kimilseung

I have looked at this a couple of times over the years, and let it drop because I did not know how to proceed. But it has to be done sometime, and now seems to be as good a time as any to see it through.

My daughter was born in 2005 (so before 1st July 2005) in the US.
US mother, UK father. Not married. We did marry as soon as the K1 visa came through.

So......
Should we use form MN1, as she is under 18, born outside UK
or form UKF as she was born before 1 July 2006 to a British father
or another form as the birth was "legitimized" by marriage? (Maybe even just apply for a passport. This suggests its an option)

BritInParis

Normally the subsequent marriage of the parents would legitimise a child retrospectively thus making them British by descent from birth and eligible for a British passport. It would depend on the country of domicile of the father at the time of the child's birth and the laws regarding legitimacy in effect at that time. Generally speaking your domicile would be the UK even if you have lived abroad for a number of years but it's not a simple thing to deduce and normally you would be required to complete a lengthy domicile questionnaire.

Personally speaking I would apply for your daughter's consular birth certificate first and then use that to apply for her passport if registration is successful. A consular birth certificate would also avoid any difficulties for your daughter in obtaining a passport in the future or obtaining citizenship for any of your grandchildren by registration. You may wish to contact the OCU for advice before applying.

Quote:

You can’t register your child’s birth with the UK authorities abroad. This is because unmarried fathers can’t pass on British nationality to a child born before 1 July 2006.

You may still be able to apply for British citizenship for the child.

You may also be able to register the birth if you’ve married the other parent since the child was born. Contact the Overseas Registration Unit for advice at [email protected].

kimilseung

Thank you for the reply. What is OCU?

The consular birth certificate process seems to be to complete an MN1 form and mail to the UK (http://www.british-consulate.org/bri...rn-abroad.html)

I attempted to "Register a birth abroad" on gov.uk, it tells me I can not do so as I was an unmarried father at the time of birth (same content as your quote) and to contact [email protected] for advice, which I have done. I received a generic reply but the content also informed me that I would receive another reply within 5 days if the default reply did not cover my enquiry. So I shall wait.

BritInParis

Sorry, mixing up my acronyms, I mean the ORU (Overseas Registration Unit).

Consular birth registration is not the same as registering as a British citizen. Consular birth registration is only available to those who were British at birth automatically whereas registering as a British using Form MN1 confers British citizenship on applicants who fulfil certain criteria.

Probably best to wait for the ORU's reply but I suspect you will be fine to proceed.

rpjs

One US-specific question is how soon after her birth is the date of her US birth certificate? If it's within six months, you shouldn't have many problems. Newer than that can be an issue.

kimilseung

Info agrees with BritInParis.

For the benefit of those in the future with similar issue, here is the reply I received:

cerbie69

This thread has proved immensely helpful to me. Like the original poster, I have a daughter born in the US before 2006 to a UK father (me) and American mother. We were not married at the time of her birth in 2001 but did marry a year later. I have spent literally years dithering over form MN1, but was never sure it was the right way to proceed. Then UKF came out in 2015 and I rejoiced because it seemed to address my scenario. But then, while preparing to fill out UKF, I stumbled on this thread, where the original poster raised a third possibility - applying directly for a passport on the premise that my daughter automatically became a British citizen because she became 'legitimised' by the subsequent marriage. Not without some misgivings I submitted an overseas passport application for a first passport, supported by birth certificates and marriage license, which I mailed to the UK office a week before Christmas. I half expected the application to be rejected and told to use UKF. I was astonished when a package containing the passport arrived in Texas on New Years Eve, barely 10 days later (which included a weekend and Christmas/Boxing day). So thank you original poster and BritinParis for saving me an immense amount of time, money and worry.

spouse of scouse

scot47

This forum is a valuable resource. Long may it prosper !