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July 1[edit]

nationality in UK passport[edit]

In episode six of FlashForward, we see a close-up of a British passport, and I'm surprised by the field "Nationality: SCOTTISH". Is that realistic? Does each UK passport have one of four "Nationalities" (or seven, if Manx and Channel Islanders have UK passports)? —Tamfang (talk) 07:10, 1 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Nope and nope. 86.28.195.109 (talk) 07:23, 1 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Also [1] is a sample of a modern biometric passport information page (last image). Note that the above article links to Isle of Man passport, Jersey passport etc if you want more information on these. Nil Einne (talk) 07:28, 1 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, within the UK there is no such thing as "English nationality" or "Scottish nationality". Where the law differentiates, it only goes based on residency: any British/EU citizen resident in Scotland on the day could vote in the Scottish independence referendum, regardless of where they were born, but anyone living outside Scotland could not (even if they were born in Scotland). Similarly, someone resident in Scotland (for at least a certain period of time) gets free university education there; someone born in Scotland but living in England does not. Move across the border, and your legal protections instantly change. Similarly, Scottish law applies to crimes committed in Scotland, regardless of the citizenship of the defendant or victim, and English law to crimes in England and Wales (and Welsh law, nowadays). Northern Ireland I believe this is similar to the situation within individual US states. The one exception is that British Overseas Citizen passports often have a note on the endorsements page linking the holder to a particular territory (for example, Hong Kong). Smurrayinchester 11:43, 5 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There are other "exceptions" too. A British passport holder is not necessarily a British citizen, British nationality law sets out the other examples. Many people who hold British passports in Hong Kong have "BN(O)" nationality, which is confusingly different to "BNO" nationality. In emergency situations Commonwealth countries also issue passports to other Commonwealth citizens, so you could get a British emergency passport that says nationality: Australian. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 09:46, 6 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]