Child's Passport through unwed British father
 

This is another thread about acquiring a passport for a child of a British, unwed father, born prior to July 1,2006. At first it looked like it wasn't possible but on further digging I found that the process may in fact be straightforward. This is from the "Legitimation and Domicile" pdf.

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...d-domicile.pdf

"Therefore, if there is no concept of illegitimacy according to the law of the
place of the father's domicile at the time of the child's birth , the child born
outside a marriage will be considered legitimate in UK law irrespective of
whether the child's parents subsequently marry. Such a child will have a claim
to British Citizenship.'

My daughter was born in Mexico in 1999 but I was domiciled in Canada. Since 1977, Canada has made no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate births and that seems to be the key.

Does anyone know who EQCs are and what this process would entail?

"These applications should be dealt with only by examiners who are trained to
determine domicile. Therefore, all applications that meet the above criteria
must be referred to Examiner Quality Consultants (EQCs). "

I'm also reading this from The UK Border Agency:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/br...britishfather/

"We will normally register any child born before 1 July 2006 to a father who is a British citizen father under section 3(1) if the requirements below are met:

we are satisfied about the paternity of the child; and
we have the consent of all those with parental responsibility; and
we are satisfied that if the parents were married:

- the child would have an automatic claim to British citizenship; or
- the child would have an entitlement to registration under sections 1(3), 3(2) or sections 3(5) of the British Nationality Act 1981; or
- we would normally have registered the child under section 3(1); and

if the child is over 10 year of age, they are of good character.

In these circumstances, registration under section 3(1) of the British Nationality Act would be at our discretion, if we think it is reasonable under the circumstances."

All I would need to do is to obtain a notarized letter stating the mother's consent.
Not that bleak after all. Are these two separate avenues ? Am I missing something here? Has anyone gone through the procedure?

Re: Child's Passport through unwed British father
 

Canada may well make no distinction for (Canadian) nationality purposes, however that may simply be removing one of the effects of illegitimacy rather than abolishing the concept of illegitimacy. In Canada, such legislation might even be a province/territory matter.

Unless you can get good legal advice that the relevant Canadian province/territory has abolished the concept of illegitimacy (or if it's a matter of federal law and has been enacted) and that you were domiciled there (under English law - not always easy to prove) then this route to claiming British citizenship is unlikely to work.


They are two separate routes. Applying for registration as a British citizen using form MN1 (for a child under 18) is normally the preferable option. It is simpler and provides an unambiguous acquisition of British citizenship.