British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983 Territories citizens were restricted in their right to enter and stay in the UK. The new Act conferred full British citizenship on the residents of the Falkland Islands, giving them more preferential status than that of other BDTCs, including BDTCs of Gibraltar (whose British citizenship must be voluntarily applied for). The 1983 Act had retrospective effect from 1 January 1983, the date on which the 1981 Act had come into effect. The 1983 Act was passed mainly in response to the Falklands War, which was fought between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the sovereignty of the islands. The United
Occupation of the Falkland Islands Occupation of the Falkland Islands The occupation of the Falkland Islands and of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ( "Military Administration of the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands") was the short-lived Argentine administration of a group of islands in the South Atlantic whose sovereignty has long been disputed. Until their invasion on 2 April 1982 by the Argentine military junta, they had been governed by the United Kingdom since it re-established control over them in 1833. The invasion and subsequent occupation signalled the start of the Falklands War, which resulted in the islands returning to British