their loss of Rhodes to the Ottoman Empire. While local residents deeply resented being traded away without consultation, the Order of Saint John maintained its rule over the islands for the next 268 years until the French invasion of Malta in 1798. After the local population revolted and expelled the French, Malta came under British control as a protectorate in 1800. The 1802 Treaty of Amiens restored Malta to the Order but the organisation had been thrown into disarray following its 1798 defeat, which made enforcing this provision impossible. Regardless of the treaty, local residents vehemently opposed restoring the Knights to power and opted for continued British rule. Britain itself decided against leaving Malta after considering its strategic military value in the Mediterranean Sea following resumption of the Napoleonic Wars. The 1814 Treaty of Paris formally granted Britain full sovereignty over the territory, which became a crown colony in that year. British nationality law applied to the colony, as was the case elsewhere in the British Empire. Maltese and all other imperial citizens were British subjects; any person born in Malta, the United Kingdom, or anywhere else within Crown dominions was a natural-born British subject. British subject status was standardised as a common nationality across the Empire and its Dominions. Although Malta was granted self-governance in 1921, nationality and naturalisation remained reserved matters under the jurisdiction of the imperial government. Imperial nationality law was comprehensively reformed in 1948. The British Nationality Act 1948 redefined British subject to mean any citizen of the United Kingdom, its colonies, or other Commonwealth countries. Commonwealth citizen was first defined in this Act to have the same meaning. While previously all subjects of the Empire held a common status through allegiance to the Crown, each Commonwealth country under the reformed system became responsible for legislating their own nationality laws and would maintain a common status by voluntarily agreement among all the member states. British subjects under the previous meaning who held that status on 1 January 1949 because of a connection with the United Kingdom or a remaining colony (including Malta) became Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC). Changing relationship with Britain All British subjects/Commonwealth citizens under the reformed system initially held an automatic right to settle in the United Kingdom. Non-white immigration into the UK was systemically discouraged, but strong economic conditions in Britain following the Second World War attracted an unprecedented