Naturalisation, registration and British citizenship
aliens (foreign nationals) british citizenship certificates of british citizenship immigration migration naturalisation
The National Archives
1. Why use this guide?
Use this guide if you are looking for records of how, when or if a person obtained British citizenship up to October 1986.

For naturalisation certificates after 1 October 1986, and for records of indefinite leave...
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The National Archives
5. Naturalisation, 1949-1986

This section covers records of foreign nationals becoming British citizens through naturalisation between 1949 and 1986. However, records of British citizenship after 1949 and up to 1981 for people from British colonies and Commonwealth countries, are more likely to be registrations of British nationality – see section 6 for advice on these records.

See section 4 for an explanation of what information the following types of records contain.

5.1 Naturalisation certificates and indexes 1949-1981

Search by certificate number or by name followed by nat* in our catalogue, using the box below, for naturalisation certificates (HO 334) and naturalisation certificate index entries (HO 409). From June 1969 the index is the only source of detail for foreign nationals who naturalised in the UK as the Home Office did not keep a set of duplicate certificates during this period. Sort your search results by date.

Name

5.2 Naturalisation certificates 1981-1986 for people born less than 100 years ago

Apply for duplicate certificates through our Certificates of British citizenship page.

5.3 Naturalisation certificates 1981-1986 for people born over 100 years ago

Search by certificate number or by name followed by nat* in our catalogue, using the box below.

Name

5.4 Naturalisation case papers of foreign nationals who arrived in the UK 1934-1948

These records are of foreign nationals, most of them European, arriving in the UK between 1934 and 1948 and who at some time after their arrival applied for naturalisation. They are held in series HO 405. For details of the kinds of papers they contain see the HO 405 description.

Search our catalogue, using the box below, by last name for these naturalisation case papers.

Name

Not all documents in HO 405 are available for public view. The documents are subject to 100 year closure (although you can requested access with a Freedom of Information request) and only about 40% of applications in this series have survived. Files may also contain later correspondence, mostly until the mid-1960s but some as late as 1996.

5.5 Naturalisation certificates issued overseas

Duplicate certificates of naturalisation granted under Section 8 of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914 by the Government of a British Possessions overseas, can be found in HO 334 for 1915 to 1948 and can searched by name on Discovery. These certificates are prefixed by the letter O, indicating “Overseas”. From 1949 until 1980, Certificate “O” denotes an application made by a subject of a foreign state resident overseas. Again, these can be searched by name. A small number of background Home Office papers survive for Overseas Applications for the period 1914 to 1935 in HO 144 and again can be searched by name on Discovery.

6. Registrations of British nationality, 1949-1981

The British Nationality Act 1948 created the new status of citizen of the United Kingdom and the colonies. Under this act, people from former colonies and British Commonwealth countries could register as British citizens.

See section 4 for details of the information that records of registration contain.

6.1 Registrations of British Nationality 1949-1981 for people born less than 100 years ago

Apply for duplicate certificates through our Certificates of British citizenship page.

6.2 Registrations of British Nationality 1949-1981 for people born over 100 years ago

Search by certificate number or by name followed by reg* in our catalogue, using the box below.

Name

6.3 Registrations of British Nationality made overseas

We do not hold any records of overseas registrations of British Nationality from 1949. There may be a record of the registration held by the British High Commission in the country where registration took place. For contact details of British High Commissions please check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website. Since most British citizens go on to apply for British passports, details of the certificate may have been submitted with a previous passport application, you may wish to contact HM Passport Office through their website or on 0300 222 0000 to ascertain this.

This section covers records of foreign nationals becoming British citizens between 1870 and 1948. The 1870 Nationality Act superseded the 1844 Nationality Act which governed naturalisations up to 1869.

8.1 Naturalisation certificates 1870-1916

Search by name in record series HO 334 on Ancestry.co.uk and download (£) naturalisation certificates and declarations of British nationality for these years.

However, certified copies are available only from The National Archives. If you need a certified copy of a certificate from this period you can request one from our online catalogue. Search for a certificate in records series HO 334 and HO 409 by certificate number or by name followed by nat* using the box below:

Name

8.2 Naturalisation certificates from 1913-1948

Search by certificate number or by name followed by nat* in record series HO 334 and HO 409 using the box below.

Name

8.3 Naturalisation case papers 1872-1934

Search by name followed by nat* in our catalogue, using the box below, for case papers (HO 45, HO 144, HO 382).

Name

8.4 Naturalisation case papers from 1934

Search our catalogue, using the box below, by last name for case papers (HO 405).

Name

The documents are subject to 100 year closure (although access can be requested using our Freedom of Information form) and only about 40% of applications in this series have survived. Files may also contain later correspondence, mostly until the mid-1960s but some as late as 1996.

See section 4 for an explanation of what information naturalisation certificates and case papers contain.

8.5 Private Acts of Parliament

The original private acts of Parliament are kept at the Parliamentary Archives, though there are very few naturalisation acts after 1844.

There are some records of naturalisations from this period at The National Archives among the following records:

Parliament Rolls in C 65

9. Naturalisations, 1801-1873

Most foreign settlers in the UK before 1844 did not bother going through the legal formalities of naturalisation and so do not appear in these records. Before 1844 the only way to naturalise was by a private Act of Parliament.

9.1 Naturalisations on close rolls 1844-1873

Naturalisations during this period were recorded, or ‘enrolled’, on documents known as close rolls. The close rolls are in record series C 54.

To work out which pieces in C 54 to look at you will need to first consult the printed index to C 54 which itself forms a separate series, C 275. The index is arranged by year so you will need at least a rough idea of when the naturalisation took place (look at the correspondence and case papers in HO 1 first if you don’t know the year of naturalisation).

To use the index and view the rolls themselves you will need to visit us. On consultation of the appropriate section of the index you may find a name entry for the person who was naturalised, along with a number that will form the key part of your C 54 reference. For more advice speak to staff in the Map and Large Document Reading Room at our building in Kew.

9.2 Naturalisation case papers 1801-1871

Search and download (£) naturalisation case papers (HO 1) for 1801-1871 from our catalogue.

See section 4 for an explanation of what information naturalisation certificates and case papers contain.

9.3 Private Acts of Parliament

The original private acts of Parliament are kept at the Parliamentary Archives, though there are very few naturalisation acts after 1844.

There are some records of naturalisations from this period at The National Archives among the following records:

Parliament Rolls in C 65

10. No evidence of naturalisation

Some people, usually resident in the UK, want to prove that a person never naturalised. The National Archives can help to prove this only by first searching for a naturalisation certificate. If our search is unsuccessful we can provide a ‘letter of no evidence of naturalisation’. Do this by completing a request confirmation of no evidence of British naturalisation form.

11. Naturalisations before the 19th century

The only way to naturalise before the 19th century was by a private Act of Parliament, though there were occasionally public acts passed to enable the naturalisation of specific groups of people at specific times, as was the case for foreign protestants living in America in the mid-18th century (see below).

11.1 Private Acts of Parliament

The original private acts of Parliament are kept at the Parliamentary Archives. However, there are some records of naturalisations before the 19th century at The National Archives among the following records:

Parliament Rolls in C 65

11.2 Oaths of allegiance

After a naturalisation by Act of Parliament the successful applicant would take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy in a court of law, swearing their loyalty to the Crown. There are separate sets of records for these oaths and where to locate them depends on the court where the oath was taken. Quarter Sessions Courts and the Court of Kings Bench were among those courts where the oath was taken:

Oath Rolls in KB 24

An oath roll for naturalisation of protestant refugees 1709-1711 in E 169/86

Quarter Sessions court record, held at local archives

11.3 Foreign protestants living in America 1740-1772

Between 1740 and 1772, foreign protestants living in America could become naturalised British citizens after seven years’ residence. Over 7,000 foreign protestants took advantage of this.

Every year lists of those naturalised were sent to the Commission for Trade and Plantations in London, where they were copied into entry books.

The lists are in series CO 5

The entry books are in CO 324/5

A list of the names in these records is in the published Naturalizations of Foreign Protestants in the American and West Indian Colonies, also available in our library.

11.4 Indexes

The Huguenot Society have published indexes to the records of naturalisations and denizations up to 1900. Some of these indexes are available online on the Internet Archive:

Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization 1509-1603

Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization 1603-1700

Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization 1701-1800

Some of the indexes are also available in our library:

Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland 1603-1700

Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland 1701-1800

Versions of these indexes are held with the printed version of our catalogue at our building in Kew.

12. Denization records, c.1200-1873

12.1 What was denization?

Denization was a legal process granting limited naturalisation to aliens. It granted a foreign national almost equivalent status of native-born Britons and provided them the protection of the law.

However, those granted denization were still subject to alien rates of tax, unable to vote, hold civil or military office or inherit land.

Denization was granted by letters patent and this required a payment, so, as with naturalisation in this period, denization remained the preserve of the wealthy.

12.2 The records

Click on the references below to search by name of applicant for denizations made by letters patent in:

C 97 (1752-1830)

HO 1 (1789-1872)

HO 4 (1804-1843)

HO 44 (1773-1861)

Use the Huguenot Society Indexes and Calendars of Patents Rolls at The National Archives in Kew, looking under words such as ‘denizations’ or ‘indigenae‘, to search for denizations made by letters patent in:

the patent rolls in C 66

the supplementary patent rolls in C 67 (1275-1749)

13. Records in other archives

13.1 Huguenot Society records

Consult the Huguenot Society website, which includes information about their archives and details of publications to help you trace individual immigrants (not just Huguenots), including indexes of naturalisations by private Act of Parliament up to 1800.

13.2 Parliamentary papers

The original naturalisation acts are kept at the Parliamentary Archives.

Search Parliamentary papers (institutional subscription required) for indexes of all naturalisations from 1844 to 1961.

13.3 Westminster denization roll

This is held at Westminster Abbey Muniments and Library.