I Assume I Can't Get Naturalised As A British Citizen And Obtain A Passport If I Want To Remain Non-Domiciled?

• Published date: 25 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Tax, Immigration, Family and Matrimonial, Inheritance Tax, Wills/ Intestacy/ Estate Planning, Investment Immigration
• Law Firm: Forsters
• Author: Alfred Liu

Not necessarily. The concepts of "domicile" and "citizenship" are not one and the same. After all, it's possible for British expats who have permanently left the UK to be non-UK domiciled.

Equally, an individual can have several citizenships and passports but under English law have only one domicile. Becoming a British citizen by naturalisation therefore does not, in isolation, mean that someone acquires a UK domicile.

Remaining non-UK domiciled for an individual is significant for UK tax purposes. It means that UK inheritance does not apply to their worldwide estate but instead applies only to their: (i) assets situated in the UK; (ii) interests (e.g. shares or loans) in non-UK companies holding UK residential property; and (iii) the benefit of loans used by the borrower to finance the acquisition, maintenance or enhancement of UK residential property. It also means they can be taxed on the remittance basis.

Domicile under English law is based on a person's intentions and connections to a particular jurisdiction. Very broadly, an individual is domiciled in a jurisdiction that they consider to be their permanent home and with which they have the most connections. There are three types of domicile: domicile of origin, dependence or choice. In general, an individual has a non-UK domicile of origin if at the time of their birth their parents were married and their father had a non-UK domicile. Their non-UK domicile of origin subsists so long as they do not acquire a domicile of choice in the UK by: (i) residing in the UK; and (ii) forming the...