MarylandNed

Not at all. The UK passport application asks for the consular birth certificate. You need to provide a UK issued birth certificate of some type for a UK passport application. This cannot take the place of your regular foreign birth certificate for all purposes (even the UK authorities state that). So either way, you're going to have 2 birth certs:

(a) Your own regular foreign birth cert - plus a UK government-issued birth cert OR
(b) Your own regular foreign birth cert - plus a UK parent's birth cert

Either option is perfectly acceptable. Option (b) costs less.

Bluegrass Lass

I just went back and looked and I realized I screwed up my post, and didn't actually paste the link into my message.

But anyways, here it is:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=542570

fatbrit

Indeed!

If you have the common scenario of a dual kiddie and are living in the US but only visiting the UK, the most cost effective but secure method of documenting UK citizenship is consular registration without certificate.

MarylandNed

It's not under a tenner - you have to first go through the expense of consular birth registration. My point is that the child can simply obtain the UK parent's birth cert - which really is under a tenner.

Either option is perfectly fine and acceptable. People are free to decide for themselves which option works best for them.

fatbrit

Deliberately obtuse or lacking in comprehension skills? The arguments have been fully thrashed out in this thread, and there is one plain conclusion for all to see.

MarylandNed

Your opinion. I just happen to disagree - which isn't a crime by the way.

MarylandNed

I'll leave the last word to the UK authorities:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-...tering-a-birth

Registering a birth

If your child is born outside the UK and is British you can register the birth with the nearest consulate or with our consular department in London if you’ve returned to the UK. You don’t have to do this, but if you do your child will be given a British document and the birth will be registered at the General Register Office in the UK. This is called Consular birth registration

This is not a UK birth certificate and should not be used as one. It should not take the place of the locally issued birth certificate.

Consular birth registrations do not confer British nationality and are not required to register your child as a British citizen or to apply for a British passport as British nationality is passed from parent to child. Your child will need to have an automatic claim to British nationality in order to register their birth.

There is no requirement for a consular birth registration to be done for any birth that has occurred overseas. The original birth certificate issued by the authorities in the country in which the birth took place, along with a notarised translation if necessary, is sufficient for all purposes in the UK (including passport applications).

fatbrit

Just plain stupid, then.

bruceba

Why do you waste you time arguing. You are right, you saved money and the embassy web site only recommends UK government employees do consular birth registrations. It is not necessary and a waste of money.

Bob

Hmmm.

I've already said a registration costs $170. I've already said you don't need the consular certificate, especially when you can pick one up in the UK for under a tenner, that saves you $100.

The big difference is a consular registration is valid for life and offers more flexibility than having to rely on holding numerous birth certificates and a UK passport that is only valid for a few years, costing similar money, as a infants passport is what, $135?

Bob

Saved $35 for a lifetime of flexibility? Great value for money that.

Giantaxe

I don't see that situation as being directly relevant one way or the other. His problem was that his US birth certificate is dated five years after his birth, making the UK question whether he was the biological child of UK parents. Had his birth been registered in the US in a timely manner (i.e. in a month of birth), I doubt he would have had an issue.

paulpur

i didnt get that when i read it Giantaxe, what i took from reading that link was that his parents had registered him when he was born as they should have but just didnt order any birth certificates, they only ordered the birth certificates when he was 5 years old and the date on the BC reflected this(thats the issue date, not the birth date)

Bluegrass Lass

I read it as he was registered normally when he was born, but his parents didn't order a copy of his birth certificate until he was 5yrs old. And because the b/c wasn't issued within a year of his birth, that was the problem. Hence the importance of obtaining those b/c if they have to be issued within certain time frames. Which could be a pain, if something happens to them. You can order all the duplicate copies you want, but if the house burns down, you're SOL. But if you've registered the child, then this is less likely to be a problem.

JAJ

It's down to choice. Obtain as much future-proof documentation as possible (whether or not it's technically "required") or save the two hundred or so dollars involved in obtaining such documentation.