Lorna at Vicenza

Good luck then and all the best.

Jerseygirl

Where are you hoping to live and whereabouts in Canada are you living?

tevel3

as i said before, british nationality law is a complex law.
for almost 20 years my mom was told that i am a british citizen (the only way to know for certain is to apply for a passport, and even then they dont know the law, since i was told once again i am british and i wasnt), whilst i wasnt (just cause my mother was registered before 1981, before the new legislation took effect). so at the port of entry they would have no clue whether she's british or not unless she has a british passport (unless you have enough paperwork to prove she is british and the linkage to you).
you dont need to enter as visitor, law requires you to enter with your british passport and this what you should do, since the european law cover family members who are not "europeans" then you have no problem, she and you should be free from any immigration restriction.
as long as you can prove that she is your daughter then you are just gonna be fine

by the way it's not that easy to apply like that for a passport, believe my ive tried that, you need to prove you've lived in the uk for 3 years or a least show a prove of your address and then find someone who can sign your form (applying for a passport in the uk is alot harder than with an embassy...), so it's a bit of a problem, even though you got 6 month as a visitor.
so easier to be free from immigration and enter as citizens.

JAJ

I'm always struggling to understand why people book flights etc, without the proper documentation already in order (life or death situations excepted).

JAJ

Only way? For those born in 1983 or later, a consular birth certificate or a Right of Abode stamp in a foreign passport is normally more than sufficient proof. And there is the recently introduced option of a nationality status certificate from the Home Office.




What law?


European law does not apply to solely British citizens returning from a non-EEA member state.

It is much easier to deal with the Passport Office as you can work with your MP to find a solution if refused unreasonably. In any case, there are other proofs of British citizenship possible, such as those mentioned above or a Home Office Certificate of Registration or Naturalisation.

tevel3

some of the answers are based on my own experience...

yes you are right, it's not the only way!
but in his case he doesnt have a consular birth certificate.
so it's either he just take the chance and apply (and they are well known with people who doesnt know their true status), or inquire further with the home office.

...2nd option is always better, since it's free of change (maybe only in the uk it's free, dont know), but takes time to receive an answer and the answer could be simply: yes, she's british (but in their own fancy style of notifying him )

i have no clue how this new option of certificate works...
but they can simply inquire to the home office, with photo-copies of the father's passport, the father's naturalization certificate, birth certificate and any other document and hope to receive a simple answer that says: your daughter is already british and you can apply for a passport.

it's up to him how he'd like to find out.
1st option: quick, pricy and easy. 2nd option: slow, free and easy (dont forget that if he gets a positive answer then he needs to apply for the passport - money and more waiting).
i gave him this option because it took the embassy 8 days to produce and post my first passport.
it was a mistake saying it's the only way and not mentioning how much time it could take him to receive either the passport or the refusal letter.

en1gma

well... I've certainly made lots of calls to the UK (home office, border agency, ips etc) and no one can give me a definitive answer really... (not wholly unexpected esp when immigration and citizenship law is complex)

Mostly the answer is "it depends on who you speak with when you arrive".

There is no dispute on my daughters right to citizenship. That seems clear enough.

the right of abode or status certificate seem somehting of an unknown quantity to those i have spoken with... but they still indicated it would need to go through the local embassy/high commission, and then in the diplomatic pouch to the UK... and then it would take time for them to process it and send it back.

Not much furhter ahead than sending it to Washington really... our important docs are still floating around rather than with us!

The person at the border agency i just spoke with suggested the easiest thing is still simply to arrive as Canadian tourists (apart from my wife whose British passport is current) then sort out the passports over there.
Not ideal, but it IS workable, especially if passport processing is not too long. They still say that post office send and check is taking two weeks on the website and in person you can get it in a day or a week.

This link might show one reason for the long processing times. That's a lot of new citizens!

I'm still waiting for a call back from Ottawa though to see if there is anyhting other than a passport that they could provide locally rather than via Washington. Perhaps they still have a way to process right of abode or consular birth certificates here... (although I am doubtful since it all seems to have been outsourced... which i still find amazing... I can get a British passport in Iceland and pay in the lcoal currency, but not in Canada.... and last time I checked QEII was on the money here still)

So for the moment we're still stuck at saying to the nice immigration people (and for teh most part they are nice!) that we would prefer to arrive as citizens (pretty please) but if not then we'll have to arrive as visitors)

en1gma

oh.. and here is the link about nationality status in case it helps others following this opera

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/br...utcitizenship/

JAJ

It's workable. At your own risk of course, but if you show up at Immigration and you have evidence of being British citizens (expired passports, naturalisation certificate, etc), the risk of being deported is relatively low. They don't want to be in the newspapers for the wrong reason. However, do expect a delay and a lot of questioning.

You will need to check if the airline will carry you on one way tickets. Some will, some won't. If not, you'll need to purchase returns.

You then need to approach the Passport Office quickly to get British passports. If you know people in the UK who can countersign (if needed) then you should be ok. If not, you may need to fight with the Passport Office and/or apply for alternative evidence of British citizenship.

I never understand why people wait until a few weeks before leaving, flights booked, house sold, etc, and then suddenly work out they have not got the right civil documentation.

en1gma

thanks JAJ

the airlines will carry us... we're using our current Canadian passports to fly (via iceland) so there is nothing wrong there.

one way tickets are so much more common now with low cost carriers (they're not exhorbitantly priced any more.. at least comparatively).

We know people in the UK who can countersign... friends for years.. and luckily the list of people who are able to sign is both long and relatively loosely defined.

PoppetUK

He there sorry to hijack thread.

We are thinking of mbtuk next year. Hubby, first two kids and myself were all born in the UK. Just had a baby in Australia who will get an Aussie passport.

From me reading this thread am I right in saying that he needs to enter the UK on british passport to be entitled to residency status, benefits etc?

I wasn't planning on getting him a UK passport for now. We are just about to get Australian citizenship and was going to get 5 new Australian passports.

Your help would be appreciated. I'm confused.

JAJ

If you plan to live in the United Kingdom he needs a British passport as well. Best to get that well in advance of making the move back, not have a panic at the last minute.

Make sure your son also has a citizenship certificate:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Eviden...an_Citizenship

PoppetUK

I need to re-mortgage for the cost of all these passports

Thanks for the reply.

RiversS

I have a very easy question that I cannot seem to find the answer too anywhere. If anyone could help I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

I am British and have resided in Canada for the past 18 years. I married in 2005 and gave birth in 2005. My son is obviously Canadian. The marriage ended 2006. I have to sort out the legalities of taking my son back to the UK from this end, permission from Father and obviously visitation schedules.

My silly question is...

My Canadian born son, to a Brit mother, will he be able to get duel national status in Britain? (So when he is 18+ he can decide for himself which country he would like to reside in.) He will be just 5 when we return and want him to start school a couple of weeks later.

Any advice will be greatly received. Also what are the actual processing times for Washington DC processing re-newal of PP's? Mine flippin' expired in Feb. Thanks in advance anyone who maybe reading.

Samantha

Bob

Depending on how you got UKC, if by decent your kid might not have it, but if your a UKC otherwise than by decent, he'll be a Brit citizen...just apply for his passport...