clothmama

Hi, I've just given birth to a new baby and we have our tickets booked to go back to the UK the first week of February. I am just in the process of getting his birth certificate organised so I can get passports etc sorted. I am gutted to discover this is a 3 week process (I'd misread the website before his birth and was looking at a few days for certificate only not the actual registration!) and then I have found out that the UK application will take 8 WEEKS (when I had my older 2 it wsa something like a 10-14 day process ) so 3 plus 8 is 11 weeks and we are supposed to fly in 8.5!!! Hubby and I and the other kids are UK / Aussie dual citizens. No prob getting his Aussie passport quickly.

My question is will there be any problems taking him to the UK on his Aussie passport and sorting out his UK citizenship / passport when we get there? I'm thinking as he hasnt' been registered then he is not yet a British citizen so not breaking any rules? Will anyone really care at 7am on a Febuary morning in Manchester????

Thanks in advance for your replies,

From One panicing new Mama!

Pollyana

As an Aussie he can enter the UK as a tourist on his Aussie passport without needing a visa. If questioned, just explain the circumstances, and show that you have return tickets booked

Beoz

I'm doing the same early next year. From what I understand you should get his Aussie passport sorted first then you need the Aussie, to get the British one. The Aussie one was relatively easy to sort out, after the birth cert. I say that tongue in cheek. 4 visits to the passport office later it was submitted and a passport returned pretty quickly. They wanted this form, then this document, then this signed and somehow failed to tell us all at once or post it on the website. I need to check with Mrs Beoz but I think we are waiting until returning to apply for the Brit.

I presume until the baby gets British citizenship then they just roll up as an Aussie tourist. No need to explain anything unless I'm mistaken

BritInParis

If your son is an Australian citizen then you will definitely need to obtain an Australian passport before you leave Australia as this is a requirement for Australian citizens.

Your son is a British citizen whether you obtain a passport for him or not. There is no registration process that will make or not make him a citizen in this scenario. The issue is proving it at the UK border.

If you are only intending to visit the UK then going on his Australian passport is not a problem. If your intention is to move back permanently then you should ideally obtain his British passport first. If not then you should have his full Australian birth certificate and your full British birth certificates to hand. Nine times of ten you shouldn't have a problem and they won't be necessary but doing so would be good for your peace of mind.

clothmama

Thanks for all your replies everyone! Looks like there shouldnt' be any trouble, I even found a page on the Uk gov site to say that it is OK to get your first passport when visiting the UK (which implies if you are doing that you are entering on a different passport!) so I'm going to print it off to have with me.
https://www.gov.uk/passport-applicat...le-visiting-uk

We will also have all our documents with us so shouldn't be a problem to prove anything they may query, but I am now confident enough that there shouldn't be any problems when we arrive!