The citizenship rights guaranteed to settlers by King James I in the original Royal Charter of the 10 April 1606, thereby applied to Bermudians: These rights were confirmed in the Royal Charter granted to the London Company's spin-off, the Company of the City of London for the Plantacion of The Somers Isles, in 1615 on Bermuda being separated from Virginia: Bermuda is not the only territory whose citizenship rights were laid down in a Royal Charter. In regards to St. Helena, Lord Beaumont of Whitley in the House of Lords debate on the British Overseas Territories Bill on 10 July 2001, stated: Other criticisms were levelled at the time at the removal of the automatic right to citizenship by birth in the United Kingdom. However, because UK-born children of permanent residents are automatically British, the number of non-British children born in the United Kingdom is relatively small. Special provisions made in the Act (for those who do not have another nationality and for those who lived a long time in the United Kingdom) means there is little pressure for any change to the current law. Similar legislation was later enacted in Australia (1986), the Republic of Ireland (2004) and New Zealand (2005). After the Act After the Falklands War, full British citizenship was granted to the Falkland Islanders by the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983. Gibraltarians were also permitted to retain full British citizenship. See also Denaturalization laws British nationality law History of British nationality law References External links (Note that this website does not always include the most recent amendments: see warning on website.) United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1981 Immigration law in the United Kingdom British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies British nationality law 1981 in Gibraltar Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Hong Kong Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by subject