BtotheR

Thanks for bringing this up - we have a similar situation from here in NZ. Our child is less than a year old and we are trying to get my kiwi partner a spouse visa. Would seem a safer option to get the British passport for our child (who will have a nz passport) before but it is not clear if it is actually necessary. Its definitely is more expensive doing it from abroad - I just wish there was a clear definitive yes or no as to whether we actually need it on arrival.

🙄

BritInParis

The official answer is that is a requirement. An immigration officer may decide to exercise his or her discretion but equally your child could be refused entry. The difference in cost between applying for a British passport from within the UK or overseas is now minimal.

Pulaski

As BiP said, the answer is "yes".

You may or may not be allowed to bring your child into to the UK without a British passport, but I wouldn't want to take that gamble as you would be in a huge mess if your child is denied entry at the airport. The cost of a passport is minor compared even to the cost of flights to the UK, and smaller still than the cost of fixing the mess if your child is denied entry.

poida

The passport cost is marginally more than if you were in the UK, the main extra charge is the courier fee to send it and your paperwork back overseas.

Lately new passports were being processed in a matter of days, even for first time passports unless you needed an interview.

MonsterP

Just apply from overseas, it's surprisingly easy and quick.
We recently did our Sons passport from Shanghai, and got it back within 2 weeks. The price difference is only about £20 or so!

The part where you struggle, is finding someone to countersign the application and photo. We initially struggled with this, but, I recommend you seek out a fellow British person that can do it, especially if they have countersigned before, then it will be an automatic ok. The list of who can do this is well beyond that of Doctor, Policeman, etc. There's a long list on the gov.uk website. In the end, our friend was a Financial Advisor. We must all know one somewhere! haha!

If you get a foreigner to countersign, then you have problems with translations, also, the passport office will need to check them out, call them, write to them, taking up more time, and possibly more language barrier issues.

So just find a fellow Brit.