Johnny English

Has anyone heard of any exceptions to the issuance of the emergency travel document for very unique compassionate situations? E.g.,

If a UK citizen minor child living in the US on a non-immigrant visa:

- Has never applied for a UK passport nor a US passport, and

- His current third-county passport is invalid after citizenship of that country was voluntarily revoked, and

- Emergency is that grandparents are very ill back in the UK, and

- Child would be the only individual in the family not able to travel back?

I believe there is a rule that emergency travel document is only issued to someone who has previously held a UK passport.

Are there any exceptions based on compassionate grounds such as the above?

RICH

Hi and welcome to BE. No idea on your question but here is a link to a thread I started a couple of weeks ago for just such questions. Feel free to post your question there. Good luck.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=834764

Johnny English

Thanq!

JAJ

Unusual situation. What's the third country involved, what's the basis of the child's claim to British citizenship, etc.

Have you thought about calling the consulate and asking directly?

Also consider the U.S. visa situation - if the child's third country passport has been revoked, does this contain the U.S. visa, and if so, what's the plan to return to the United States?

BritInParis

Whilst ETDs used to be issued to first time applicants consular staff are very reluctant to do so after a number of cases where ineligible children were granted ETDs to travel to the UK and then disappeared.

In some exceptional circumstances they may be willing to do so but each case would be considered on its own merits and the claim to British citizenship would need to be strongly evidenced.

Was this child born in the US, UK or elsewhere?

Johnny English

JAJ and BritInParis

All we want to do is have a fair hearing at the Consulate for an ETD, showing his certificate of citizenship and evidence of his grandparent's grave illnesses to make this urgent trip.

We can't leave him behind: the rest of the family CAN make the trip.

Our son was initially a citizen of Japan and was born there. He had Indefinite Leave to Remain (permanent residence) of the UK and had visited the UK with us on a number of occasions on that basis. Japan does not allow dual citizenship. So when he acquired British citizenship through descent a few years ago, Japan stopped recognizing him as their citizen and so he is not supposed to use the Japanese passport.

The Japanese passport does not contain any current US visa because we had a change of status recently in the US. A new visa stamp has to be obtained at an overseas US Embassy when he leaves the US and will have to be issued in order for him to re-enter the US.

We will arrange that while we are in the UK. We may also apply for his British passport while in the UK so that we can straighten things out for the future. At that point, we will officially surrender/void the Japanese passport.

It is all very long and complicated to explain over the phone and we have had conflicting information from the various offices we have phoned when we haven't been able to explain the whole situation. On the one hand, a previous UK passport is needed to get an ETD. But on the other hand, we have strong compassionate grounds for a minor UK citizen to urgently visit the UK.

It would take 2-3 months at least to get a UK passport for him in the US. By that time he will be back at school again and his grandparents may not be around.

Will we get denied an ETD simply because he has no prior British passport?

Shirtback

I'll second this suggestion. Ask to speak to a Consular Officer.

I had a very positive experience (posted in the other thread) obtaining ETDs for my parents (different circumstances to yours) at the Ottawa HC this week.

S

FlyingDutchman6666

Did you consult a lawyer versed in Japanese immigration law before making the hugely important decision that is giving up Japanese citizenship?

For example:
- Japanese citizenship is lost automatically if another citizenship is acquired voluntarily. Was the child registered/naturalised British, or did he/she get it at birth? If the former: does getting British citizenship at a young age because your parents filled in a form on your behalf, count as voluntary?
- A dual national at age 21 may keep Japanese citizenship by depriving themself of the other nationality OR "by the declaration provided for in the Family Registration Law in which he or she swears that he or she chooses to be a Japanese national and that he or she renounces the foreign nationality"

A renunciation in front of a Japanese national may very well not have any legal effect in Britain.

There's a lot here for a good immigration lawyer to work with, IMHO.

BritInParis

Some assumptions and questions: Your child was born in Japan and is now living in the US on a Japanese passport. You are his father and are British and his mother is Japanese. Are you British by descent or otherwise than by descent? Were you married at the time of his birth? If not was he born before or after July 2006? Did you complete any kind of registration process with the Home Office for your son's British citizenship?

Japanese children with dual nationality don't need to choose between their citizenships until they reach their 22nd birthday. Why do you now think he is no longer entitled to Japanese citizenship?

Johnny English

That is reassuring, it looks like wifey was panicking over nothing.

JAJ

Now that you've found out that his Japanese citizenship appears to be intact, for now, you may want to do further research on what exactly he will need to do (or not do) in order to keep Japanese citizenship beyond age 22. Assuming he will want to keep his British citizenship.

Officially, he's supposed to renounce a foreign citizenship to stay Japanese, but if he doesn't do anything, you should check whether his Japanese citizenship is automatically lost or whether it depends on some action being taken. And if the authorities have to formally deprive him of citizenship rather than it being automatic, to what extent the Japanese authorities enforce this.

Also bear in mind that laws and policies may be different in the future.