mackabee

Hi there

I am British, and my wife is Australian. We are moving to
Australia next month, and will be having a baby in December.

Does anyone know what the visa status would be of the baby.
This is what I understand :

Baby is born in Oz, so automatically gets Australian nationality and passport.
Father is British, so could possibly get dual Nationality and 2 passports (1 british and 1 Australian).

The thing I am not sure about, is, do I need to register the baby
within a certain time as being also British ? And do the rules
still let you do that ?

Any advice would be great

Cheers

Jon

lynnj

Jon

Baby will definately be an aussie with an aussie passport but will also be classed as british by decent, not sure what you have to do for the british part of it, but if you find out could you let me know as we will be in the same boat come feb.

Good luck with the baby
Lynn

mackabee

Lynn

Excellent. I will let you know if i find out anything.
From more reading I have done, looks like you are right, the baby is then 'british by descent'. It looks as though the next thing to do
is to apply for a British passport from the High Comission out there, and show the UK parents birth certificate/passport and the babies birth certificate and all should be well.

A good site on the net to look at for this info is :

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/default.asp?PageId=148

All the best with your move too..

Jon

the Wombats

My sons were born in Oz. I am british with OZ P/R. My sons are Oz by birth and british by decent. You have to get in touch with the High commission ou there and register with them. They will then get British passports. When I travel from OZ they use their OZ passports when they land in the UK they show their uk passports. It is nice to know they have dual nationality.

mackabee

J4yne

Do I have to contact the high comission as soon as possible after the baby is born, or can i just wait until I want to apply for the passport ?

Jon

the Wombats

Hi, I did it straight away as it can all be a slow process, but if i remember I was advised to inform the High comission straight away when baby was born, can not remember if I had to send the OZ birth certificates but i think so. They were all very helpful and you would be best ringing the high commission anyway incase anything has changed. You can always send me a P/M if you need any help.

mackabee

Thanks for the info j4yne....

will let you know how i get on.....

Jon