Beverley Hughes

The government has announced it is to give around 35,000 British overseas citizens the right to live in the UK.

The Home Office said it was honouring a "long-standing obligation" left over from the era of decolonisation.

The people, who would otherwise have no right of abode in any country, will be granted the right to live and work in the UK in an amendment to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill.

There are around 35,000 BOCs without other citizenship living in former UK colonies in east Africa, notably Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, plus a some who now reside in India.

"We are righting a historical wrong which has left a number of overseas citizens without any right of abode, either in the UK or elsewhere," said Home Office minister Beverley Hughes.

"BOC status is a legacy of decolonisation, when some overseas citizens were treated unfairly, which was then compounded by the 1968 Immigration Act and the 1981 British Nationality Act. The government is acting to put that right.

"We have a moral obligation to these people going back a long way. We are now meeting that obligation and doing the right thing by those citizens of former British colonies who would otherwise have no right of abode in any country.

The ministers said the number expected to move to the UK was "small", with less than 500 BOCs a year applying to live in the UK in recent times.

"They are likely to view it as an insurance policy in case their circumstances change in the future. I am pleased we are able to offer them that added security," said Hughes.