ashera

That would seem to solve the problem, however neither my girlfriend nor myself are interested in marriage, and even less so if forced to become married due to beaurocracy.

Sweet Chilli

Hi Jeremy,

So it appears then that I would be in the 'by descent' category, so I've leant something new today.

I have one more question as it's not clear to me from reading the Home Office text, my husband recently naturalised, what category does he fall into? A British Citizen 'otherwise than by descent'?

Cheers
SC

JAJ

A naturalised British citizen is always British 'otherwise than by descent'.

If one is registered British (ie has a Certificate of Registration rather than a Certificate of Naturalisation) then it depends on circumstances.

If he's naturalised, and you have children in Australia, they will automatically get British citizenship from him. Just make sure you document things by getting any such kids a British passport immediately.

Jeremy

samnrob2

None of this thread is relevant to me but it does make for interesting reading - hope it all gets sorted out (especially in time for the wedding)!

Sweet Chilli

Thanks for the information. I do find it a bizarre situation to be in, I'm British from birth with British parents and cannot pass on my citizenship to my children if they are born outside of the UK, yet my husband who acquired his naturalisation certificate/British citizenship because he's married to me, is able to pass on his British citizenship.

JAJ

There are certain circumstances in which a British citizen by descent *can* pass on citizenship to a non-UK born child. Read this page:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind...tizenship.html

There is also discretionary registration which can be used in special cases (eg the child is stateless).

In your case it's irrelevant as if they get British citizenship from one parent automatically they don't worry too much about the other parent's status.

Many other countries also have to deal with this issue to stop citizenship passing on down the generations:

- New Zealand does not allow citizens by descent to pass on citizenship to non-NZ born children in any circumstance other than statelessness of the child or (I think) parent working for the NZ govt overseas.
However NZ has a strange law that allows someone who is NZ by descent to become a naturalised New Zealander by application (the problem is you need to know about the facility).

- Canadians by descent can pass on Canadian citizenship to non-Canada born children, but these children (the second generation born overseas after February 1977) must return to Canada to live, and apply to retain Canadian citizenship otherwise they lose citizenship on their 28th birthday. The first losses of Canadian citizenship will start kicking in on 15th February this month (28 years since Canada implemented its current citizenship law).

- The US doesn't have a concept of citizenship by descent, but instead insists that all US citizens wishing to pass on citizenship to non-US born children must meet a residence requirement in the US.

And so on. Different countries has a different way of dealing with this, but there is normally a work-around for those who know the law well enough.

Jeremy

SGallagher

I know that Britain does have "legitimate" fast-track procedures
for certain categories, including eliminating statelessness,
when processing citizenship claims. But, it seems that the
current trend in Britain is to play it cool on the issues of
"fast tracking" after the resignation of Home Secretary
David Blunkett, for fast tracking a visa application.
The parents should continually place emphasis that
the child is stateless AND they may want to use the
term "expedite" rather than "fast track".

Stephen Gallagher