British passports for children born to British father
 

Hi,
I'm British with a Canadian wife, and have lived in the US since 1999.
I have children with US passports (and born in US) who I would like to get British passports for.

I believe that I don't need to get British citizenship first but can just apply here:


https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

(or through form C2), but I'm not certain.
Any advice appreciated,
thanks
Jon

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Welcome to BE Jon.

I have moved your thread into our General US forum as the US Immigration forum is for questions about US visas and citizenship.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Jon,

If you were born or naturalize in the UK, you can pass down your British Citizenship to your children born overseas. All you need to do is to apply for their British passports using the link you had above.

However, a note to the OP - your children are British Citizens by descent, which means that they CANNOT automatically pass down their British Citizenship to their next generation (the OP's grandchildren) who are born outside of the UK.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Assuming he is British other than by descent (born in the UK, or naturalized, or one of a few other ways), then he has already passed his British citizenship to his children, in other words it happens automatically, and he doesn't need to "apply for citizenship" for them, they are already British.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

And where did HKG3 say that he had to apply for citizenship for the children? Too much sun? :ohmy:

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

You are correct. I completed my post without double-checking in what he had said. :o

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

C'mon you two... kiss and make up! You've been on each other all night - well, so to speak!

:popcorn:

Ian

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Thanks for the quick replies, and yes I was born in Britain so it seems pretty straightforward.
The instructions say they need the kids' US passports, but I think I can send photocopies of the complete documents.

Thanks again for the help!
Jon

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Thanks for moving my original post!

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Correct - you can send photocopies of the US passport.

You might also want to consider British consular birth registration.

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

This registers the birth with the British authorities. You can also obtain a consular birth cert although it's quite expensive. The cheaper option is to just register the birth (without applying for the consular birth cert) and then obtain a much cheaper birth cert from the GRO in the UK. The GRO birth cert won't be available until usually the September in the calendar year following the calendar year of registration. For example, if you register anytime in 2017 then the GRO birth cert could be applied for beginning in September of 2018.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

I too am British born with a US born son. Brexit reduces the incentive to get a British/EC passport but I'd still like to keep his options open and get one at some point in the future, maybe when he reaches 18 and may have more interest in attending a British university (he's currently 11).

Is there a risk of losing this entitlement if I delay? Specifically, can he still apply for a British passport by himself if I kicked the proverbial bucket?

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Not really, but collecting and presenting the evidence would get harder, perhaps much harder.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

I did it for my US born daughter last year. It was really fast and took less than 2 weeks to receive her British passport, plus my passport and documents, back. I believe the process is the same for fathers as it is for mothers.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

That was my guess too. Thank you!

I shall postpone my demise forthwith :-)

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

An excellent example of where consular birth registration would future-proof your son's British inheritance.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

And a much better investment than a passport which would expire after five years. :nod:

I am looking at finally getting around to a CBR for little Miss P, who recently celebrated her tenth birthday, but if I decide to get her a passport too, "just because", I won't get that until next year when she approaches her eleventh birthday because then when it expires she can replace it with a ten year passport around her 16th birthday.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

Hi, I've now applied and need to get the documents in within 90 days. I have photocopies of their passports, and originals of my birth certificate, and my marriage certificate.

I'm not sure on a couple of things:
1. Do I need to send my kids birth certificates?
2. The sentence "The passport you entered the country from which you are applying...". I moved to the US in 1999, so do I need to send that passport?

Thanks
Jon

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

1) Yes - you need to send the originals of their birth certificates.

2) No - you need to send your current British passport.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

This is the main reason I gained Irish citizenship, as they don't place insane bars to citizenship through descent like the UK does.

Re: British passports for children born to British father
 

You need to send original birth certificates, but not passports. Only a photocopy of the child's passport (if they hold one) is required.