JAJ

In that case, child would only need a USA passport + the passport of country of residence.

- Australian passport would be needed if there is any chance of travelling to Australia;
- If resident in the USA, then no real need to keep renewing UK/Irish passports but it would be very important to at least obtain a first passport in order to prove a claim to citizenship. Often problems arise later on when this is not done.

Seneca21

This is a really good point. It used to be a British passport was OK everywhere aprt from the certain areas of the six counties, but since Blair's jaunt to Iraq it's not so safe. The US passport of course has been a liability for decades on this score.

Seneca21

That is more of an attitude problem in the US I think. Dual British-Australian or British-NZ would be viewed differently I think. Not sure which way the Canadians would go.

Seneca21

Hate to be a geek but they're more of a 17th century construct. And I'm sure libertarian socialism is the long way round saying anarchist, no?

shorrock

You bet, the paperwork alone was a pain in the backside. We plan a visit to Uk/Ireland/Aus next year so she needs at least her UK, USA and Aus passports.

Also why can I register my daughter for Australian citizenship without needing an interview by the embassy, but to get her passport I need an interview. Both are processed by the same department.

This is why I'm doing all the leg work now. Once we have all the passports, I don't plan on renewing the UK AND Irish passports . I will just get one of them renewed. All our friends think I'm crazy to do this. But I don't want to be in a situation were the law changes and my little dear is stuck in the USA and she can't get citizenship of the countries her parents have.

I also found out some interesting stuff while applying for a UK passport. If you where born in the USA and have British citizenship (by descent), you have to have a USA birth certificate that was printed within 3 months of the birth. The reason being is that it's legal in the USA to change the names of the birth parents if you are adopted, after 3 months. If you don't have the birth cert printed within 3 months of the birth then you have to get proof from the hospital.

ian-mstm

Why? Because someone with a valid claim to citizenship is entitled to proof of that citizenship. Citizenship without a passport is useful only within that country. A passport is a travel document and that means the country is assuring and verifying, in advance, to another country, that the person whose name is on that passport is, in fact, a citizen of that country. The level of scrutiny is higher.

Ian

shorrock

But to get the passport I need to have the citizenship certificate. It's all about the weakest link in the chain. If they want to verify the identify for a passport then they need to verify the identity when issuing the the documents I will be using to get the passport.

See my last paragraph re changing the birth parents on a USA birth certificate.

ian-mstm

I believe it's all about whether or not a foreign government will acknowledge that you are a citizen of whatever country, and that you are protected by whatever provisions they have in place, via treaty, for those citizens.

Ian

Malashaan

Agree about 17th century, not sure about equating libertarian socialist with anarchist. There's certainly some common ground but I think they're quite distinct, I'd happily be called the former but not the latter. I believe in the power and value of government, but I generally feel that governments as we currently have them focus their attention on the wrong things. Equally, I have some sympathy for small government conservatives, I just feel they generally have an even more skewed idea about what is important for government attention than the existing government.