antonfelich

Morning guys,

Firstly my apologies if this topic has already been discussed, I've been through the archives and I can't find anything that is an exact match for my scenario.

I was born in London in 1981 and lived there for the first 4 years of my life. After which time my parents re-located us to Australia and have lived there ever since. I hold a British birth certificate and am a dual-national by birth as my father is Australian. I also hold both Australian and British passports.

Now my partner (she is Australian) and I have just had our first child and I would like to also register her as a British citizen so when she turns 18 and decides wants to travel/work around Europe as I did when I was younger she can get a British passport and travel/work around unhindered.

So I guess my questions are... do I need to register her as a British citizen at all or does she automatically get that by default because I am a dual-national? If that is the case when she is old enough all she would need to do is apply for a British passport claiming citizenship by descent? Am I better off getting her a passport now given that I have all the paperwork and information handy and just keep renewing it until she is old enough to deal with it herself?

If anymore detail is required let me know...

Cheers in advance,

Anton

Tramps_mate

Id look on the UK gov website.

I was the same, I was born in Canada and moved to UK aged 5. And my kids get Canadian citizenship through me automatically. I would guess the UK is the same.

There was a Canadian citizenship test online, there maybe a UK one too..

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/br...utcitizenship/

renth

I think the law may have changed but it always used to be if you are not married, your partner is not British and your child was not born in the UK the child can't be classed as British.

This was charmingly pointed out by a Passport Office dork to my mate whose partner is Belgian and his "illegitimate" daughter born in France.

Tramps_mate

apparently wrong..

JAJ

Law changed with effect for those born on or after July 1, 2006.

If your friend's daughter is aged under 18 she can be registered as British by application to the Home Office.

JAJ

Based on the facts given, she is a British citizen by descent. The only way to prove it for her is to get her a British passport. Much easier to do that now than later on.

Ignore the advice in post #4.

Out of interest, did your Australian father ever become a British citizen?

renth

Thanks JAJ.

antonfelich

Thanks for all the great replies guys.

Nope my father never became a British citizen, although he did work there for several years on a work visa.

My mother however (who was born in the UK) became an Australian citizen after we moved here.

SanDiegogirl

This might help - taken from the UKBA site

If you were born outside the United Kingdom on or after 1 January 1983

This section also applies to you if you were born outside a qualifying territory on or after 21 May 2002 and had a parent who was a British citizen.

Whether or not you are a British citizen depends on the type of citizenship your parents had. This may be British citizenship by descent or otherwise than by descent.

British citizenship may descend to one generation born abroad. So if you were born outside the United Kingdom or qualifying territory and one of your parents was a British citizen otherwise than by descent, you are a British citizen by descent. If you were born before 1 July 2006 you may not qualify if your parents were not married at the time of your birth.

However, you are a British citizen otherwise than by descent if at the time of your birth one of your parents was a British citizen in Crown service, designated service, or service of a European Community institution and he/she was recruited to that service:

in the United Kingdom;
in the United Kingdom or a qualifying territory (if you were born on or after 21 May 2002); or
in the European Community (for service with a European Community institution).
If you were born outside the United Kingdom or qualifying territory and your parents were British citizens by descent, you are not a British citizen. However, you may be able to apply to register as a British citizen (see registration of a child).

MarylandNed

Consular birth registration is not available for births that occurred in certain countries - including Australia:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-...tering-a-birth

Your daughter is a UK citizen by descent. She can obtain a UK passport at any time. Make sure that you have full (long form) birth certificate for her - the one that gives full details of parents. You'll also need your own UK birth cert.