Hi all,

I am British but will be visiting Queensland on a temporary basis (Visa 457) when my baby is due in Jan 2011. I will therefore be giving birth to my child in Australia and want to know in advance what the procedure is to registering my baby's birth and applying for UK passport for return to UK. (I am a British citizen and have UK passport but was born in Spain. The father of the baby is a British Citizen & born in Britain, we are not married so baby will be born out of wedlock)...it has been suggested to me that as i was not actually born in Britain we may have difficulty in getting UK passport for our baby even though we (baby's parents) are both British Citizens!! Any guidance would be most appreciated.

You're British by descent so you can't pass on your citizenship automatically to non-UK born children. Prior to July 2006, your child (born in Australia) wouldn't have been British automatically as they didn't look at the status of unmarried fathers. You'd have had to register the child as British with the Home Office, possible to do, but at a cost and would have taken a couple of months.

Now it's different and as long as father is on the birth certificate, the law usually allows a claim of British citizenship from an unmarried father.

But why not have the child born in Britain?

All you need to do is fill out the paperwork the hospital give you (after the birth) to register baby send it away, when you get the birth certificate make an appointment with Australia Post to apply for the british passport ( you will need to download the forms and complete them first) turn up with the cash and all paperwork ID etc etc etc and thats it job done. If you are both British Citizens it wont make a difference and baby cant get an Aus passport as you are only on a temporary visa.

Should mention, do all this as soon as possible as it took 5 weeks for the birth certificate, 2 weeks to get a suitable appointment time at the post office and then 16 weeks for the passport to arrive.

Hope this helps
Amanda

Thanks for information Amanda, wow 16 weeks to receive passport - that is ages!! Thanks am going to have to rethink our plans if thats how long it can take.

Why do you want your child born in Australia anyway? (as it won't be a citizen by birth).

Perhaps consider having the birth in Britain, then moving. Although in that instance, you need to get child onto your 457 visa - it won't be automatic.

Yeah I know it took so long and you cant pay extra to have it done quicker, however when you fill out the form there is a section that states when you need the passport for and if you can provide travel documents to prove you are leaving the country I believe it is quicker. Good luck