Dual citizenship question...
#1
Sydneysider
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2004
Location: Sydney
Posts: 33
Dual citizenship question...
My husband and I emigrated from the UK on a PR 136 visa in Oct 2004 and now find ourselves eligible to apply for Australian Citizenship! yay! We are both keen to apply as soon as possible so we can enjoy the benefits of dual citizenship. However, I'm due to give birth to our first child in April 07 and not sure if we should apply before or after the birth.
I spoke to someone the other day who said that we should check that if we become dual citizens before the birth, our child (who would be Australian) may not be able to apply for a British Citizenship/ passport.
Does anyone know if this is true?
We would rather not wait to apply for our citizenship as in January they may change the legislation to 3 or 4 years residency in Australia.
thanks
C&V
I spoke to someone the other day who said that we should check that if we become dual citizens before the birth, our child (who would be Australian) may not be able to apply for a British Citizenship/ passport.
Does anyone know if this is true?
We would rather not wait to apply for our citizenship as in January they may change the legislation to 3 or 4 years residency in Australia.
thanks
C&V
#2
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 7,834
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by C&V
My husband and I emigrated from the UK on a PR 136 visa in Oct 2004 and now find ourselves eligible to apply for Australian Citizenship! yay! We are both keen to apply as soon as possible so we can enjoy the benefits of dual citizenship. However, I'm due to give birth to our first child in April 07 and not sure if we should apply before or after the birth.
I spoke to someone the other day who said that we should check that if we become dual citizens before the birth, our child (who would be Australian) may not be able to apply for a British Citizenship/ passport.
Does anyone know if this is true?
We would rather not wait to apply for our citizenship as in January they may change the legislation to 3 or 4 years residency in Australia.
thanks
C&V
I spoke to someone the other day who said that we should check that if we become dual citizens before the birth, our child (who would be Australian) may not be able to apply for a British Citizenship/ passport.
Does anyone know if this is true?
We would rather not wait to apply for our citizenship as in January they may change the legislation to 3 or 4 years residency in Australia.
thanks
C&V
#3
Re: Dual citizenship question...
If you guys are British citizens, I am sure that any child, wherever they are born are able to get British citizenship also. I know JAJ has posted about this in the past and there have been some problems for some people but I can't for the life of me remember what they are - will have a search.
No, you'll be fine, was thinking of something else completely.
If you have children born in Australia they should be Australian by birth and British by descent.
No, you'll be fine, was thinking of something else completely.
If you have children born in Australia they should be Australian by birth and British by descent.
Last edited by moneypenny20; Nov 8th 2006 at 1:43 am.
#4
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by C&V
I spoke to someone the other day who said that we should check that if we become dual citizens before the birth, our child (who would be Australian) may not be able to apply for a British Citizenship/ passport.
#5
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by moneypen20
If you guys are British citizens, I am sure that any child, wherever they are born are able to get British citizenship also. I know JAJ has posted about this in the past and there have been some problems for some people but I can't for the life of me remember what they are - will have a search.
Remember - British citizenship only passes (normally) to the *first* generation born outside the UK. There are special provisions for the second generation in certain circumstances, but the "one generation" rule has been in place since 1915.
The other complication that can arise (for children born before 1 July 2006) is that a father needs to be married in order to pass on British citizenship automatically. However this can be resolved by registering the child as British before age 18.
#6
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by C&V
My husband and I emigrated from the UK on a PR 136 visa in Oct 2004 and now find ourselves eligible to apply for Australian Citizenship! yay! We are both keen to apply as soon as possible so we can enjoy the benefits of dual citizenship. However, I'm due to give birth to our first child in April 07 and not sure if we should apply before or after the birth.
I spoke to someone the other day who said that we should check that if we become dual citizens before the birth, our child (who would be Australian) may not be able to apply for a British Citizenship/ passport.
Does anyone know if this is true?
We would rather not wait to apply for our citizenship as in January they may change the legislation to 3 or 4 years residency in Australia.
thanks
C&V
I spoke to someone the other day who said that we should check that if we become dual citizens before the birth, our child (who would be Australian) may not be able to apply for a British Citizenship/ passport.
Does anyone know if this is true?
We would rather not wait to apply for our citizenship as in January they may change the legislation to 3 or 4 years residency in Australia.
thanks
C&V
Our son, born 15 months ago, has an Australian passie, we havent bothered to get him his UK one, as we dont really see the point, but the option is there for the future.
#7
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by CadburysFingers
Your son has dual nationality, because a. he has been born to UK parents
and b. he has been born in a different country to parents on a permanent visa, different story if its not permanent.
Our son, born 15 months ago, has an Australian passie,
Form 119 and a fee of AUD55, processing time of a few weeks normally.
we havent bothered to get him his UK one, as we dont really see the point, but the option is there for the future.
#8
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by JAJ
Are you sure he's British then?
Originally Posted by JAJ
It's advisable to get him an Australian citizenship cert too, to make it easier to renew his passport in future. Otherwise there might be a delay (especially in 10-15 years) as they try to look back to check your immigration status when he was born.
Last edited by CadburysFingers; Nov 8th 2006 at 3:16 am.
#9
Account Closed
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,163
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by CadburysFingers
I guess because we are British, we see our son as British, but we intend to live here for the rest of our lives, so I guess he will feel Australian.
#10
Re: Dual citizenship question...
Originally Posted by CadburysFingers
You make a good point there, and its definitely something we have talked about a lot. I guess because we are British, we see our son as British, but we intend to live here for the rest of our lives, so I guess he will feel Australian.
The point I'm trying to make is that there have been cases where the parents thought their child was British when it was not. And only found out the truth too late to solve the problem.
There are similar stories about Australian parents overseas making similar assumptions regarding their children and then missing time limits.
The bottom line is that you cannot assume your child is British until he has been issued his own British citizen passport.