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
Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833) on the grounds of prior discovery. The next year Captain John MacBride established a British settlement at Port Egmont. The British presence in the west continued, until interrupted by Spain (who had acquired the French colony), during the Falkland Crisis from 10 July 1770 to 22 January 1771. Economic pressures led Britain to unilaterally withdraw from many overseas settlements in 1774. On 20 May 1776 the British forces under the command of Lieutenant Clayton formally took their leave of Port Egmont, leaving a plaque asserting Britain's continuing sovereignty over the islands. The Falkland Islands remained an important outpost for whalers