Originally Posted by
HilFly
The term "US resident" means different things in different situations. For instance, being a US resident for tax purposes is not the same as being a US resident for immigration purposes.
You are right, however in this case the T&Cs of BAEC only refer to the word "resident" in relation to prohibition of residents of certain countries.
They only refer to addresses as "preferred mailing address" and make no requirement for the member to be a resident of that particular country for immigration or any other purpose.
Preferred mailing address is just about the loosest possible term I can think to refer to a member's address, and obviously is not the term chosen in the legal documents as the qualifier.
I therefore conclude that the reference to residence can only refer to residency for immigration purposes at the time of the redemption and has no basis for any other meaning in terms of BAEC.
Just a footnote to further support my view. The claim website requires a number of statements to be agreed to as the qualification process. The only one that refers to a US address is for it to have been valid and provided to BA at the time of booking. This is done in the booking itself. Not for the account to be registered in the US.
Mine was registered in the US while I lived there, incidentally, but I wouldn't want others to be discouraged from making a valid claim. The receipt of Avios requires no declaration at all so they must be relatively certain of members' qualification to claim based on an email address and the address provided in the booking.