Renouncing British citizenship costs £513 as of April 2026 and is done through Form RN under Section 12 of the British Nationality Act 1981. It requires already holding, or being about to acquire, another nationality. No citizenship-by-investment programme covered on this site requires renouncing British citizenship, since the UK permits dual nationality freely.
TL;DR · LAST REVIEWED 10 July 2026
- The current Home Office fee to renounce British citizenship is £513, effective from 8 April 2026; this fee has risen periodically and should be confirmed against gov.uk before applying.
- Renunciation is processed through Form RN, a Declaration of Renunciation under Section 12 of the British Nationality Act 1981, submitted online or by post depending on the applicant's location.
- British citizenship ends on the date the declaration is registered by the Home Office, not the date the application is submitted.
KEY FACTS
- The current Home Office fee to renounce British citizenship is £513, effective from 8 April 2026; this fee has risen periodically and should be confirmed against gov.uk before applying.
- Renunciation is processed through Form RN, a Declaration of Renunciation under Section 12 of the British Nationality Act 1981, submitted online or by post depending on the applicant's location.
- British citizenship ends on the date the declaration is registered by the Home Office, not the date the application is submitted.
- A person who renounced British citizenship specifically in order to acquire or keep another nationality has a one-time entitlement to resume British citizenship later, using Form RS1; resumption for any other reason is discretionary and not guaranteed.
- No citizenship-by-investment or golden visa programme covered on this site requires an applicant to renounce British citizenship, since UK law permits dual and multiple nationality without restriction.
Who renounces, and why it is rarely relevant to investment migration
Renunciation of British citizenship is a formal, voluntary legal step, most commonly used by people who hold or are acquiring a nationality from a country that does not itself permit dual nationality, and who must give up their previous citizenship to retain or take up the new one. It is governed by Section 12 of the British Nationality Act 1981 and administered by the Home Office. This is worth stating clearly in the specific context of this site's coverage of citizenship-by-investment and golden visa programmes: none of the programmes covered here, whether the Caribbean five, Turkey, Malta's former route, or any EU golden visa, require a UK citizen to renounce British citizenship as a condition of acquiring the new one. The UK itself places no limit on the number of citizenships a British citizen may hold, covered in the dedicated dual citizenship guide linked below, so the driver for renunciation, where it arises at all for someone pursuing a second citizenship, is virtually always a restriction imposed by the other country, not by the UK.
The process: Form RN, eligibility, and the 2026 fee
Renunciation is carried out by submitting a Declaration of Renunciation using Form RN to the Home Office, either online or by post; those living in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or a British Overseas Territory must apply by post to the relevant Lieutenant-Governor or Governor rather than to the Home Secretary directly. As of the fee schedule effective 8 April 2026, the application fee is £513, a figure that has risen over recent years and should always be confirmed against the current gov.uk fee schedule before applying, since Home Office fees are revised periodically. To qualify, an applicant must be aged 18 or over, or treated as of full age through marriage or civil partnership regardless of actual age, be of sound mind and understand the consequences of the decision, and, critically, already hold another nationality or be able to demonstrate they will acquire one; UK law does not permit voluntary statelessness, so a declaration made on the basis of acquiring a nationality that then fails to materialise within the stated period does not take effect, and the applicant remains a British citizen.
What renunciation actually ends, and when
British citizenship ends on the date the Home Office registers the declaration, not the date the form is submitted or the fee is paid; applicants should not treat the process as complete, or alter travel or immigration plans, until registration is confirmed. Renunciation removes the right of abode in the UK, entitlement to a British passport, and the automatic civic rights that come with British nationality. Anyone who renounces while living in the UK and wishes to remain needs a separate basis to stay under the Immigration Rules, which, where relevant, should be applied for alongside the renunciation itself; the Home Office will only decide the settlement application after the renunciation itself has been processed, not before.
Getting it back: resumption rules
This is where the process differs sharply depending on the original reason for renouncing. A person who renounced British citizenship specifically because doing so was necessary to acquire or retain another country's citizenship has a one-time statutory entitlement to resume British citizenship later, applied for using Form RS1 under Section 13 of the British Nationality Act 1981; this is described as an entitlement precisely because it does not depend on Home Office discretion in the same way other routes do, provided the statutory conditions are met. Anyone who renounced for a different reason, or who has already used this one-time entitlement previously, can still apply to resume, but approval is entirely discretionary, assessed against unpublished good character and case-specific criteria, and is never guaranteed. It is also worth noting that any immigration status held before someone became a British citizen does not revive automatically on renunciation; someone who held indefinite leave to remain before naturalising, for example, cannot simply fall back onto that earlier status if they later renounce and wish to return to the UK.
Why this rarely intersects with citizenship-by-investment planning
Given how thoroughly this page's coverage of Caribbean, Turkish and former Malta citizenship-by-investment routes establishes that none of them require renouncing British citizenship, the practical scenarios where a UK citizen genuinely needs to consider renunciation are narrower than general commentary sometimes implies. The clearest case is where a UK citizen is acquiring citizenship of a country that does not itself permit dual nationality, entirely independent of any investment migration programme, since every programme covered on this site operates on an explicitly dual-nationality basis. Anyone genuinely weighing renunciation, for whatever underlying reason, should take independent legal advice specific to their situation before submitting Form RN, given how limited the path back is for anyone who renounces for a reason other than a genuine dual-nationality conflict.
RELATED GUIDES
DISCLAIMER
This article is editorial information, not immigration, legal, tax or investment advice. Rules, thresholds and fees change and should be verified against the official sources cited below before acting. Kael Tripton Ltd receives no fee, commission or referral payment in connection with any programme described on this page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to renounce British citizenship in 2026?
£513, per the Home Office fee schedule effective 8 April 2026. This fee has risen periodically over recent years and should be confirmed against the current gov.uk schedule before applying.
Do I have to renounce my British citizenship to get citizenship by investment somewhere else?
No. None of the citizenship-by-investment or golden visa programmes covered on this site require renouncing British citizenship. The UK permits dual and multiple nationality without restriction, so this is never a UK-side requirement.
Can I get my British citizenship back after renouncing it?
If you renounced specifically to acquire or keep another nationality, you have a one-time statutory entitlement to resume British citizenship via Form RS1. If you renounced for any other reason, or have already used that entitlement, resumption is discretionary and not guaranteed.
When does British citizenship actually end after renouncing?
On the date the Home Office registers the Declaration of Renunciation, not the date the form is submitted or the fee is paid. Applicants should not act as though citizenship has ended until registration is confirmed.
What happens if I renounce citizenship expecting a new nationality that doesn't come through?
If the declaration was made on the basis that another nationality would be acquired within a stated period and that does not happen, the renunciation does not take effect and the applicant remains a British citizen.
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