[5][6] Commonwealth countries often use the terms nationality and citizenship as synonyms, despite their legal distinction and the fact that they are regulated by different governmental administrative bodies.

[3][4] Typically, in Uganda, provisions to acquire nationality through jus soli, i.e. by birth in the territory, require that a person have ancestry with a particular racial or ethnic background.

[16][20] General qualifications are that applicants have good character and can verify legal residency of a minimum of ten years.

[16][21] Persons whose parents or grandparents had diplomatic immunity, were refugees, or who have not continuously resided in Uganda since 9 October 1962, are ineligible to acquire Ugandan nationality by registration.

[30] Archaeological evidence shows that pastoralist Nilo-Saharan speakers dominated the dry northern regions of the territory.

From the first millennium BC, Bantu-speaking immigrants began to arrive from the east settling in the southern savanna of the Great Lakes region.

By the second century, kingdoms emerged in the region which were organized under a system of patronage, wherein protection was offered in exchange for services.

[31] People who inhabited the northern region, like the Acholi, developed kinship and clan chiefdoms, but did not typically centralise their governance into large political kingdoms.

[31][33] As Bunyoro reached its peak and began its long decline in the sixteenth century, the Kingdom of Buganda was established.

[34] Bunyaro stretched across the south and southwest of the territory that is now Uganda and required tributes from smaller kingdoms like Ankole and Tooro.

[31][36] British explorer John Hanning Speke visited the area in 1862, followed by Samuel Baker who reached Lake Albert in 1864 and Henry Morton Stanley, who came in contact with the Buganda Kingdom in 1875.

[38][41] During the period of colonial rule, large numbers of Asian indentured workers were brought from India and Pakistan to work in agriculture, as were Banyarwanda people from Ruanda-Urundi.

[45] Marriage did not affect the status of a subject of the realm,[46] but under common law, single women, including divorcées, were not allowed to be parents thus their children could not derive nationality maternally and were stateless unless legitimated by their father.

[52] Under its terms, common law provisions were reiterated for natural-born persons born within the realm on or after the effective date.

[53] For those born abroad on or after the effective date, legitimacy was still required, and nationality could only be derived by a child from a British father (one generation), who was natural-born or naturalised.

[59] Because of a rise in statelessness, a woman who did not automatically acquire her husband's nationality upon marriage or upon his naturalisation in another country, did not lose their British status after 1933.

[60] The 1943 revision allowed a child born abroad at any time to be a British national by descent if the Secretary of State agreed to register the birth.

[62][63] When Britain extended this status over a territory, it took responsibility for both internal and external administration, including defense and foreign relations.

[66][67] Until 1934, when the British Protected Persons Order was drafted, the status of BPP was not statutory, but rather granted at the prerogative of the monarch.

[41][76] To reduce the political and economic advantages that British subjects who were Asian had enjoyed, at independence, these communities were not considered eligible for Ugandan nationality.

[78] Provisions for acquisition after independence included anyone born in Uganda, whether the parents were native or foreign, as long as the father did not possess diplomatic immunity and was not an enemy alien.

[83] A Statutory Instrument (SI 166) was passed in 1964 to transfer authority over naturalisation processes from the president to the appropriate government ministry.

Allowing that they could be resubmitted, he then passed the Immigration Decree Amendment of 1972 which cancelled visas, permits, residency certificates which had been issued to persons of Asian origin.

He demanded that Britain assume responsibility to remove all CUKSs and BPPs from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan on or before 9 November 1972 and that those where were expelled leave all their property in the country.

In some cases the situation still led to generational statelessness, as Uganda does not allow children to acquire nationality when their parent becomes Ugandan through registration or naturalization.