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Commonwealth Games 2018


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  • 2 months later...

Hi- apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this but it seems to make the most sense. I have a friend in New Zealand who's interested in going to the 2022 Commonwealth Games representing a British Overseas Territory. His parents are from that Territory and born there (had British citizenship) but they moved to NZ, where my friend was born. He never got British citizenship even though his parents did and is instead a New Zealand citizen. 

I looked at the Constitution and it said: 

Subject to Byelaw 17(3), where a competitor was born in a Commonwealth Country which has common citizenship/passport with other Commonwealth Countries, the competitor may initially represent either the competitor's Commonwealth Country of birth; or the Commonwealth Country of birth of his or her father or mother who shares the same citizenship/passport.

This is kind of confusing. Even though he was born in a Commonwealth Country with common citizenship (New Zealand shares with Niue etc) his parents were born in a British territory. He has NZ citizenship, while his parents, though also having NZ citizenship (sharing a passport) also have UK citizenship. But because of some weird rules around British Overseas Territory citizenship he never got the citizenship, and NZ and the British territory don't have a common passport. The word 'who' is quite confusing here as it could refer to either the parents, or the territories, sharing citizenship.
I know plenty of people have represented UK territories despite never living in there. But these people, the ones I could find anyway, are British citizens born in Britain. Their parents' territory and the UK share a citizenship. NZ and UK territories do not, and that's the problem. 

Do any of you know of any precedents where someone with connections to British territory but not born there, living there or a UK citizen represented that territory? The Federation wasn't able to say.

Cheers

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17 hours ago, ahjfcshfghb said:

Hi- apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this but it seems to make the most sense. I have a friend in New Zealand who's interested in going to the 2022 Commonwealth Games representing a British Overseas Territory. His parents are from that Territory and born there (had British citizenship) but they moved to NZ, where my friend was born. He never got British citizenship even though his parents did and is instead a New Zealand citizen. 

I looked at the Constitution and it said: 

Subject to Byelaw 17(3), where a competitor was born in a Commonwealth Country which has common citizenship/passport with other Commonwealth Countries, the competitor may initially represent either the competitor's Commonwealth Country of birth; or the Commonwealth Country of birth of his or her father or mother who shares the same citizenship/passport.

This is kind of confusing. Even though he was born in a Commonwealth Country with common citizenship (New Zealand shares with Niue etc) his parents were born in a British territory. He has NZ citizenship, while his parents, though also having NZ citizenship (sharing a passport) also have UK citizenship. But because of some weird rules around British Overseas Territory citizenship he never got the citizenship, and NZ and the British territory don't have a common passport. The word 'who' is quite confusing here as it could refer to either the parents, or the territories, sharing citizenship.
I know plenty of people have represented UK territories despite never living in there. But these people, the ones I could find anyway, are British citizens born in Britain. Their parents' territory and the UK share a citizenship. NZ and UK territories do not, and that's the problem. 

Do any of you know of any precedents where someone with connections to British territory but not born there, living there or a UK citizen represented that territory? The Federation wasn't able to say.

Cheers

If it’s like the Olympics he should be able to represent said territory. Which territory?

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair” - Nelson Mandela

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