Section 4L of the British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA 1981) was inserted by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and has been in force since 28 June 2022.It is a discretionary provision for the registration of adults as British citizens, but it is not intended to mirror BNA 1981, s 3(1), which provision applies to children only and gives the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) a much broader discretion. Instead, BNA 1981, s 4L is intended to operate in a limited and specific set of scenarios only and was devised by the Home Office to provide the SSHD with a legal mechanism to provide a correction for individual cases of past unfairness or exceptionality that led someone to miss out on being, or becoming, a British citizen.There is a mirror provision for the registration of British Overseas Territories Citizens (BOTC) at BNA 1981, s 17I.BNA 1981, s 4LBNA 1981, s 4L allows for the registration of adults, of full age and capacity,