arlene

my cousin (who was british by birth and emigrated here when he was 6) has a daughter who is now 23 and going to the uk next week can she apply for a british passport whilst she is over there and how does she stand where work is concerned

many thanks arlene

Englishmum

If at all possible it might be best if she could try and get a British passport before flying to the UK....I do know that when you are resident in the UK and applying for your first British passport, you need to provide at least one name address and signature from a professional person eg. doctor, lawyer, bank official, civil servant whom has known you for two yearsand not related to you. She will need documents such as her birth certificate for sure. If she applies upon arrival in the UK I'm not sure how she can get round this unless a family friend who knows her lives in Britain - but I don't know if this requirement for a signature is waived if she turns up in person at a passport office there rather than applying by mail?

The best thing she can do is to phone the British High Commission in Australia before she leaves and ask for their advice....here is the website:

http://www.uk.emb.gov.au/

If she can obtain a British passport (stating that she is a British citizen) then she is free to live and work without any restrictions whatsover in the UK....and also will be eligible to live and work in the other EU countries.

A useful website for backpackers and Working Holiday Makers in the UK is the TNT site with info on jobs, accommodation - shared flats etc., socialising, travel etc. (and their weekly free magazine is widely available in London at places like Charing Cross railway station etc.):

http://www.tntmagazine.com

JAJ

Is your cousin married to the child's mother?


Jeremy

arlene

my cousin was married to her mother but unfortunatly he died 20 years ago but she has not re-married

JAJ

That makes it straightforward in terms of citizenship. Your cousin's daughter has probably been British from birth and just needs to apply for a British passport if she wants to live in the UK.

She can visit there on an Australian passport but Immigration will get upset if she tells them she plans to work or stay longer. If she really wants to move there then surely she's not planning to do so with 1 week's notice - the simplest solution will be for her to apply to the British High Commission in Canberra for a UK passport.
http://www.britaus.net


Jeremy

arlene

jeremy thanks for your replies
she has had this trip planned for ages, she and a group of girls are going for 6 weeks to visit the uk and now she has told me that she intends to stay for a while and get a job but come back after a year or so, she has no intentions of living there permenently her parents did not register her as a british citizen and my understanding is that they should have done that before she was 18 to get citizenship

not sure how its going to go now but with only a week left too late for anything else

CPW

On the basis of what you have said, she does not need to have been reigstered as a British citizen; she has been a British citizen (by descent) from birth.

The real problem is the time factor. It is unlikely that she will be able to get a passport in the time before she leaves Australia, although she could contact the High Commission and ask, I suppose. From within the UK, she could in theory apply for a right of abode certificate in her Australian passport, which she is entitled to have. This would get around the problem (mentioned in a post above) about finding a suitable person to countersign her passport application, but it would take about 8-12 weeks to come through and would necessitate her sending her Australian passport to the Home Office in Liverpool. She'd also need a working address for her passport to be posted back to (as, indeed, she would if she applied for a British passport too).

It's worth her remembering too that none of this will hold much water with the passport control officer when she arrives in the UK, either: obviously the officer is not going to accept her say-so that she is a British citizen.