baby 1st british passport
 

Hi everyone..
I have a few questions on your experience/knowledge on a baby first UK passport..
My baby is due beginning of September and we are now looking at coming back to the UK in December before xmas..
We got told that California take about 6 weeks to issue a birth certificate (which I know we will need to do the passport) and as soon as we do this we will then apply for both a US and UK passport (which I understand we will need to fly back to the UK)
my questions are :
1/ looking at the UK consulate website they reckon it will take at least 7 weeks for a first passport.. for anybody that has applied for a first passport recently, do you concur?
2/ do we really need a UK passport or can we just have the US one and do his passport once we arrive in the UK ? as if we trust their deadline, it will push us toward mid dec which will be very close to xmas..
3/ if we dont need the UK passport to fly him back, do we need anything else to pass the uk border (like visa etc)?
4/ is there any "private agency" that will take care of this process (for a fee) but will help speed up the time?
thank you all for your help!

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

Your little one does not need a UK PP for a visit to the UK...a US PP is acceptable to enter the UK. As a US citizen he/she must leave and enter the US using a US PP.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

Thanks Jerseygirl! and what if we decide to permanently relocate there, still no problem I assume then? or will they cause issues because as a us passport holder he can only stay a maximum amount of time?

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

To enter the UK as a UK resident you should have a UK PP. Yes at this point you only need to register the birth with the UK embassy. Your baby doesn't need a UK PP for holidays only for UK residency.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

yes thats what i was thinking :)... so back to my initial questions as we are considering moving back permanently at the end of the year :confused:

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

In that case ideally the baby should have a UK PP so he/she can enter the UK as a resident and not a visitor. Although several of our members have said their family have entered returned to the UK without a UK PP. If you do this I would make sure you can prove you are a British citizen and the child's parent. Carry your birth certificate (although you will have a UK PP so that should suffice), marriage licence, the baby's birth certificate, registration with the UK embassy etc.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

It may be worth checking exactly what the procedure is and where that 6 week number comes from. My recent experience here in AZ was that new birth certificates become available one week after the event and while it can take a number of weeks to get the certificate if you mail in or use online ordering, you can get same day service by going directly to the county vital records office and applying in person.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

we went to the hospital this week end for a childbirth class and thats where they told us about this
apparently the hospital has a clerk that comes everyday and help you with the paperwork (this and SSN) with you just after birth, but they said it then takes about 6 weeks to receive the birth certificate
perhaps you are right i can always call the local office to see if there is a way to have this made quicker!

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

You only need the US passport, so get that, don't bother with the UK one till you're in the UK for a holiday.

Saves a lot of money too.

UK citizen can enter the UK without a valid UK passport, so a birth certificate would in theory do, a registered one. The problem would be getting on the plane without a visa to allow a permanent stay in the US passport and also, it'll probably be hassle on the UK side of things.

Getting a US birth cert, depends on the state, though usually, once you've filled the info in at the hospital they register it and then you go to your town hall about a week to 10 days later and hand over a few bucks for a certified copy of the birth certificate.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

By law, US citizens must leave/enter the US using a US passport. So legally you need to obtain a US passport for the baby anyway.

You might be able to obtain a California birth cert more quickly from the County where the birth took place:

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/certlic/birth...thRecords.aspx

If you are moving back to the UK for good, it goes smoother with a UK passport. However, it's possible to repatriate without the UK passport. My wife and I repatriated to the UK from Canada with 2 young daughters who only had Canadian passports. We also carried full (long form) birth certs for them (the type that gives full details of both parents).

Your baby is a UK citizen so don't worry about nonsense regarding the baby possibly being admitted as a "visitor". That's just meaningless for a UK citizen who, after all, cannot be deported from the UK. You can get the baby a UK passport once you're in the UK. It's cheaper.

The concern about repatriating on a non-UK passport is twofold. Will the airline have a problem with the baby travelling to the UK on a US passport with a one-way ticket? Will you have enough documentation to convince UK immigration that the baby is a UK citizen? A UK passport makes these issues go away. Not having a UK passport doesn't mean these issues are impossible to overcome. I and many others have done it successfully but do you feel comfortable doing it?

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

its very helpful thanks! I think first thing Ill do tomorrow is to call the local register and find out exactly how long it will take. then Ill take it from there as we might have options to get an accelerate process time for add fee..
if we can speed up this side, then the waiting time for UK passport wont be an issue
if we see that everything will take too long then I think we will "skip" the UK passport and do it in the UK

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

My daughter entered the UK on an expired UK passport the other day. Her dad applied for a new passport for her while they were there. She did have her US passport with them but border control didn't want to see it. Not a process I'd recommend but I was tickled that she got in that way.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

Was she visiting? If so, the US passport alone would have been perfectly fine. If she's moving there for good, the expired UK passport can be used to help prove her "right of abode".

The UK does not require that UK citizens enter on UK passports. My family members (all UK citizens with multiple other citizenships) have visited the UK many times. In fact, my 2 oldest daughters are visiting there now. This time they entered on US passports. Previously they've visited on Canadian passports. They even repatriated on Canadian passports once.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

My husband has repatriated to the UK several times on a US passport so I'm aware it can be done. Was just laughing at the fact that UK immigration preferred an expired UK passport to a current US one.

My daughter has a British birth cert so keeping the UK passport is probably not necessary.

Re: baby 1st british passport
 

It's not that strange when you think about it. If the immigration officer (IO) is satisfied that your daughter has "right of abode" (RoA) in the UK, then she doesn't need to be admitted as a visitor on the US passport. The IO can chose to consider the expired UK passport as proof of RoA. I know others who have done the same thing i.e. used a valid, foreign passport to fly to the UK but then shown an expired UK passport to the IO. It's up to the IO whether the expired UK passport is sufficient to prove RoA.