If one of your parents died before you were born, your citizenship depends on what your parent’s citizenship was at the time of their death. For parents who died before the Constitution came into effect, the law looks at what citizenship they would have had on the day the Constitution started. This means you can still inherit citizenship from a parent you never met, as long as they would have been a citizen under the current Constitution. The government must treat you as having your parent’s citizenship from the date of their death, not from your birth.

A reference in this Chapter to the citizenship of the parent of a person at the time of the birth of that person shall, in relation to a person born after the death of the parent, be construed as a reference to the citizenship of the parent at the time of the parent’s death.

For the purposes of <span class="underline-gradient ref" data-tippy-content data-ref="19:1">clause (1)</span> of this Article, where the death occurred before the coming into force of this Constitution, the citizenship that the parent would have had if he or she had died on the coming into force of this Constitution shall be taken to be his or her citizenship at the time of his or her death.

When this Chapter refers to the citizenship of a parent at the time of a person’s birth, and the parent died before the person was born...

Article 19: Citizenship if parent dies before your birth

Citizenship of a parent dying before the birth of a person

<div><strong>1</strong> A reference in this Chapter to the citizenship of the parent of a person at the time of the birth of that person shall, in relation to a person born after the death of the parent, be construed as a reference to the citizenship of the parent at the time of the parent’s death.</div>

Article 19: Citizenship if parent dies before your birth

19.Citizenship of a parent dying before the birth of a person

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