mum38

Hi ! New to forum, just been reading pages of info and still confused !

My kids are getting older (teenager...) and I still haven't got around to sorting out their British nationality. I hate paperwork.

I moved to France over 20 years ago (I was 18), my parents are British in the UK, my kids have French ID cards as their Dad's French. I have a British passport, no French ID.

So, am I officially British 'other than by descent' as I was born and went to school etc in the UK ? I thought someone was either British or not British.

Do I have to register my kids' births ? Or skip that and fork out a lot of money for their passports straight away ? I paid about 220 euros for mine ! What is the simplest / cheapest way of doing this ?

Thanks for any advice ! mum38

JAJ

It's usually best to get a British consular birth certificate, as that acts as proof of citizenship if the passport is ever lost.

You are British otherwise than by descent, if you are a British citizen born in the U.K. (general rule, few exceptions). Your children appear to be British by descent. It makes no difference to one's own rights as a British citizen but does impact the ability to pass on British citizenship to the next generation, if also born outside the United Kingdom.

If you have been in France for 20 years and see it as home, have you thought about becoming a French citizen?

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!
I can't really advise, as things have changed since my day, but I registered my two "Anglo-French" daughters' births at the British Consulate in Paris and they were on my British Passport for some time, while having French ID since birth. They acquired their own British Passports when they "left" mine (more for prestige than anything else) and also applied for French Passports when they were old enough to go further afield than Europe.
But IMO, in view of the cost of new or renewed Passports nowadays, having two is an unnecessary luxury, esp. if you've got several children.
The only advantage of having two Passports that we've experienced, is being able to choose which one to travel with when the cost of Visas differs!
Some one will come along with the up-to-date info concerning the documents to be gathered together. It appears that everything is on-line and processed in Durham now, and no longer in the Consulates...
P.S. I was also wondering why you haven't taken French nationality by marriage, but that's another story....

BritInParis

I would also recommend registering their births at the consulate in Paris and obtaining their consular birth certificates. Unlike passports these won't expire.

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

EuroTrash

Do they want British nationality?

Why not wait and see whether they decide they do, and if so - let 'em sort it out for themselves !

If they were born in France and have always lived here, they might not feel British enough to actually want it.

dmu

Good point. My DDs are more French than British, but since they're working elsewhere in Europe and overseas at the moment, two Consulates in case of problems are better than one!
A lot depends on what the OP's teenagers want to do in the future, and it's good advice to wait until they decide for themselves. A French Passport would be sufficient for travelling outside of Europe....
It won't hurt to register them at the British Consulate, though....

mum38

Hello,

Thanks very much for your replies.

I recently bumped into a Swiss friend who told me : 'Get the British nationality for them ! Think of their future job prospects etc, etc '. So I wanted to check how complicated this was going to get and check if still possible...As I seem to have a few years left (eldest 13) I can relax a bit.

As for myself, it would be easier I think to use my kids' French nationality than my husbands' as his parents were born in India and it gets incredibly complicated for several reasons. If the UK decides one day to exit 'Europe' how will that work out for Brits who work in France ? That's going a bit off-subject but that would be a good reason for me to ask for French nationality.

In the UK I wonder if my 2 darker-skinned children would suffer from racism after a radio program I heard this week on the subject

I have another question about your kids' motivation for English and their study/ career choices but I'll post that elsewhere !

Thanks again.

Chatter Static

The UK is not going to annex itself from Europe it's good old fashioned political huff and puff.

BritInParis

Frankly the more passports the better. Currently British citizens can travel to more countries visa-free than any other country in the world and being a Commonwealth citizen entitles them to rights in other Commonwealth countries that they wouldn't receive on their French passports. Depending on their future education or career choices having a British passport could also prove helpful.

Your children are already both French and British citizens and will remain so. It's just the evidence of their British citizenship they lack. Personally I would register their births and give them the option to easily obtain British passports in the future for themselves if they so desire.