hunter55

We are grandparents (British) of a Chinese granddaughter, our son is British married (born 1984) to Chinese girl, they are separated, we would like to know can we as Grandparents apply for Right of Abode for our granddaughter. Any help would be greatly appreciated as we have applied 3 times for visitor visa for them both but VAC office have now come up with we need ROA for our granddaughter

HKG3

hunter55

Your granddaughter may be a British Citizen without you knowing. However, people in this forum will need more information in order to give you the correct advice.

You need to tell us that -

1) Was you son born in the UK?
2) Was your son married to his wife when your granddaughter was born?

However, as China does not allow dual citizenship, your granddaughter may need to give up her Chinese nationality after taken on British Citizenship.

BritInParis

Already posted here.

As the OP's granddaugther would have received British citizenship by descent automatically at birth she can hold both Chinese and British citizenship concurrently.

uk_vette

Can you expand on the granddaughters right to hold both Chinese and British citizenship concurrently.

One citizenship as a time?

vette

BritInParis

Chinese nationality law normally doesn't allow dual nationality however as the child concerned would have received British citizenship automatically at birth by descent she can hold both.

hong_konger

Right of Abode has nothing to do with Citizenship. I am British, always have been and have the Right of Abode in Hong Kong because I have lived in Hong Kong for over 7 consecutive years and made Hong Kong my home. Whether your granddaughter is eligible to Right of Abode is not so straightforward. I suggest you contact the Hong Kong Immigration Department. She maybe entitled to the slighter lower category of Right to Land.

BritInParis

The discussion is regarding Right of Abode in the UK, not Hong Kong.

hong_konger

Is it ? It really is not clear. I assumed it was Hong Kong as it was posted on the China/Hong Kong forum.
Perhaps the OP would care to clarify.

BritInParis

The OP posted the same question on the Moving back to the UK forum.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/citiz...-abode-859237/

Their granddaughter is a British citizen and therefore the Home Office correctly refused to grant her any (more) visitor visas for the UK instead requesting she had a Certificate of Entitlement of Right of Abode placed in her Chinese passport instead. The other alternative would be to simply apply for her British passport. The OP never returned to let us know which option they took.

nonthaburi

Not if the child was born before July 2006 and they weren't married at the time of the birth. Citizenship would have to be applied for retrospectively.

From 1983[edit]
A child born outside the UK on or after 1 January 1983 automatically acquires British citizenship by descent if either parent is a British citizen other than by descent at the time of the birth.

At least one parent must be British otherwise than by descent.

As a general rule, an unmarried father cannot pass on British citizenship automatically in the case of a child born before 1 July 2006. If the parents marry subsequent to the birth the child normally becomes a British citizen at that point if legitimated by the marriage and the father was eligible to pass on British citizenship. If the unmarried British father was domiciled in a country that treated (at the date of birth of the child born before 1 July 2006) a child born to unmarried parents in the same way as a child born to married parents, then the father passed on British citizenship automatically to his child, even though the child was born before 1 July 2006 to unmarried parents.[7] Such countries are listed in the UK Home Office Immigration and Passport Services publication "Legitimation and Domicile".[8] Failing that, the child can be registered as British if it would have been British if parents were married and application is made before the child is 18.

A few things to consider there. I don't know Chinese laws, whether they treat married and unmarried couples the same.

Anyway, we don't know if the parents were married and when at the time of the birth, and when the birth was.

BritInParis

Read the OP again. The parents are married albeit separated. Ergo the child is a British citizen by descent.

nonthaburi

not as straightforward as that, I clearly remember when applying for my first son's passport the woman at the British embassy checking the month he was born and whether we were married at the time of the birth(which we weren't), as it was in 2006. The OP never said whether they were married at the time of the birth which could affect things, and when the child was born.

BritInParis

Even if they married after the child was born the child would be legitimised back to the time of birth for nationality purposes so the child is still a British citizen. Let's put it this way, the Home Office wouldn't be requesting that the child apply for Right of Abode if she wasn't a British citizen.

nonthaburi

Yes, she would be a British citizen, but it might complicate getting the passport. Like I said, when I was applying for my son's first passport, the woman got the months wrong, thinking he was born before July 2006, and I can't remember exactly what it was we had to do, but there were other requirements. It wasn't a case of just getting the passport.

Perhaps the OP can clarify things regarding dates.

BritInParis

You referring to a domicile questionnaire. That would come into play if the child was born before July 2006 but the British father married the non-British father after the child's birth. It would be rare for the father not be domiciled in the UK though so the child would still be British.

I suspect they are long gone.