hrh604

Hi all,

I was born in Canada in 1981 to British parents (both were born in the UK). I was under the impression that I could only obtain citizenship through my mother and have applied via UKM. I have now been told that I could have just simply applied for a British passport through my father and avoided the UKM application altogether. This also means now that I will be a citizen by descent and can't pass my citizenship onto my daughter. Am I totally screwed since I have already submitted my UKM application? Payment has been processed and acknowledgement from the Home Office has been received.

Thanks in advance.

cruciblyundone

You should have submitted a standard passport application. Since you were born before 2006, you could only obtain British Citizenship if your parents were married at some point (it doesn't matter when as long as they did get married).

You would have had to submit copies of their passports and birth certificates to prove they had British Citizenship, their marriage certificate, your birth certificate (that shows them on it) and you would have got your passport 6 weeks later.

I have never heard of an application that you have described. Regardless though, you would always be British by descent since you were born outside the UK. If you have spent 3 years in the UK before your child was born, you'd be able to register them as a British Citizen I believe.

Best to consult with a immigration lawyer since British Nationality Law is so complicated. Your case is straight forward but your daughter's won't be.

cruciblyundone

You should have submitted a standard passport application. Since you were born before 2006, you could only obtain British Citizenship if your parents were married at some point (it doesn't matter when as long as they did get married).

You would have had to submit copies of their passports and birth certificates to prove they had British Citizenship, their marriage certificate, your birth certificate (that shows them on it) and you would have got your passport 6 weeks later.

I have never heard of an application that you have described. Regardless though, you would always be British by descent since you were born outside the UK. If you have spent 3 years in the UK before your child was born, you'd be able to register them as a British Citizen I believe.

Best to consult with a immigration lawyer since British Nationality Law is so complicated. Your case is straight forward but your daughter's won't be.

hrh604

From what I've researched/understood, I would not be a citizen by descent if I applied for citizenship through my father (ie. I can pass on my citizenship to my daughter), but will be a citizen by descent if I applied through my mother (and therefore cannot pass on my citizenship).

chaoclive

I think that you would only have British citizenship by descent any way as you were not born in the UK.

Not sure about the UKM thing.

Hope someone else will come and answer you soon!

hrh604

I hope so too.. hoping I didn't stick it to myself by applying through the wrong parent

Gozit

Technically you applied the wrong way, should have just applied for a passport (through your dad) , no need for the UKM thing. But even if you applied through your father, you would still be a UK citizen by descent. So no real loss to you other than the added hassle of the UKM process.

Actually come to think of it, you have been a British citizen by descent from birth by virtue of having a British citizen, British born father. So your UKM application is technically invalid and could be "denied" , because you are ALREADY a British citizen.

As for your daughter, there is no way for her to claim British citizenship, unless her other parent was born in the UK or was naturalised in the UK as a British otherwise than by descent. She CAN however get an ancestry visa*, which allows her to live and work in the UK for 5 years, at which time she can apply for ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain; UK version of permanent residence) , and then 1 year after getting ILR she can apply for naturalisation as a British citizen, which will grant her British citizenship otherwise than by descent.

*In order for an ancestry visa to be issued your daughter must be a citizen of a commonwealth country, and apply using that country's passport. The US is not a commonwealth country. Canada, Aus, South Africa, Malta, a bunch of others are. There's a full list on the wiki I believe.

HTH

hrh604

Got it - thank you
I guess I will have to wait and see what happens with my application. Hopefully I won't have to eat the 80GBP fee.

cruciblyundone

Nope. Not sure where you read that but you would be by descent. Had your parents never been married, you would not even be allowed to claim British Nationality since it only passed through the father between 1981 and 2006 if the parents were married.

Your daughters case is difference as she would have to be registered. I have not done any research on this since it never applied to me claiming by British Citizenship through my father (and I am by descent). There are many ways in which your daughter can be registered and may possibly be 'otherwise than by descent' but again, I have done no research on this so cannot comment. I can quite firmly say that you would be by descent once you become a British Citizen.

I refer you to the British Nationality Act 1981 par 14(1)(a) and par 2(1)(a). That is you and therefore you are by descent since you were born in 1981. I guess since your birth date is so close to the commencement date of the act, you would have to see if you were born on or after the commencement date because if you were born before, that means a different act applies to you and you would have been reclassified as a British Citizen by descent on the commencement date if you met certain requirements (from the top of my head, I think you would have met them).

It's worth reading up on.

hrh604

Duly noted. Thanks for your help, cruciblyundone. I must have been mistaken in what I read. It's all so confusing.

cruciblyundone

British Nationality is very complicated due to the British Empire. We have all been through it. My case was so complicated that it took the Home Office 5 months to process the application before it was granted. So don't worry, we can try help as much as possible but it will be worthwhile speaking to an immigration expert for the UK once you have all your family history and docs available.

You could apply for registration of your daughter under section 3(1) but that is up to the discretion of the embassy and you'll have to have a good reason for wanting it. Registration also costs £900 and if your application is successful or not, you'll have to pay the fee.

I believe it's better to get an ancestry visa for her since I believe these do not have an expiry date and she will naturalise in the UK after being there for 6 years total as described by another post above.

hrh604

I'm not too worried as we have no immediate plans to go to the UK but I would definitely like for her to have the option in the future (especially for university). Thanks again.

JAJ

It is possible that in some cases the marriage of parents after the child was born does not act to confer British citizenship. These situations are unusual and require some specific circumstances of father's domicile and laws in specific countries/territories, but it's not impossible to come up with such a scenario. For that reason, applying for a British passport based on a father who married the mother after the person was born is often quite complex since the claim to citizenship depends on a variety of facts and circumstances, which can be hard to evidence many years later.

A UKM registration application, once granted, gives a Home Office Certificate of Registration which gives unambiguous evidence of British citizenship. An equivalent to UKM for those born to unmarried British fathers (if not already British citizens) is likely to be in place in the near future.

In other words, a Certificate of Registration, even if granted by mistake, validly confers British citizenship. A passport granted by mistake does not.

For that reason, the UKM application is preferable. Unless there is a particular reason to show that British citizenship was acquired at birth. It will be British citizenship by descent, either way, so unless the father was in Crown Service or there's some other reason to show acquisition of British citizenship that way, no reason not to proceed.

Gozit

Oh your £80 is gone now mate

Incorrect. If his parents were not married he would have been able to claim UK citizenship through his mum as she was born in the UK too. In that case the UKM procedure would have been correct.

This is correct, but his daughter likely cannot become a British citizen unless there is a mechanism that makes her father (OP) a British citizen otherwise than by descent, OR if OP takes his daughter to the UK for 3 years.

This is correct. But either way, since he was born to a [married] British father abroad, he has been a British citizen by descent since the day he was born and there is nothing he can do to change that to otherwise than by descent unless his father was in crown service at the time of his birth, which would make him a British citizen otherwise than by descent.

Gozit

Ancestry visas have a 5 year expiry and can only be obtained once the child is 17+. Before that, a dependant visa or British citizenship would be required for him to bring his daughter to the UK.

Section 3 (1) only applies if OP has lived in UK for 3 years of his life before his daughter was born. Otherwise his daughter cannot be registered as a British citizen.