Have your say on government e-petitions

Stop automatically classifying people as “British by descent” without consent

Submitted by Timothy Snowdon Greenish on Thursday 19th February 2026

Published on Thursday 26th March 2026

Current status: Open

Open until: Saturday 26th September 2026

Current Signatures: 26
(count is updated approximately hourly)

Relevant Departments

Tagged with

active ~ British ~ British Citizenship ~ Cost ~ February ~ Parent ~ Passports ~ Penalty ~ Retain ~ UK passport ~ Viewing

Petition Action

Stop automatically classifying people as “British by descent” without consent

Petition Details

Stop automatically classifying people born abroad as “British by descent” if they have a British parent. They should retain their entitlement to hold British citizenship as at present, but this should be through their active choice and application, rather than being automatic without their consent.

Additional Information

From 25 February, those holding British citizenship, including any classified by “British by descent”, must travel to UK on a UK passport (cost around £100), renounce their citizenship (even if they never wanted it) costing £482, or obtain a “certificate of entitlement” costing £589. We view these as a financial penalty for those classified as British against their wishes. The rules apply to people just transiting through the UK, whereas non-Brits only require an ETA costing £16.


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216.73.217.179 Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:46:18 +0100