British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

I'm wondering if someone can clarify the situation I have. I've spent the past two days trawling posts on here and the relevant UK government websites but one post seems to contradict another and one page on the UK government website seems to make sense, until I read the next one which then throws it all up in the air again.

I'm 31, born in 1984 in the UK to a British mother (also born in Britain etc) and a German father, who became naturalised before my birth, though I'm not sure of the exact year off hand.

I moved to Canada in 2009 and in 2011 became a Permanent Resident here. In 2013 I married a Canadian woman and two months ago (June 2015) we had a baby girl. Now I know she is automatically Canadian but how do I go about securing and proving her British nationality?

It would seem that I cannot register her with the British consulate in Canada and in light of that she'd have no independent stand alone documentation to prove her British nationality in the years to come.

Currently we only have her New Brunswick short form birth certificate which does not give details of parents, though I will soon be applying for the long form version which will. I also have a certified copy of my British birth certificate which I obtained originally for immigration to Canada purposes. Are these two documents the only thing my baby would need both now and at any point in the future to obtain a British passport?

She doesn't need a British passport for any practical reason at the moment, but I would like something tangible as hard evidence that she is British as at the moment it just feels like its implied, rather than proved with no hard documentative evidence to support her case.

I've read all sorts of other things which mention having to provide proof of her grand parents, my parents British nationality or marriage certificates, birth certificates etc. Easy on my mothers part, not so on my German father's part. Would this actually be necessary in our situation here or are my birth certificate and hers the only things needed?

Many thanks.

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

You are correct that you are unable to obtain a consular birth certificate for your daughter as she was born in Canada and that therefore the only evidence therefore that you can generally obtain of her British citizenship is her British passport.

To apply for her first British passport you will need her original long form Canadian birth certificate and your original full UK birth certificate. As you were born in the UK after 1 January 1983 you will also need to prove that your parents were either British citizens or had settled status in the UK at the time of your birth. You will only need to provide your mother's birth certificate for this as British women could pass on their citizenship whether married or unmarried after 1 January 1983. If your mother was born in England or Wales you can order a certified copy from the General Register Office for £9.25 including postage to Canada.

You can also provide your father's naturalisation certificate together with your parents' marriage certificate although it sounds as if just providing your mother's birth certificate would be a simpler proposition.

Apply here: https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passport...g/child/canada

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

Many thanks for your prompt response.

I'm presuming that a certified copy of my birth certificate is considered to be an original for this purpose?

Thanks again.

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

Correct. You can only ever receive a certified copy because the original is the register itself. 'Original' in this sense means not a photocopy, notarised or not, but a certificate issued by the GRO.

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

Just to clarify, whilst it is no longer possible to obtain a consular birth certificate you can get a UK overseas birth certificate via the UK. Just google something like 'UK overseas birth cert'.

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

It's still perfectly possible to obtain a consular birth certificate - albeit via the FCO's Overseas Registration Unit in Milton Keynes rather than your local British embassy - but there are several countries and territories (the ex-Dominions and current British Overseas Territories) where you have been able to register a birth as the FCO deems that the local birth registration system is broadly the same as the UK. Canada is one of those countries.

British Consular Birth Registration : British Expat Wiki

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

You seem well educated in this area BritInParis. so I have a question.

I have pretty much the same scenario as the OP. I'm British born (both my parents are British born too), I live in Canada (now a citizen) and I have a baby born in Canada in 2014. I'm not married to her father yet, but we will one day. He is Canadian born to a Canadian mother and Scottish father and has both Canadian and British passports.

I am however born in 1978 so how does the birth certificate differ from the OP? I have my original birth certificate, but it's just a small flimsy piece of paper. Do this make any difference when making an application for a British passport for my daughter since I am born before 1984?

Thanks!!:thumbup:

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

The scenario is pretty much the same. Your daughter is a British citizen at birth by descent through you.

The fact you're not married to her father yet doesn't make a difference since unmarried British mothers have been able to pass on their citizenship to their overseas born children since 1 January 1983 and unmarried British fathers have been able to do so since 1 July 2006. That being said although your partner is British, as he is British by descent, he wouldn't be able to pass on his British citizenship to your daughter automatically anyway so it would only be coming through you.

You'll need your full birth certificate in order to apply for her British passport though. If you don't have this and you were born in England and Wales then you can order it online from the General Register Office for £9.25 which includes P&P to Canada.

Re: British citizenship for my baby born in Canada?
 

Thanks very much for the information!!