Commonwealth citizen

[1] However, divergence in Dominion legislation and growing assertions of independence from London culminated in the creation of Canadian citizenship in 1946 and its separation from British subject status.

[9] The Immigration Act 1971 relaxed controls on patrials, those whose parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom,[10] and effectively gave preferential treatment to Commonwealth citizens from white-majority countries.

[11] Outside the United Kingdom, in some member states Commonwealth citizens also initially retained eligibility to vote in elections, to preferred paths to citizenship, and to welfare benefits.

Parliament updated nationality law to reflect the more modest geographical boundaries of the United Kingdom and its remaining territories.

[24] Acquisition and loss of Commonwealth citizenship is tied to the domestic nationality regulations of each member state;[17] there is no separate process for obtaining this status.

It is automatically lost if an individual is no longer a citizen or qualified national of a member state,[25] or if their country is removed from Schedule 3.

[27] The organization does not have a permissive system of free movement or labour[28] and in over half of the member states, Commonwealth citizens do not receive substantially different treatment than foreign nationals.

[34] They are eligible to apply for British emergency passports, if their travel documents have been lost or stolen and permission has been given by their national governments.

[38] In addition, Commonwealth citizens were generally exempt from the requirement to register with local police, until the registration scheme was completely removed in August 2022.