alfie1977

Morning All,

I'm fairly new to the forum so apologies if this is the wrong place to post this.

To make a long story short, I'm a UK citizen who emigrated to the US last year, married a US citizen, attained permanent residency status living in the US and we're now expecting our first child this coming January.

From what I've read our child should have dual nationality being of both American and British parents.

My first question is, is this correct and how would we go about registering our new addition as part British? I'm assuming that as we're having the birth in the US, the US national side of things should be straight forward.

Second question is, we're planning a family visit to the UK next year for my grandparents. Does the US now require infants to have passports like the UK? Does the UK expect the infant to have a passport? Basically what passport is going to be best to get the little one from the US, to the UK and back again with a minimum of hassle at customs? US/UK?

Any light you can shed on the situation would be really appreciated.

All the best
Alf.

Manc

ayup Alfie, indeed the nipper will be entitled to two passports and nationalities.

the general rule of thumb is thus

If standing on US soil, use the US passport

If standing on UK/EU soil, use the British passport.


check out www.britainusa.com for more details on registering the birth with the UK embassy.

welcome to expats also.

HoosierDaddy

Manc - I've a question on this. Is it "better" (as far as any potential situation down the road) to register the birth with the Embassy in DC and only get 1 passport (US) or do I have to get 2 passports for my little one?

Manc

I don't know. You can be a UK citizen without a passport for sure, entering the UK as a UK citizen on a US passport might raise some serious eyebrows though

alfie1977

Hey Manc,

Cheers for the information, really appreciated.

I was kind of thinking of doing the same as Hooiser. Registering the little one as both a US & UK citizen and initially getting a US passport as the prices for a 5 year UK passport seem a little extreme. Of course the little one would enter the UK as a US national on a US passport. Would this cause any problems do you think? (Yeah I know it's kind of cutting corners but.....)

All the best
Stuart

BigDavyG

Why would dennis healey care ???

cindyabs

USC babies do indeed have to have a passport and it's good for 5 years.

fatbrit

A read of http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=308955 might be helpful for you. More expense, I'm afraid.

Celtic_Angel

well the U.S will expect their U.S citizen to have a U.S passport...and if you're only flying home for a visit this shouldn't be a problem at all..I actually have no U.K paperwork on 2 of my kids they are pretty much a U.k citizen by decent..with or without the paperwork


and congrats for January

kevntrace

Our first one was born in December last year. We applied for the UK passport and registered her with the Embassy in Washington.

When it came time for our annual UK trip, our daughter's UK passport had not arrived, but we had applied for and received her US passport. So we went through passport control at Heathrow as UK citizens, even though the little one was entering as a US citizen - no problems at all.

When we got back from our UK holiday, there was the FedEx package sitting on our doorstep with our daughter's UK passport. I have a suspicion it arrived on the day we left, but since we left at 6am we didn't see that day's delivery.

Anyway, I would just go ahead and get the UK passport - it will save a lot of hassle further down the line.

Celtic_Angel

what hassles? it specifically says that the U.S authorities fully expect their citizens to use only U.S passports, they even advise you at the British embassy in Washington to do this.

by all means get both passports...I eventually will for my kids but I would say the best advice for the OP is to use the U.S passport for the child.

kevntrace

Save hassles of entry into the UK. I agree with the advice of using a US passport on US soil and a UK passport on UK soil.

Bob

Your right, but for a holiday, UKC could use a US passport if only for a holiday...but would need a US passport to get to the US regardles...but getting a UK passport is the easiest way of proving British Citizenship.

Bob

saves hassle down the line because not all US birthcerts show citizenship...registering kids is a pain depending on which country your in, and a passport shows citizenship, and a copy of that, your be all set.

JAJ

If you have a child born in the US and the child is British - you will save the child a lot of hassle later on if you get a consular birth certificate from the British Embassy as well as a British passport.

Many US birth certificates are not accepted fully by UK authorities, and if the only proof of your child's British citizenship is a passport then the child faces a nightmare replacing it later on if it's lost (eg as a young adult).


Also - *never* assume your child is British unless the child has been issued with either a consular birth certificate, a Certificate of Registration (as a British citizen) or a British citizen passport.

While most children born in the UK to British parents are British automatically, there are exceptions to this rule. Usually this can be fixed by applying for the child to be registered as a citizen, but there are time limits for this if so. Lots of parents get a really nasty surprise later on when they think their child is British when it isn't.


Jeremy