f4fred

Hi BE Mates,

Please have a look at my particulars in the signature. My baby was born on 26th March 2014 at Royal Women's Melbourne. I applied for his birth certificate at Births Deaths Marriages Victoria and the birth certificate received yesterday has my middle name miss spelled. The surprising part is that a birth certificate is issued within five working days but even a minute correction takes four weeks.

I have to fly in next two to three weeks and had planned to apply for an urgent passport however this mistake has blurred the plan including the round foreign trip and moving to Brisbane to join my new job.

Long weekend has never ever felt that long. Feeling really stuck.

Please advice any options if available.

Heaps of thanks mates.

Regards,

Fred, F.

moneypenny20

Is the passport for you or the baby?

f4fred

Baby. Need a corrected birth certificate to apply for his passport but time is running out.

Bermudashorts

Why? I don't understand why your name needs to be spelled correctly on a birth certificate in order to get a passport for a baby?

BritInParis

Is it a British or Australian passport you want to apply for? You have PR - what status does the mother hold?

teza

It doesn't matter does it, if one parent is PR, the child born in Oz is Oz citizen and will need Oz passport to get back into the country..

BritInParis

I appreciate that - I just wasn't following the logic in worry about a parent's misspelt middle name unless he was relying solely on his PR status for the child's Australian citizenship.

old.sparkles

I think the baby is in Australia, and has just been issued an Australian birth cert. The OP's middle name has been misspelt on the birth cert and OP want's to get new birth cert before applying for baby's first Australian passport - but also wants to take the baby overseas in a couple of weeks which is longer than a replacement birth cert will take.

I'm not sure how much of an effect a misspelt parents middle name will have on a baby's passport. Think that is OP's query too.

BritInParis

Again, appreciate all that, but unless the baby's mother isn't an Australian citizen or a PR I struggle to see what the issue is. It's something that needs rectifying but it's not going to prevent a passport from being issued correctly.

old.sparkles

OP and spouse have PR from posting history.

Thanks for the clarification for OP BritInParis - OP obviously just worrying about doing everything correctly as new to Australia

BritInParis

No worries If the mother is a PR also and her details are correct on the birth certificate then the passport should be issued without a hitch.

JAJ

A citizenship certificate should still be obtained for the child, from the Department of Immigration. This allows Australian citizenship to be proved immediately for any purpose, passport to be renewed in future, etc. without any need to track down parents details or immigration status.

Application should be made on form 119. Fee is A$60 and service standard is 7 days. Subject to change in future.

BritInParis

Evidence of Australian Citizenship you mean? Well, that could be helpful given that neither parent was born in Australia and therefore it's not immediately apparent from the birth certificate that the child is an Australian citizen.

JAJ

That's correct. A certificate evidencing that the child is an Australian citizen and acquired that status at birth. Or age 10, in some cases, where neither parent is citizen/PR and the child grew up in Australia and didn't become a citizen another way.

Even if the parents were born in Australia, a certificate is still required because it's possible that the parents were born on or after August 20, 1986 (unless birth date is verified as well as birthplace). There are cases now arising where the parents are finding themselves unable to prove their own citizenship status and cannot therefore prove that their children are citizens. Usually these issues can be resolved once brought to the attention of the Department of Immigration, and the right application made. However, in general, it is much easier and quicker to document Australian citizenship early in life, compared to later on.

Pollyana

Can I just say a huge thanks on behalf of BE for all the citizenship/passport help that you two contribute across the forums. Its very much appreciated