louiseeg

Hi all,

Just wondering if people can help me out, i have just had my daughter and would like to apply for a UK passport for her. I have been looking into things and one thing i found is that on the website it says this;

Dual Nationality: If your child possesses the nationality or citizenship of another country, the child may lose this when they acquire a British passport. Please check with the authorities of the other country before making this application.

Does this mean she wont be able to have a UK passport as well as a Canadian, or what have people done?

Thank you for your help.

el_richo

You can have both. Some countries don't allow it, but not UK or Canada.

louiseeg

Awesome thank you El Richo

MarylandNed

Won't be a problem. As long at the countries involved allow multiple citizenships, there is no issue.

I have 2 daughters who were born in Canada. They now hold 4 citizenships - Canada by birth, UK and Ireland by descent through parents, and US by derivation (through parental naturalization).

MarylandNed

By the way, UK passports are quite a bit more expensive when obtaining them from abroad. So if your daughter has a Canadian passport, does she really need a UK passport as well? The UK does not require that UK citizens enter on UK passports - so she can visit the UK on a Canadian passport.

Hawk13

Really? I thought that the US only allows you to carry two (including the US one) citizenships and you have to give up the others? or do you mean your daughters are eligible for 4?

I'd take the UK passport over the Canadian one as it gets you more access to work in other countries. I have UK passports for both my daughters - get one for your daughter, she'll thank you when she's older.

dollface

Both my kids born in Canada both have UK and Canadian passports. Just renewed them actually they go via Washington DC now no longer Ottawa.

MarylandNed

The US does not require that you give up other citizenships when becoming a US citizen. There's not limit of 2 either. You'll hear the term "dual nationality" a lot but a more accurate term would be "multiple nationality" since many people (including US citizens) have more than 2 nationalities. My kids and I have 4 - my wife has 3.

There is a "renunciation clause" that is recited as part of the US citizenship oath ceremony. However, this is not recognized by the UK, Ireland or Canada as meaning that you have renounced citizenship of those countries - they each have their own processes for renouncing their citizenship should anyone ever want to do so.

There's nothing to stop her getting a UK passport when she's older - she doesn't have to get one now. She can hold both Canada and UK passports any time she wants - or either one. But is there any point in a baby holding both passports? The first few UK passports would expire before she could work in the EU. For the purposes of visiting the UK, a Canadian passport is fine. If the family (or the daughter herself) ever decides to move to the UK permanently, things are easier if the daughter has a UK passport but even then it's not mandatory (I repatriated to the UK with my 2 kids who both had only Canadian passports).

Hawk13

Interesting as I always thought you had give the others up to get US citizenship.

True and then again my kids are teenagers and we all travel on our UK passports (don't bother with the Canadian ones). For what it costs and the ease of getting it now, I'd still get the UK passport - who knows what rules they may bring in before her daughter becomes a teenager.

MarylandNed

Many years ago that was true but the laws forbidding multiple citizenships for US citizens were struck down by US Supreme Court decisions in 1967 and 1980. The only thing remaining is the US citizenship ceremony "renunciation clause" in which new US citizens verbally renounce all foreign allegiances. However, this is not recognized by many countries including the UK, Canada and Ireland. The US Department of State now recognizes the concept of multiple nationality for US citizens.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1753.html

MarylandNed

Obtaining a passport does not protect you from future citizenship law changes. You're either a citizen or you're not. A passport provides proof of citizenship but it does not confer citizenship.

Also, changes in citizenship laws are usually effective from a certain date - and rarely retroactive in a negative manner. I don't know of any law changes that retroactively remove citizenship from someone who was a citizen by birth or descent. But, again, even if there are such laws, obtaining a passport does not protect you from them.

Hawk13

Sure but you never really know what the future brings - I'd still get one for the cost of it.

My 2 cents

ultrarunner

That is correct.....same here thru DC. It was quick too providing all docs are in order.

MarylandNed....4 citizenship passports here also, and a 5th passport if I count my Government one

FlyingDutchman6666

Dutch nationality law may be an interesting example, though.

If you are a Dutch citizen holding at least one other citizenship (rare, as voluntarily obtaining another citizenship is an expatriating act) you need to keep you Dutch passport current. If you let it lapse, your citizenship is automatically revoked, and you cannot get it back. Even if you were Dutch by birth.

Is it likely that the UK, US, Canada, US will ever create such a law? No.
But is it impossible? No.

MarylandNed

It's very easy to dream up all sorts of negative scenarios and claim them as being possible. People have to decide for themselves which scenarios fall within the bounds of reasonableness and which don't.

If the UK ever passed a law restricting the right to dual/multiple nationality (unlikely, even you agree), it would have to be applied retroactively to affect the OP's daughter. Again this is unlikely as citizenship laws are rarely (if ever) applied retroactively in a negative manner.

Even if such a law was made retroactive and there was some provision to protect yourself by keeping a UK passport current (another highly unlikely scenario), you would have plenty of prior warning. When citizenship law changes are proposed (itself a relatively rare occurrence), it takes time to implement them - sometimes years. You have a lot of debate and prior warning about proposed changes. Even the unusual Dutch laws you mentioned gave anyone affected a grace period of several years to obtain a Dutch passport.

So any foreign born UK citizen who is keeping a UK passport current simply because they are afraid of some remote possibility that a future law (that has not been proposed and might never be) might somehow be enacted retroactively in a negative manner yet also somehow offset by holding a current UK passport, is wasting their money under any reasonable point of view.

People who have dual Canadian/UK citizenship are certainly free to hold both passports at any time. They can decide for themselves if doing so makes sense for their particular situation. If money is not an issue, it's certainly easier to hold both at the same time. However, money is an issue for most people (especially so in this economy) and so it makes sense to make reasonable assumptions and choices.