British citizenship by descent
 

Hello everyone.

I was born in 1988 in the United States to an American-born mother and a British-born father (and both only have citizenship in their respective countries). My parents divorced in 1990, and my father moved back to the UK soon after. I have limited contact with him at the moment.

I just graduated from college and am interested in living abroad since I'm still young. I read through the requirements for a British passport and for consular birth registration, and both seem to require birth certificates from both of my parents and a marriage certificate. I don't know how I am supposed to coordinate my application with my father. Since he lives in the UK, would he have to send his birth certificate to me? It sounds like a pain more than anything. :( Is there any way I could work around this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Snake? Is that you?

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

I don't know for sure, but aren't birth certificates a public record? Can you request a copy yourself?

Rene

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Not quite. I'm trying to escape from New York at the moment. ;)

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

I thought you'd be taller.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Well then don't do it, if it is painful and no there is no way to work around it.

Sounds like a college student that believes in instant gratification to me.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Sounds like an old woman who is better at gossiping than thinking.

I came here for help, not to be preached at. The hard part is about my father cooperating with sending his birth certificate across the ocean.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

You could try asking him, but then again I sympathise as I hate having to ask my father for anything. I know you can get a replacement copy of your own birth certificate online very easily, could be worth following up Noorah's suggestion and seeing of you can get his.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Yes you are correct. If the OP knows the town of birth of his father he can go to the town council website and request a copy of the certificate. The difficult bit might be paying for it in Sterling.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Or he can just order them from the centralized website...

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

OP - you don't really need to involve your father at all as long as you know when/where he was born.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Sounds like a first time poster on BE looking for help to me. Wouldn't a welcome have been more appropriate?

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Thanks for everyone's replies.

I can involve my father if I have to, but I'd rather not because he isn't very reliable. My brother and I tried to arrange a visit to see him last January, but instead of working with us to arrange an appropriate date he just told us that January wasn't a good time, with no suggestion of an alternate date. I doubt he'd be very reliable with this situation either.

There's one final piece. For consular birth registration, I need the following:

* child’s civil overseas birth certificate
* mother’s full length British birth certificate (US in my case)
* father/second female parent’s full British birth certificate
* parents marriage certificate or civil partnership registration
* One current British passport

Will I have to get his passport as well? Is there any way I can obtain proof of this via the web?

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

Only if they ask for a cheque, but you could probably ring them up and use a credit card.

Birth and Marriage cert, shouldn't be much hassle, just a bit time consuming.

OP- you don't need to get a consular birth certificate to get a passport, but it'll certainly make you life easier in the future if you have to replace a lost passport.

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

You don't need to register your birth with the British consulate, just apply for the passport and keep it safe.
This from the mother of a kid born in '88 in the US who is a dual national and just graduated from Uni and is moving back to UK tomorrow. Hey your not my kid are you? :lol:

Re: British citizenship by descent
 

I know what I need to do now. Thanks everyone!