 tomorrow morning and I just can't exert any effort right now.   

Just from the way it reads on the website, it looks like all of them--except I am guessing the grandparent issue is an either/or.
Bethany

When my husband did it all he had to prove was the ancestry and his ability to work/support.  It really was a piece of cake, birth certificates and pay statements was all it took. They were even surprised that he was claiming ancestry through his Dad being Scottish - usually apparently people claim it through grandparents.

Rosie

Thanks for your replies, everyone!