Chagossian Descent Can Apply For British Citizenship

Chagossians are those born on the islands that now form British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), and their descendants are born outside the BIOT; can now apply for British Citizenship. Those living on BIOT were removed in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

You can apply to become a British Citizen through this route if you are:

• A direct descendant of someone who was born on the islands that now form British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)
• Direct descendants are the biological children and grandchildren of an ancestor. (Direct descendant of your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents, and so on but not of your aunts, uncles, or cousins)

Chagossian legal challenges forced the government to waive fees for applicants from the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The application process for the new British nationality route for people of Chagossian descent has opened on 23 November 2022.