Superstar

We want to get a passport for our baby but have become a bit confused with all the forms and polava...Long story short.
Do we need to get Aussie citisenship for our new baby before we apply for the passport?
The babe was born in Australia to an Aussie mother and me a Brit guy being PR, We have other children who are little Aussies by decent.
Also, how do we go about getting British passport/citizenship sorted, is it also confusing?
Someone must of been through this.....?

GinaUK

Do a search for posts by "JAJ" (without the " "). He is the absolute expert on all things to do with passports and citizenship by birth, descent, British, Aussie, whatever.

Gina

ljj

The baby is dual nationality therefore entitled to an Aussie Passport surely
My friends had one baby in Australia when they were only PR's - She's Australian, the other 2 they had after they became Citizens- they are Australian. Even if the mother wasn't Australian, the fact that the baby was born here makes him/her Australian.

LJJ

kiwichild

Pretty sure that you will have to apply for Brit citizenship by descent for your child. Info at:

http://bhc.britaus.net/default.asp

As for the Aussie passport issue:

Phone 131 232 from anywhere within OZ for cost of a local call or visit their website:

www.passports.gov.au

Hope that helps answer your questions

JAJ

Child is Australian already (birth in Australia to a citizen/PR parent) but the birth cert proves nothing. What you can do is get the child a citizenship cert for A$55:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/119.pdf

And for an Australian passport : http://www.passports.gov.au

A citizenship cert will make replacing/renewing the passport easier in future.


Contact the British High Commission: http://bhc.britaus.net

In most cases the child is British (by descent) already and just needs a passport to prove it, in other cases an application for registration as a British citizen must be made.

JackTheLad

Hubby and I are both PR and had our baby girl a few months ago in Australia. When we applied for her Australian passport, we just used the online application on the passport site (see link from JAJ's post), printed out the form to take to the post office for a brief interview.

Either you or your wife can do this at the post office, bring with you the following:
1/ Your baby - obviously!
2/ Your baby's birth certificate
3/ Two passport photos of your baby (see detailed instructions on application form)
4/ If you're applying on behalf of your child - your British passport with the PR visa OR
if your wife's applying on behalf of your child - your wife's Australian passport
5/ Application fee (see passport site for exact amount)

You will probably need to get an appointment with the post office as they only do a certain number of passport application a day. Phone the post office near you to get a passport appointment.

Oh, another thing, if you don't like filling out the form online, you can get a form from the post office.

Hope this helps.

Mrs JTL