Renouncing your British citizenship is a big decision in your life. Before taking this step, you must consider it carefully. However, once you are sure you want to give up your British citizenship, you need to know what happens if you renounce it. After renouncing, you lose your rights and privileges which you get with British nationality, including your entitlement or right of abode in the United Kingdom, access to a British passport and your eligibility for consular assistance abroad unless you resume British citizenship later under the British Nationality Act 1981 -Section 13.  You should renounce only after careful consideration of its consequences and confirmation that you will not become stateless after you renounce your British citizenship.

What is Renunciation?

Renunciation means you are formally giving up your British citizenship or status. “Status” refers to the following forms of British nationality status:

• British Citizenship 

• British Overseas Territories Citizenship 

• British Overseas Citizenship 

• British Subject Status 

• British National (Overseas) Status 

You can give up more than one status at a time. If you give up British citizenship, it will affect your right to live in the UK.

Section 12 of the British Nationality Act 1981 confers on you the right to renounce British citizenship, which allows you to make a Declaration of Renunciation (this means formally and legally stating that you want to give up your British citizenship or another form of British nationality) if you already have another citizenship/nationality or will acquire one upon renunciation. However, the Home Office will not register your renunciation if it would leave you stateless.

If your application for British citizenship renunciation is accepted, you will receive a ‘declaration of renunciation’. You can use this to show that you are no longer British.

Giving up your citizenship does not affect any other members of your family. However, the status of any children you have in the future could be affected.

Importantly, deprivation of British citizenship is different from renunciation. While renouncing is a process of voluntarily giving up your citizenship, in deprivation the Home Secretary may deprive you of British citizenship if it finds that you obtained citizenship through fraud, false representation, or concealment of a material fact, or it considers that your deprivation is conducive to the public good and you would not become stateless as a result.

What would happen if I have to renounce my British citizenship?

If you have to renounce your British citizenship, you need to understand its consequences first, then check your eligibility, know how to apply and what documents you will need, and how much it costs.

You should also understand whether you can stay in the UK once you have renounced your British citizenship.

1. Consequences of renouncing your British citizenship

Before going ahead with the renunciation process of your citizenship, you must consider that your renunciation will take effect, and you will cease to hold the status(es) you have renounced on the date the Home Secretary (or Governor if you are renouncing British Overseas Territories citizenship) has registered your declaration of renunciation.

The Home Secretary (or Governor if you are renouncing British Overseas Territories citizenship) can withhold the registration in wartime. 

Your renunciation will not come into effect, and you will be considered to have remained a British citizen as before if the Home Secretary or Governor registers your declaration in the expectation that you will obtain citizenship of another country/territory, but you are unable to do so within 6 months of the registration.

Importantly, your declaration of renunciation of citizenship or status only affects you. The current status of any other members of your existing family does not get affected.

2. Check your eligibility

You may renounce your citizenship or status if either you already are another country’s citizen/national, or you can satisfy the Secretary of State for the Home Department or Governor (if you have to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship), that you are going to obtain another country’s citizenship/nationality within 6 months after giving up your British citizenship or status and

• You are of full age, meaning aged 18 or over. You are also treated as being of full age for the purpose of renouncing your citizenship if you are aged under 18 and have been married or in a civil partnership. 

• You are of full capacity. Full capacity is defined as being “not of unsound mind” under the British Nationality Act 1981. If you have some understanding of what renunciation means and what its consequences are, you would be considered to have met this requirement.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department or Governor (if you have to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship) has discretion to waive the requirement to be of full capacity if they think that doing so is in your best interests. 

3. Apply for Renunciation

You will be required to complete a declaration of renunciation. You can fill in the official application form RN online or by post. During the period when your application is being processed, you can usually keep your documents.

You must apply by post if you live in either the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or a British Overseas Territory. 

Apart from British Overseas Territories citizenship, if you have more than one type of British nationality (other types include British Overseas Citizenship, British Subject Status, and British National (Overseas) Status), you can renounce all other nationalities on a single declaration. But you will be required to complete two separate declarations if you want to renounce your British Overseas Territories citizenship and another citizenship or status because an application to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship is made to the territory's Governor, but all other renunciation applications are made to the Home Secretary.

4. Documents required for renouncing your citizenship

You may be required to provide the following supporting documentation as part of your declaration of renunciation: 

• your birth certificates 

• Documents as proof of your British nationality (such as a passport or naturalisation or registration certificate). If you acquired your citizenship or status through a parent or grandparent, you should provide documents confirming that person’s citizenship or status and evidence of your relationship to them. 

• your marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate if you are aged under 18 and are married or in a civil partnership 

• evidence that you already hold, or will acquire, citizenship or nationality of another country after declaring your renunciation:

• your current passport showing you are already a citizen of the country concerned or a statement from the authorities of the country concerned confirming that you will become that country’s citizen or national if you do not already hold that country’s citizenship

• If you are applying for renouncing citizenship on behalf of someone who is not of full capacity, you will be required to give information about the mental condition of that person, what is your relationship to them, and why it would be in that person’s best interests to renounce their citizenship.

Fee required to apply for renunciation of nationality

From 8 April 2026, you are required to pay £513 (up from £482) to apply for renunciation of citizenship or nationality.

Role of the Home Secretary when I have to announce my British citizenship?

When you apply to renounce your British citizenship, the Home Office, which is acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, does the following: 

It checks your application and supporting documents. 

1. It checks whether you meet the legal requirements for renunciation. 

2. If you meet the requirements, the Secretary of State registers your Declaration of Renunciation. 

3. Once the declaration is registered, you stop being a British citizen. 

4. You receive the registered declaration as evidence that your renunciation has taken effect.

What happens if you do not acquire citizenship or nationality of the country concerned within 6 months of registration of your declaration of renunciation 

If your declaration was registered by the Secretary of State or Governor in the expectation that you would acquire another citizenship, but you do not acquire one within 6 months of being registered, you should send your ‘Applicant’s Copy’ of the declaration, along with a letter from the authorities of the other country concerned confirming that you have not obtained the citizenship of that country to: 

Department 1 UKVI 

The Capital 

New Hall Place 

Liverpool 

L3 9PP 

Your declaration will then be forwarded to UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration), or to the Governor of the relevant territory (if you have to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship), and endorsed to prove that your renunciation of citizenship never took effect.

You can reapply for either a British passport or a certificate of entitlement after your renunciation has been voided, if you previously held one of these documents.

What happens if I successfully renounce your British citizenship?

In such a situation, you will generally:

• Stop being a British citizen from the date the Secretary of State or the Governor (if you have to renounce British Overseas Territories citizenship) registers your declaration of renunciation. 

• Lose your automatic right to live and work in the UK. 

• Any British passport or certificate of entitlement to the right of abode that you hold will be cancelled. 

• Your renunciation will not automatically affect your existing family members' nationality or immigration status. However, in certain circumstances it can affect the nationality rights of your children born in the future. 

• Be potentially be able to resume British citizenship in the future (once only), particularly where you renounced your citizenship because you needed to acquire or retain another nationality. The rules and eligibility requirements apply.

How can Visa and Migration Ltd. Help?

If you are wondering about what happens if you have to renounce your British citizenship, our experienced immigration advisers can help you in the process. We will help you understand that renouncing British citizenship is often linked to obtaining the citizenship or nationality of another country or meeting the nationality laws of that country. We will help you with clear and practical advice so that you make an informed decision. We will also ensure your application is prepared correctly.

If you are considering renouncing your British citizenship, Visa and Migration Ltd. can provide professional guidance throughout the process.

For expert advice and queries on renouncing your British citizenship, you can call us at +44 (0)20 3411 1261 or write to info@visaandmigration.com