21dude

Dear all,

I am a British naturalized Citizen (not born in UK) and my wife is also a British Citizen (born in UK).
We have been permanent residents of the USA for almost 2 years and she is expecting a child.

Will our child automatically be a British Citizen if born in the USA? Or will it be necessary to apply for it?

Please let me know if there is anything that we should keep into account.

Many thanks in advance

scot47

Apply for a passport and that will confirm that the child has the status of a citizen of the UK. Note that there are certain "issues" in being a citizen "by descent".

BritInParis

Your child will automatically be a British citizen by descent if born in the USA. No application is necessary - you can apply directly for a British passport - however consular birth registration is recommendable to future-proof evidence of their British citizenship.

Note that it is not ordinarily possible for British citizens by descent to pass on citizenship to a further generation born abroad.

Pulaski

That isn't "bad" advice but isn't the best advice either. Per BiP, post #3, consular registration of the birth is optimal. In any case as your child will automatically be a US citizen it is therefore mandatory for them to travel into and outof the US using a US passport, the most cost-effective strategy is consular registration of the birth (which gives the option of obtaining a British passport at any time in their life) and then obtaining a US passport for your child "for everyday use".

In other words a British passport is an unnecessary expense unless/until you either return to the UK or move to/visit a country where a British passport confers travel rights that a US passport does not.

scot47

I stand corrected and bow to the superior knowledge of BritInParios and that bloke from "Top Gear"

21dude

Great.

But let's say that one day my son/daughter will want their child (my grandchild) to be British although potentially born out of the UK.
Is he or she going to be totally unable to apply for that? Or maybe just at the condition of satisfying a uk residency requirement through visas, ILR, etc?

Thanks to all

scot47

The "Search" function delivered up this
British Citizenship by Descent : British Expat Wiki

Pulaski

If your child spends 3 years (1095/6) days in one block in the UK before their child(ren) is born then the can pass on British citizenship - there is some registration process required after they have reached the qualifying period. During the period in the UK they can't spend more than 90 days out of the UK in any one year.

Obviously if you are trying to reach the barest minimum requirement, perhaps say while studying for three years at university, great care should be taken on counting and documenting the days in and out of the UK.

BritInParis

A couple of ways to get round this. As Pulaski mentions registration as a British citizen is available to children under 18 whose British by descent parent have spent at least three continuous years in the UK before their birth. This would give them British citizenship by descent. There is also the option for the parent to spend three years in the UK with the child before they turn 18 and then register which would give the child British citizenship otherwise than by descent. This would be more desirable as British citizenship could then be passed down to another generation born overseas.

If your child is in Crown or other 'designated' service (UN, NATO, etc..) when their child is born outside the UK they will be British otherwise than by descent.

The other alternative is ensuring that the other parent holds British citizenship otherwise than by descent, either by being born in the UK, being born outside the UK to a British parent in Crown or designated service or being naturalised as a British citizen.

21dude

Thanks to all who responded.
We are now wondering what the downsides of being a US/UK dual citizen would be for our child.

We are planing on settling back in the UK in a few years, but it sounds like being a US citizen implicates filing duties to the IRS regardless if resident abroad. Is this avoidable? Even if say in 20 years our son/daughter will be fully resident in UK and filing with HMRC?

Pulaski

Filing US taxes is mandatory for US citizens, full stop. But firstly until your income exceeds $90-some thousand there is no tax assessed on USCs overseas. Then as US income taxes are among the lowest in the industrialized world, unless your child goes to somewhere like the Middle East, where income taxes on some countries are zero, there is little chance that taxes would be payable anyway. Personally I would say the benefits of having a US passport (access to live and work in the US) significantly outweigh the burdens of being a USC. But that may just be me.

Hypothetically your child could give up US citizenship fairly cheaply at age 18, assuming they hadn't received a massive inheritance or were a precocious millionaire entrepreneur.

21dude

sounds about right pulaski, thanks. Indeed benefits overweight the additional admin burden.

Now, having the intention of applying for US citizenship myself, I guess I will need to look into what my duties will be, once I'm old and back in the UK. There should be a threshold of gross income under which one doesn't need to file at all with the IRS, but I guess that would apply to my worldwide income.

Wondering if anyone has direct experience of this?

holly_1948

Basically no downside unless the child plans to join the military (of either country).
Serving in the UK military (or accepting elevation to the peerage) could, in some circumstances, create problems.

For this reason, if you continue living in the USA then the best time to apply for a British Passport is at age 17. Under 18 so the child can truthfully say "Obtaining the British passport was my parents decision, not my decision". Over 15 so the passport is good for 10 years rather than 5 years.

The grandchildren must be either born in the UK or live in the UK for three or more childhood years to have an automatic qualification for British citizenship.

Pulaski

Or if the parent (OP's US born child) lives in the UK for a block of three years, their children will be British citizens by descent. ..... And that cycle can, under current regs, indefinitely down the generations.

BritInParis

Unfortunately not. That only works for one generation as the grandparents of the applicant must be British otherwise than by descent.