# British Nationality Act 1981, Section 42: Registration and naturalisation: citizenship ceremony, oath and pledge

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) A person of full age shall not be registered under this Act as a British citizen unless he has made the relevant citizenship oath and pledge specified in Schedule 5 at a citizenship ceremony.
(2) A certificate of naturalisation as a British citizen shall not be granted under this Act to a person of full age unless he has made the relevant citizenship oath and pledge specified in Schedule 5 at a citizenship ceremony.
(3) A person of full age shall not be registered under this Act as a British overseas territories citizen unless he has made the relevant citizenship oath and pledge specified in Schedule 5.
(4) A certificate of naturalisation as a British overseas territories citizen shall not be granted under this Act to a person of full age unless he has made the relevant citizenship oath and pledge specified in Schedule 5.
(5) A person of full age shall not be registered under this Act as a British Overseas citizen or a British subject unless he has made the relevant citizenship oath specified in Schedule 5.
(6) Where the Secretary of State thinks it appropriate because of the special circumstances of a case he may—
(a) disapply any of subsections (1) to (5), or
(b) modify the effect of any of those subsections.
(7) Sections 5 and 6 of the Oaths Act 1978 (c. 19) (affirmation) apply to a citizenship oath; and a reference in this Act to a citizenship oath includes a reference to a citizenship affirmation.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/61/section/42 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/british-nationality-act-1981/section-42
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.