Fuzzy Duck

We are due a baby towards the end of October, it will be our third but the first born in Australia.
Our other two kids are dual citizens, they were born in the UK and gained Australian citizenship by the fact that my partner - we are not married - is an Australian citizen, she got Australian citizenship by descent from her father.
I am in Australia on a spouse visa (De-facto) and we have lived here for over a year now. I was born in the UK.

What I am slightly concerned about is what our options are for the new baby regarding citizenship.

Will the baby be an automatic citizen of both Aus and the UK (I think not) or will it be a complicated matter? I read on a british consular website that british citizenship can only be claimed if the parents are married at the time of birth or subsequently.

Surely this must be pretty well trampled ground with the number of expats of child bearing age. How did you go with this?

GinaUK

This is indeed "well trampled ground" - as you put it. Do a search for posts by JAJ. He is very knowledgeable about this subject and has posted extensive replies to exactly this question previously.

Gina

NedKelly

Why don't you marry the girl? If she is good enough to be the mother of three of your children then surely she must be good enough to be your wife.

JAJ

BRITISH CITIZENSHIP

1. Unmarried British fathers do not automatically pass on their citizenship.

2. However, the Home Office *will* normally register the child as a British citizen (if it would have been British if you were married) provided you make an application and pay the fee.

Child must be under 18 at time of application (and so lots of people miss the deadline due to misinformation/confusion).

Read this page from the website of the British High Commission (the timescale for registration is normally a few months rather than the year they suggest):
http://bhc.britaus.net/passports/pas...ult.asp?id=376


3. How did your UK born children get British citizenship? Is their mother a British citizen or permanent resident? If not, then are you sure they're British - since 1983 birth in the UK no longer gives automatic British citizenship and the same rules about unmarried fathers apply.


AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP

With an Australian mother, the child will automatically be an Australian citizen. However the Australian birth cert proves nothing about citizenship (for those born after 19 Aug 1986, when the rules on citizenship changed). Use form 119 and pay the fee of AUD55 or so to get a citizenship certificate for the child:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/119.pdf

Some people will tell you an Australian passport is enough but lack of a citizenship certificate could mean significant hassle later on if the passport got lost and a replacement was needed quickly (as the child would have no other evidence of citizenship).



Jeremy

NIGENABBY

Hello

Just reading Jeremy's comments I thought I would pass along my experience of having a baby in the UK.

I am Australian, currently in the UK on a permanent visa. I had a child (out of wedlock, although he is now my husband) to a British Citizen (Born in the UK).

I tried to fill in her passport application on line, found they kept asking about my parents, found this a little confusing, so I called the number on the forms (the home office).

I was told my daughter had no entitlement to British citizenship and that now (at the time she was 3 weeks old) deportation proceedings would be initiated! Well you can imagine my panic. After contacting a lawyer and finally (after a few weeks) getting someone in the Passport office itself to help it turns out that this is not the case. My daughter now has British Citizenship (and Australian). My point however is she only has her British Citizenship because of my, and not my partners, immigration / citizenship status. That combined with the fact she was actually born in the UK. (I am not a British citizen, I only hold Australian)

I was assured by the passport office (who were very helpful) that if we were unmarried and she was born outside the UK the situation would be more difficult, and she would not have any entitlement.

That said, as I have now married the natural father of the child, her entitlement is absolute as we have re-registered her birth and the British legal system now considers her legitimate (huge legal benefits is something happens to her father). Britain is very progressive in many ways, however, as far as children and marriage goes the British system is still a long way behind the Australian.

Hope this helps.

JAJ

Correct. Children born in the UK to permanent residents are automatically British citizens. And if the mother is a British citizen or permanent resident then there's no need to even *look* at the father's status.

What the Home Office told you was totally wrong, however the fact that UK born children of permanent residents are automatically British is something which many officials only have a hazy understanding of.


Technically this is correct - as you're not British born or naturalised yourself, children born *outside* the UK aren't automatically British and there's no *entitlement* to register them on the basis of an unmarried British father.

HOWEVER - the Home Office has discretion to register *any* child as a British citizen under section 3(1) of the Nationality Act. In early 2000, they announced that they would normally exercise this discretion for children of unmarried British fathers who would otherwise have been British.

For some reason though, they steadfastly refuse to advertise this policy. It's explained deep in the Nationality Instructions, so those who know where to look have no problems. But lots of other people find the Home Office unhelpful to those who don't know exactly what question to ask.

Her British citizenship was absolute from the moment of birth because you're a UK permanent resident. Whether you were married or not is irrelevant.

Had she been born overseas then marriage would normally mean your partner could have passed on his status at that point, which (if he was British born or naturalised) would have avoided the need for registration.

Have you thought of applying for British citizenship yourself (through naturalisation, if you're eligible)?

Jeremy

Fuzzy Duck

Thank you for your reply and help. when the baby arrives we will follow your advice and apply for citizenship.

arkon

Hi Jeremy,

Can I ask the same question but in reverse please. My wife and I are both British and have just given birth (my wife that is) to our son who was born in Australia. We are both 10 months into our permanent residency. We have registered him with centerlink and births deaths and marriages. What should we do now? Should and can I get him a UK passport and same question for Australia, should/can I get him an Australian passport, Or are both possible.

What puzzles us a bit is, is he British or Australian?

What would you do?

JAJ

He's Australian as you have PR. Use form 119 and pay AUD55 to get him a citizenship cert (his birth certificate proves nothing about citizenship).
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/119.pdf

He should also get an Australian passportt.

For British citizenship, apply to the British High Commission in Canberra for him to have a British passport. Do that immediately as usually British citizenship is automatic, but sometimes it's not and there's a 12 month time limit for registration.

He's British (by descent) automatically as long as at least one of you is a British citizen born or naturalised in the UK. Married fathers and all mothers count for this purpose.

Jeremy

arkon

Thanks Jeremy.