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*Tracing Your Roots > First Steps in Family History > Getting Started
* Acts of Parliament and Naturalisation - the 1900s 
 
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Man on quayside at Madras
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A man hurries along the quayside at Madras in the early 1960s, laden with baggage.
* Moving Here catalogue reference (NMM) H5198
1914
The British Nationality and Status Act (*Aliens Registration Act 1914) introduced the requirement that candidates must have an adequate knowledge of English, and memorials after this Act sometimes include English proficiency tests.

1948
The British Nationality Act 1948 (*British Nationality Act 1948) created the new status of citizen of the United Kingdom and the Colonies. Under this Act, people from former colonies and self-governing countries of the Commonwealth such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, India, and Pakistan could register as citizens of the UK and Colonies. This was extended under the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act to include the colonies. The main provision for granting citizenship by registration was that an adult citizen of self-governing countries of the Commonwealth, Ireland and the colonies needed to ordinarily reside in the United Kingdom, and have done so for at least twelve months prior to registration.

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Quayside with the Rajula
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A group of people cluster round the gangplank of the Rajula, a British India Liner passenger ship, in the early 1960s. The Rajula was operated mostly on the Madras to Singapore service and would have been used by many migrants as they took what were known as 'feeder' routes from locations around the Indian Ocean before embarking for Britain from major ports like Madras.
* Moving Here catalogue reference (NMM) H5195
1962
The Commonwealth Immigrants Act (*Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962) required all Commonwealth citizens seeking employment in Britain, to qualify for a employment voucher. This limited the right of entry to the United Kingdom; those with passports not issued in Britain were obliged to hold a work permit to secure entry.

1968
*Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 further tightened controls. Potential immigrants were now required to prove that they themselves were born in the United Kingdom, or that their parents or grandparents had been.

1971
*The Immigration Act 1971 rationalised legislation on the subject of immigrants by making no distinction between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth entrants.

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