KK85

Good morning,

I am a permanent resident of the US on a two-year conditional green card, having moved to PA in November 2017, and mine and my husband's first baby is due to be born in three weeks. It has been and continues to be a complex, high-risk pregnancy. We are about to file the I-751 application (before baby is born) to have the conditions removed from my residency, and on top of this I am currently healing from a newly-fractured shoulder (well done, me - who takes such a catastrophic tumble at 8 months pregnant?! ).

Needless to say, we're going through a lot and my brain is a little full. I had a peruse of the forum but am struggling to find a specific answer to my questions, which I concede might be borne from me being over-thinky but I'd like to ask them anyway, just to clear my mind. From everything I understand, our child will have dual citizenship - US citizenship due to birthright, and UK citizenship because I, his mum, am a UK citizen. Is there anything special that I need to do to ensure the above, or will it all be automatic? I understand we will fill out paperwork in the hospital to register the baby here and apply for his SSN etc. I have garnered that it is optional as to whether or not we want to register his birth in the UK, and that he will be given UK citizenship and will be eligible to apply for a UK passport regardless of whether or not we register him. We plan to register him and apply for his passport while he is still a baby.

I just want to make sure I'm not missing any information about any further paperwork that might be required, especially in the UK - I would hate for the baby to miss out on the privilege of dual citizenship just because I hadn't done my full research! Any information anyone has would be greatly appreciated, and my apologies if this has been covered before. I can't find confirmation and my brain is a little fried. Thank you! I hope you are all well!

KK85

It occurs to me that perhaps I should have posted this thread in the Citizenship forum? Sorry if it's misplaced!

rew1000

This all seems right.

UK registration optional - advantage is that child could easily apply for UK passport at some point in the distant future without any of your documentation.

Hardest part is taking a passport photo of a 1 month old baby with "a plain expression and your mouth closed"

Nivla_

I just had a similar situation. We filled in the forms during discharge at the hospital and received the birth certificate and SSN a couple of weeks later. We decided not to register the birth in the UK and went straight to applying for a passport. The application was done online and pretty simple. I just had to mail my original long form birth certificate and the baby's. Passport arrived much quicker than the US passport which we applied for around the same time! No other paperwork was needed for the UK application, although a UK resident had to verify the baby's likeness which is all done online.

BritInParis

Assuming you were born in the UK then there shouldn’t be any issues. If you were born after 1983 then be prepared to give your parents’ details as well.

Rete

Your child is automatically a US Citizen at birth. The hospital will register the birth of the baby and all you use to need to do it supply the name of the baby .... first, middle if wanted, and surname if different than your husband's.

I would NOT file the I-751 until the baby is born and you have a photocopy of the birth certificate that the hospital gives before the one from the government is sent to you.

civilservant

I was about to post exactly the same thing. I agree with the above.

KK85

Thank you all so much for your replies, I really appreciate it. Very reassuring to learn that this should hopefully all be quite simple.

Congratulations on your baby, Nivla_!

Is this just so that we can provide the baby's birth certificate as an item of evidence, or are there other benefits? The reason we'd planned to file beforehand is simply because we're on a tight deadline (baby will be born less than one month before the application needs to be in) and I wanted to get it out of the way and off my mind before our lives are turned upside down by a newborn. But if his birth certificate is going to go a long way in helping our case, then we will reconsider, especially because we have kept a lot of our finances separate.

And am I right in understanding your comment, then, that the hospital will send us home with a copy of his birth certificate, which we can file with the I-751? We don't need to wait for the government-issued one? I worry that we would be cutting it fine if we needed the latter.

Rete

A baby and the birth certificate is the ultimate proof of your valid and ongoing marriage. You can complete the form, gather all your evidence and asa you have the hospital birth certificate, send it off.

Not 100% sure if all hospitals given them, but ours in Westchester County, NY did and even in Vegas my daughter left the hospital with a cursory birth certificate.

If you want to file now, send a copy of the sonogram and one of you and hubby taken of you very pregnant.