Marty90

I will be applying shortly for my son's British passport. I have been made aware that his country of birth, the Philippines is regarded as a "high risk" country for fraud and so the process is likely to take a while.

I do however have one question regarding the marriage certificate when applying for the British passport. Is it entirely necessary to register our marriage in the Philippines for the passport to be approved?

Me and my wife were married last year in Hong Kong. Surely the British officials are likely to trust a Hong Kong marriage certificate (what with the territory being a former colony of the UK and by being a highly developed place in its own right) more than any document from the Philippines. I won't bore you with the full list of supporting docs but we have his Philippines passport and NSO stamped birth certificate also.

Also, children born after July 2006 do not need their mother to be married to a British father in order to claim British citizenship - if I understand the nationality law correctly. Any thoughts?

knighstrike

There won't be a problem where you got married, as long as it's valid and legally binding. So a HK marriage certificate is the same as a Philippine one, the only would be difference is the speed of local checks. It's probably much easier to check a HK one, I reckon.

From what I've heard, yes parents don't need to be married. Though it's much easier to prove paternity of the children if the parents did. If this is the case with you, your wife and son, then it won't be a straight-forward case, and it might take longer to get his passport.

Good luck, and don't over-think too much. The worst case scenario that you'll get anyway is your child's passport takes really long to process.

I'm dual Filipino and Brit by the way. Kaya niyo yan! Hahahah...

Marty90

Thanks for the advice my friend!

Yeah I will just chance it I think. I won't register the marriage in Phils - takes ages to sort out and I am fed up of waiting around for supporting documents :/