JDH101

Hello all,

After 15 years of living in Los Angeles (and marrying a US wife and having 2 kids who have passports to both countries), we are moving back to London as I have started a job with one of the major film studios.

We were originally going to apply for a spouse visa (or whatever its called), but her Father was actually born in Portsmouth in England and has his English birth certificate. They flew to America when he was 11 years old and never kept his British passport, but like I said, he does have his UK birth certificate.

So my question is, would it be a fairly straightforward process for my wife to apply for a British passport? And, do you think we would be able to move to the UK with her on a regular 6 month visa, and apply for her British passport once we were back in London?

Many thanks for any advice you can lend.

Pulaski

Applying for a British passport for your wife, assuming her father was, as you say, born in the UK, should be relatively straight forward complicated only by the limited information that her father seems to have i.e. apparently not having a current British passport. If her father doesn't have a copy of his birth certiifcate then obtaining that will probably be a good first step to get the ball rolling.

JDH101

Thank you for this response. Due to covid, there are delays in getting a copy of the birth certificate and I am sure there will be delays getting the passport itself. Since we would like to make the move within a month to a month and a half, do you, or anyone know if we could make the move on her normal 6 month visa, and apply for the passport when we arrived in England?

Pulaski

She can, but it could get messy, especially if she can't complete the process within six months, and when it comes to NHS covereage she is going to show up as a visitor, which means that she could get billed for services. So it is doable, but best avoided and if she goes down that path then she should be aware that it might cause complications. Not only will it probably prevent her from registering with a GP, it will prevent her registering for a driving licence, getting an NI number, etc.

BritInParis

With the forthcoming quarantine requirements, arriving on a US passport with the intention of staying permanently isn’t likely to be a good idea, as your wife will be subject to extra scrutiny. Who are you waiting on for the birth certificate?

JDH101

Thanks so much for your response. We are waiting for her father to send his copy of his birth certificate to us. That is not the issue. My worry is that I just saw that it could take up to 6 months to get the UK passport. We need to be moving in no later than 2 months. So I was hoping that we could just travel to the UK and then apply for the passport once we are in England. We have a quarantine house set up for us to be in for the two weeks once we get off the plane.

BritInParis

Saw where? Six months is an awfully long time when virtually no-one has been able to travel.