Employing the first-order effective medium theory, we develop an analytical model that governs light propagation inside a form birefringent medium with isotropic dielectric Kerr nonlinear material. This analytical model is found to be in excellent agreement with the recently developed rigorous Fourier modal method for Kerr nonlinear material [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B31, 2371 (2014)JOSAAH0030-394110.1364/JOSAB.31.002371]. Theoretical results demonstrate that form birefringent linear gratings with Kerr nonlinear materials behave like uniaxial crystals. However, the magnitude of birefringence can be tuned with a change of the incident light intensity. This paves the way toward all-optical control of form birefringence by exploiting optical nonlinearities in subwavelength structures.