H1pp0S

My niece who was born in South Africa wants to visit me for two weeks in June.
She will travel with my brother who has a British Passport.
She is entitled to a British Passport but it has nearly been 4 years that he is waiting for the vault birth certificate from the South African home office. I won’t go into the frustrating and pathetic service that the home office offer but I am sure there are many on here that can relate.

The question is if he applies for a visitors visa for the U.K. will she be issued with one?

BritInParis

How old is your niece? What’s her entitlement to a British passport? Was her father born in the UK? Does she have an unabridged birth certificate?

H1pp0S

Thank you Britinparis for your questions.

She is 11 years old.
Her father was born in the U.K. in 1971.
Yes she has an unabridged birth certificate.

BritInParis

Given that she is a British citizen by descent your niece should apply for a British passport rather than a visitor visa. As she is a minor she will need to supply a copy of her birth certificate for either application and in theory an Entry Clearance Officer should refuse her visitor visa application on the basis she holds Right of Abode. There have been mixed results using unabridged birth certificates rather than vault copies but my recommendation would still be to apply for a passport in the first instance given it will be six months until she needs to travel and therefore enough time to apply for a Certificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode if the passport application is declined for lack of a vault birth certificate.