Editing Bermuda (section)

===Nationality and citizenship===
{{main|British nationality law}}
[[File:Bermuda passport.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.7|A British passport as issued by the Department of Immigration of the Government of Bermuda on behalf of the Passport Office of the Government of the United Kingdom, and often erroneously described as a [[Bermudian passport]]]]
Historically, English (later British) colonials shared the same citizenship as those born within that part of the sovereign territory of the [[Kingdom of England]] (including the [[Principality of Wales]]) that lay within the [[Island of Britain]] (although [[Magna Carta]] had effectively created English citizenship,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Magna Carta, Petition of Right, History of Civil Liberties |url=https://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/brief-history/magna-carta.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721183912/https://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/brief-history/magna-carta.html |archive-date=21 July 2021 |access-date=21 July 2021 |website=United for Human Rights |language=en}}</ref> citizens were still termed 'subjects of the King of England' or 'English subjects'. With the [[Acts of Union 1707|1707 union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland]], this was replaced with 'British Subject', which encompassed citizens throughout the sovereign territory of the British Government, including its colonies, though not the [[British protectorate]]s). With no [[Representative government|representation]] at the sovereign or national level of government, British colonials were therefore not consulted, or required to give their consent, to a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1968 and 1982, which were to limit their rights and ultimately change their citizenship.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Warwick |first=Professor (of Political Science) John |date=24 September 2007 |title=Race and the development of Immigration policy during the 20th century |url=https://john-warwick.blogspot.com/2007/09/race-and-development-of-immigration.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128160137/http://john-warwick.blogspot.com/2007/09/race-and-development-of-immigration.html |archive-date=28 January 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=Race and the development of Immigration policy during the 20th century |publisher=Professor John Warwick |quote=issues of race and racial exclusion were undoubtedly the biggest factor in legislation and policy developments regarding citizenship law and the right of abode in the UK during the second half of the twentieth century.}}</ref>

When several colonies had been elevated before the [[Second World War]] to [[Dominion]] status, collectively forming the old [[Commonwealth of Nations#Adoption and formalisation of the Commonwealth|British Commonwealth]] (as distinct from the United Kingdom and its dependent colonies), their citizens remained British Subjects, and in theory, any British Subject born anywhere in the World had the same basic right to enter, reside, and work in the United Kingdom as a British Subject born in the United Kingdom whose parents were also both British Subjects born in the United Kingdom (although a number of governmental policies and practices acted to thwart the free exercise of these rights by various groups of colonials, including Greek Cypriots).<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Evan |last2=Varnava |first2=Andrekos |date=4 June 2018 |title=Restrictions on British colonial migrants in an era of free movement: the case of Cyprus |url=https://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/restrictions-on-british-colonial-migrants-in-an-era-of-free-movement-the-ca |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911110804/https://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/restrictions-on-british-colonial-migrants-in-an-era-of-free-movement-the-ca |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=History & Policy |publisher=Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, University of London |quote=The British authorities sought to restrict further numbers from immigrating to Britain through a number of measures, despite the fact that Cypriots were British subjects. This was done predominantly through the refusal to issue passports, as well as requesting that those travelling from the island pay a surety bond. The British limited the number of passports issued to Cypriots intending to travel to Britain. To obtain a passport for Britain, Cypriots had to pay a bond (in case they had to be repatriated).}}</ref>

When the Dominions and an increasing number of colonies began choosing complete independence from the United Kingdom after the Second World War, the Commonwealth was transformed into a community of independent nations, or [[Commonwealth realm]]s, each recognising the British monarch as its own head of state (creating separate monarchies with the same person occupying all of the separate Thrones; the exception being republican India).<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=What Are the Commonwealth Realms? |url=https://www.monarchist.org.au/what_are_the_commonwealth_realms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911121444/https://www.monarchist.org.au/what_are_the_commonwealth_realms |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=www.monarchist.org.au |publisher=Australian Monarchist League |quote=These are independent kingdoms where Elizabeth II is Queen and Sovereign. There are 16 of them (see below) and all are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Each Realm, being independent of all the others, titles the Queen differently.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Canada: History and present government |url=https://www.royal.uk/canada |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817093631/https://www.royal.uk/canada |archive-date=17 August 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=Royal.UK |publisher=The Royal Household |quote=Canada has been a monarchy for centuries – first under the kings of France in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, then under the British Crown in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and now as a kingdom in her own right. These lands had been occupied for thousands of years by Aboriginal Peoples who, now for many centuries, have maintained an enduring and very close relationship with the person of the Sovereign and the Crown of Canada.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Australia |url=https://www.royal.uk/australia |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201044226/https://www.royal.uk/australia |archive-date=1 February 2019 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=Royal.UK |publisher=The Royal Household |quote=The Queen's relationship to Australia is unique. In all her duties, she speaks and acts as Queen of Australia, and not as Queen of the United Kingdom.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=The Commonwealth |url=https://www.royal.uk/commonwealth |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918112529/https://www.royal.uk/commonwealth |archive-date=18 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=Royal.UK |publisher=The Royal Household |quote=After achieving independence, India was the first of a number of countries which decided that, although they wished to become republics, they still wanted to remain within the Commonwealth.}}</ref>

'British Subject' was replaced by the [[British Nationality Act 1948]] with 'Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies' for the residents of the United Kingdom and its colonies, as well as for the [[Crown Dependencies]]. However, as it was desired to retain free movement for all Commonwealth Citizens throughout the Commonwealth, 'British Subject' was retained as a blanket nationality shared by Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (the 'British realm') as well as the citizens of the various other Commonwealth realms.<ref name="Warwick">{{Cite web |last=Warwick |first=Professor (of Political Science) John |date=24 September 2007 |title=Race and the development of Immigration policy during the 20th century |url=https://john-warwick.blogspot.com/2007/09/race-and-development-of-immigration.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128160137/http://john-warwick.blogspot.com/2007/09/race-and-development-of-immigration.html |archive-date=28 January 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=Race and the development of Immigration policy during the 20th century |publisher=Professor John Warwick}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lidher |first=Sundeep |date=20 April 2018 |title=British citizenship and the windrush generation |url=https://www.runnymedetrust.org/blog/british-citizenship-and-the-windrush-generation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911121445/https://www.runnymedetrust.org/blog/british-citizenship-and-the-windrush-generation |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=www.runnymedetrust.org |publisher=The Runnymede Trust}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearsall |first=Mark |date=14 April 2014 |title=British nationality: subject or citizen? |url=https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/british-nationality-subject-citizen/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911121449/https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/british-nationality-subject-citizen/ |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=British Government National Archives}}</ref> The inflow of [[people of colour]] to the United Kingdom in the 1940s and 1950s from both the remaining colonies and newly independent Commonwealth nations was responded to with a backlash that led to the passing of the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962]], which restricted the rights of Commonwealth nationals to enter, reside and work in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Commonwealth Immigration control and legislation: The Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962 |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/commonwealth-immigration-control-legislation.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921232746/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/commonwealth-immigration-control-legislation.htm |archive-date=21 September 2022 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=British Government National Archives |quote=Butler oversaw the production of the Bill that became the Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1962. This controlled the immigration of all Commonwealth passport holders (except those who held UK passports). Prospective immigrants now needed to apply for a work voucher, graded according to the applicant's employment prospects.}}</ref> This Act also allowed certain colonials (primarily ethnic-Indians in African colonies) to retain Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies if their colonies became independent, which was intended as a measure to ensure these people did not become [[Statelessness|stateless]] if they were denied the citizenship of their newly independent nation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Commonwealth Immigration control and legislation: The Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962 |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/commonwealth-immigration-control-legislation.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904140510/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/commonwealth-immigration-control-legislation.htm |archive-date=4 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=British Government National Archives |quote=In 1967, Asians from Kenya and Uganda, fearing discrimination from their own national governments, began to arrive in Britain. They had retained their British citizenship following independence, and were therefore not subject to the act. The Conservative Enoch Powell and his associates campaigned for tighter controls. The Labour government responded with the Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1968. It extended control to those without a parent or grandparent who was born in or was a citizen of the UK.}}</ref>

Many ethnic-Indians from former African colonies (notably [[Kenya]]) subsequently relocated to the United Kingdom, in response to which the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968]] was rapidly passed, stripping all British Subjects (including Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies) who were not born in the United Kingdom, and who did not have a Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies parent or grandparent born in the United Kingdom or some other qualification (such as existing residence status), of the rights to freely enter, reside and work in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Migration's effect on Britain - government. Post-war British laws for and against immigration, 1945-1972: Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z8sdbk7/revision/4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911144833/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z8sdbk7/revision/4 |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=BBC News |quote=This act imposed strict quotas and removed automatic right of entry into Britain for Asian British passport holders (except those born in Britain or those who had a British parent or grandparent). The next Conservative government brought in further tough controls on immigration.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Commonwealth immigrants in the Modern Era, 1948-present |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zx93tyc/revision/2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911144832/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zx93tyc/revision/2 |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=BBC News }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=26 November 2008 |title=ON THIS DAY 1950-2005: 26 November, 1968: Race discrimination law tightened |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/26/newsid_3220000/3220635.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206192711/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/26/newsid_3220000/3220635.stm |archive-date=6 December 2017 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=BBC News |quote=At the beginning of the year, up to 1,000 Kenyan Asians, who hold British passports, were arriving in Britain each month. Amid growing unrest, the government rushed through the Commonwealth Immigrants Act in March, restricting the number of Kenyan Asians who could enter the country to those who had a relative who was already a British resident. The new Race Relations Act is intended to counter-balance the Immigration Act, and so fulfil the government's promise to be "fair but tough" on immigrants}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/9/contents/enacted |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911144835/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/9/contents/enacted |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=www.legislation.gov.uk |publisher=British Government |quote=Status: This item of legislation is only available to download and view as PDF.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Malik |first=Kenan |date=4 March 2018 |title=Opinion: Race; Racist rhetoric hasn't been consigned to Britain's past |work=The Guardian |publisher=Guardian News & Media Limited |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/04/commonwealth-immigrants-act-1968-racism |url-status=live |access-date=11 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911144832/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/04/commonwealth-immigrants-act-1968-racism |archive-date=11 September 2021}}</ref>

Although the 1968 Act was intended primarily to bar immigration of specific British passport holders from Commonwealth countries in Africa, it amended the wording of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 in such a way as to apply to all Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who were not specifically excepted, including most colonials.

This was followed by the [[Immigration Act 1971]], which effectively divided Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies into two types, although their citizenship remained the same: Patrials, who were those from (or with a specified qualifying connection to) the United Kingdom itself, who retained the rights of free entry, abode, and work in the United Kingdom; and those born in the colonies (or in foreign countries to British Colonial parents), from whom those rights were denied.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Commonwealth Immigration control and legislation: The Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962 |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/commonwealth-immigration-control-legislation.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904140510/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/commonwealth-immigration-control-legislation.htm |archive-date=4 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=British Government National Archives |quote=The Conservative government announced the Immigration Act of 1971. The act replaced employment vouchers with work permits, allowing only temporary residence. 'Patrials' (those with close UK associations) were exempted from the act.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=Migration's effect on Britain - government. Post-war British laws for and against immigration, 1945-1972: Immigration Act 1971 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z8sdbk7/revision/4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911144833/https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z8sdbk7/revision/4 |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=BBC News |quote=This Act moved away from the employment vouchers scheme and established temporary work permits. The Act also introduced the category of 'patrial' which was a 'grandfather' clause: if you had a grandparent born in the UK then you were exempt from the immigration controls.}}</ref>

The [[British Nationality Act 1981]], which entered into force on 1 January 1983,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The British Nationality Act 1981 (Commencement) Order 1982 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/933/made |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401134239/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1982/933/made |archive-date=1 April 2019 |access-date=18 March 2019}}</ref> abolished British Subject status, and stripped colonials of their full British Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies, replacing it with British Dependent Territories Citizenship, which entailed no right of abode or to work anywhere. This left Bermudians and most other erstwhile British colonials as British nationals without the rights of British citizenship.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl |speaker=Lord Waddington |title=British Overseas Territories Bill |house=House of Lords |date=10 July 2001 |column_start=1014 |column_end=1037 }} {{Cite web |title=British Overseas Territories Bill [H.L.] (Hansard, 10 July 2001) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230160030/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl |archive-date=30 December 2016 |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=10 July 2001 |access-date=24 November 2020}}</ref><ref name="Warwick"/>

The exceptions were the [[Gibraltar]]ians (permitted to retain British Citizenship to also retain [[Citizenship of the European Union]]) and the [[Falkland Islands|Falkland Islanders]], who were permitted to retain the same new British Citizenship that became the default citizenship for those from the United Kingdom and the [[Crown Dependencies]].

The stripping of citizens' birthrights from Bermudians by the British Government in 1968 and 1971, and the change of their citizenship in 1983, violated the rights granted them by [[Royal Charter]]s at the founding of the colony. Bermuda (fully The Somers Isles or Islands of Bermuda) had been settled by the [[London Company]] (which had been in occupation of the archipelago since the 1609 wreck of the [[Sea Venture]]) in 1612, when it received its Third Royal Charter from [[James VI and I|King James I]], amending the boundaries of the [[Virginia Colony|First Colony of Virginia]] far enough across the Atlantic to include Bermuda. The citizenship rights guaranteed to settlers by King James I in the original Royal Charter of 10 April 1606, thereby applied to Bermudians:<ref>{{cite executive order |number=1 |title=Royal Charter of King James I to the Virginia Company of London |date=10 April 1601 |language=English |post=King of England}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=No. 1: First Charter of Virginia |url=https://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=K7GRIUBKMVRBL76 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911153733/https://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=K7GRIUBKMVRBL76 |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=www.originalsources.com |publisher=Western Standard Publishing Company}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=No. 2: Second Charter of Virginia |url=https://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=KEPRJAXF2IKNNY6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911153731/https://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=KEPRJAXF2IKNNY6 |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=www.originalsources.com |publisher=Western Standard Publishing Company}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |title=No. 3: Third Charter of Virginia |url=https://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=K5WQWAFPH3Y9A4N |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911153729/https://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=K5WQWAFPH3Y9A4N |archive-date=11 September 2021 |access-date=11 September 2021 |website=www.originalsources.com |publisher=Western Standard Publishing Company}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Alsoe wee doe, for us, our heires and successors, declare by theise presentes that all and everie the parsons being our subjects which shall dwell and inhabit within everie or anie of the saide severall Colonies and plantacions and everie of theire children which shall happen to be borne within the limitts and precincts of the said severall Colonies and plantacions shall have and enjoy all liberties, franchises and immunites within anie of our other dominions to all intents and purposes as if they had been abiding and borne within this our realme of Englande or anie other of our saide dominions.<ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36181/36181-h/36181-h.htm The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London: the First Charter April 10, 1606, with an introduction by Samuel M. Bemiss, President, Virginia Historical Society. Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, Williamsburg, Virginia 1957] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414034703/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36181/36181-h/36181-h.htm |date=14 April 2021 }}, Gutenberg.org</ref>}}

These rights were confirmed in the Royal Charter granted to the London Company's spin-off, the [[Somers Isles|Company of the City of London for the Plantacion of The Somers Isles]], in 1615 on Bermuda being separated from Virginia:

{{blockquote|And wee doe for vs our heires and successors declare by these Pnts, that all and euery persons being our subjects which shall goe and inhabite within the said Somer Ilandes and every of their children and posterity which shall happen to bee borne within the limits thereof shall haue and enjoy all libertyes franchesies and immunities of free denizens and natural subjectes within any of our dominions to all intents and purposes, as if they had beene abiding and borne within this our Kingdome of England or in any other of our Dominions<ref>Letters Patent of King James I, 1615. ''Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of The Bermudas or Somers Islands'', Volume 1, by Lieutenant-General Sir John Henry Lefroy, Royal Artillery, [[Governor of Bermuda|Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda]] 1871–1877. The Bermuda Memorials Edition, 1981. The Bermuda Historical Society and The Bermuda National Trust (First Edition, London, 1877)</ref>}}

Bermuda is not the only territory whose citizenship rights were laid down in a Royal Charter. In regards to [[Saint Helena|St. Helena]], [[Tim Beaumont|Lord Beaumont of Whitley]] in the [[House of Lords]] debate on the British Overseas Territories Bill on 10 July 2001, stated:<ref>{{Cite web |title=British Overseas Territories Bill [H.L.] (Hansard, 10 July 2001) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230160030/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl |archive-date=30 December 2016 |access-date=8 January 2021 |website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]] |date=10 July 2001}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Citizenship was granted irrevocably by Charles I. It was taken away by Parliament because of growing opposition to immigration at the time.}}

Some Conservative Party backbenchers stated that it was the unpublished intention of the Conservative British Government to return to a single citizenship for the United Kingdom and all of the remaining territories once Hong Kong had been handed over to China. Whether this was so will never be known as by 1997 the Labour Party was in Government. The Labour Party had declared prior to the election that the colonies had been ill-treated by the British Nationality Act 1981, and it had made a pledge to return to a single citizenship for the United Kingdom and the remaining territories part of its election manifesto. Other matters took precedence, however, and this commitment was not acted upon during Labour's first term in Government. The House of Lords, in which multiple former colonial Governors sat (including former Governor of Bermuda Lord Waddington), lost patience and tabled and passed its own bill, then handed it down to the House of Commons to confirm in 2001. As a result, the British Dependent Territories were renamed the [[British Overseas Territory|British Overseas Territories]] in 2002 (the term 'dependent territory' had caused much ire in the former colonies, especially well-heeled and self-reliant Bermuda, as it implied not only that British Dependent Territories Citizens were 'other than British', but that their relationship to Britain and to 'real British people' was both inferior and parasitic).<ref name="FAC">[[#refFAC|House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Overseas Territories Report]], pp. 145–47</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Warwick |first=Professor John |date=24 September 2007 |title=Professor John Warwick: Race and the development of Immigration policy during the 20th century |url=https://john-warwick.blogspot.com/2007/09/race-and-development-of-immigration.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128160137/http://john-warwick.blogspot.com/2007/09/race-and-development-of-immigration.html |archive-date=28 January 2021 |access-date=8 January 2021 |website=John-warwick.blogspot.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=May 2018 |title=Windrush scandal shows how 'Britishness' stinks |url=https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/46509/Windrush+scandal+shows+how+Britishness+stinks |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116063521/https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/46509/Windrush+scandal+shows+how+Britishness+stinks |archive-date=16 November 2020 |access-date=8 January 2021 |website=Socialistworker.co.uk}}</ref>

At the same time, although Labour had promised a return to a single citizenship for the United Kingdom, Crown dependencies, and all remaining territories, British Dependent Territories Citizenship, renamed British Overseas Territories Citizenship, remained the default citizenship for the territories, other than the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar (for which British Citizenship is still the default citizenship). The bars to residence and work in the United Kingdom that had been raised against holders of British Dependent Territories Citizenship by The British Nationality Act 1981 were, however, removed, and British Citizenship was made attainable by simply obtaining a second British passport with the citizenship recorded as British Citizen (requiring a change to passport legislation as prior to 2002, it had been illegal to possess two British Passports).<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl British Overseas Territories Bill [H.L.&#x5D]; House of Lords Debate, 10 July 2001. Volume 626, cc1014-37. UK Parliament website. [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/2001/jul/10/british-overseas-territories-bill-hl]</ref>

In March 2021, the government implemented a new visa policy towards foreigners, through which residency can be obtained by way of investing at least $2.5&nbsp;million in "real estate, Bermuda government bonds, a contribution to the island's debt relief fund or the Bermuda Trust Fund, and charity", among other options. According to the Labour Minister, Jason Hayward, this step had to be taken to relieve some of the country's debt resulting from the Covid pandemic.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Konkina |first=Alina |title=Foreigners Can Obtain Residency In Bermuda By Investing From US$2.5 Million |url=https://www.ntltrust.com/news-/news-crbi/foreigners-can-obtain-residency-in-bermuda-by-investing-from-us25-million |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220727083214/https://www.ntltrust.com/news-/news-crbi/foreigners-can-obtain-residency-in-bermuda-by-investing-from-us25-million |archive-date=27 July 2022 |access-date=27 July 2022 |website=NTL Trust |date=22 February 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref>