banjo

Just wondering if anyone knows how we go about registering the birth of our new baby with the British authorities? I have had a look on high commission site but can only find forms to request copies of existing birth certificates. We want to get the little fella a British passport.

Any one been down this road?

anzen12

Why don't you apply for a British passport for your son? I don't believe you have to actually register him. Presumably, they will just need to see his birth certificate and your proof of British citizenship.

banjo

He was only born two weeks ago so we need to register his birth in order to get a birth certificate. Once we've got that then we can apply for a passport.

No one had a baby here and got them British papers???

anzen12

I assumed he had been registered here in Australia. My son was born here and we had him registered through the Australian system (ie we applied for an Australian birth certificate). Once that was received we applied for a British passport.

The advantage was that he is now entitled to both a British and and an Australian passport.

There is something called a consular registration (or consular birth certificate). I assume this is where you want to bypass Australia completely - and you would have to request this.

The following link may help.

http://www.ukpa.gov.uk/_1_applications/1_babies.asp

banjo

thanks for that info...proved quite helpful. I think I will give the consulate a ring and see what the right thing to do is.

My wife is from South Africa and when our first son was born we registered the birth with them so he could also have a SA passport. I just thought it would be the same procedure for each country........guess I was wrong.

Thanks again.

anzen12

Happy to help.

My wife is actually from Japan and we had to decide British, Australian or Japanese passport. In the end, we were advised it doesn't matter too much at this stage as he will have the right to choose, when he is legally able to.

Good luck.

Don

Not really correct. You can use the Aus birth certificate. Getting the Consulate to produce another one first is unnecessary and a cost. Ie you can apply for a UK passport with an Aus birth certificate plus proof he's entitled through parent being UK citizen (eg your UK passport).

banjo

yeah, but they want original's - not copies - of father's birth certificate and also marriage certificate. Not keen on sending those through the post.

Mad as cheese

You can get certified copies of birth certicates, doesn't cost much and they are scans and look pretty good if your original is a bit tatty