Convention adoptions – sections 3 to 8
Section 7. Acquisition of British citizenship by Convention adoptions
42.This section amends section 1(5) of the British Nationality Act 1981 by providing that if a child who does not have British nationality is adopted either in any UK court or outside the British Islands under the 1993 Convention, he will be able to acquire British nationality automatically provided that at least one of the adoptive parents is a British citizen at the time the adoption order is made and in the case of a Convention adoption, that the adopter or, in the case of an adoption by a married couple, both of the adopters are habitually resident in the UK. In the British Nationality Act in this amendment ‘UK’ includes the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. This section will have effect throughout the British Islands (section 18(5)).
43.This amendment implements Article 26(2) of the Convention which requires a Contracting State, where an adoption has the effect of terminating a pre-existing legal parent-child relationship, to ensure that
“the child shall enjoy in the receiving State, and any other Contracting State where the adoption is recognised, rights equivalent to those resulting from adoptions having this effect in each such State”.
44.Under the present law, an adoption order made in a UK court automatically confers British nationality on a child who is not a British citizen where at least one of the adopters is a British citizen. The amendment therefore ensures that the adopted child enjoys the same status from the making of a Convention adoption order as he would if the adoption was made in the UK.
45.Subsections (2) and (3) make necessary minor amendments to subsections (6) and (8) respectively of the 1981 Act as a consequence of the amendment to section 1(5) of the Act.