sunnyarizona

I am new to this forum so please excuse any etiquette errors. Below is a lengthy explanation but while I have searched the web and this forum, I don't see our exact scenario anywhere. I am trying to decide if we need to get a solicitor to help us with the MN1 registration application or if it is straight forward enough to manage ourselves. Any advice or past experience would be appreciated.

My husband is a UK Citizen (born and raised in the UK to British parents).
He became a US Citizen about 5 years ago.
I am a US Citizen.
We live in the US.

We have two adopted daughters.
Daughter #1 was adopted from foster care in the US. She has US passport. She was adopted at 4yrs old and is now 8yrs old.
Daughter #2 was adopted from Russia. She has a US passport and a Russian passport. She was adopted at 4yrs old is now 7yrs old.

My husband is concerned that we'll have to fight for their citizenship since they are adopted (I don't think so) and that we'll need help completing the form because there is a high probability they will reject it. (He does tend to worry in general). Anyone done MN1 forms in similar situations?

Thanks for any advice.
Julie in Sunny Arizona

sir_eccles

One assumes you have read this thoroughly:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/si.../guide_mn1.pdf

My first glance at it suggests it is non-trivial.

N1cky

I have a friend who has 2 adopted Russian children, she has told me in the past that they cannot get UK citizenship for the children.

Russia doesn't appear to be listed as a country that is allowed.

Mummy in the foothills

We got UK citizenship for our US born Dd adopted from foster care, used form MN1 (If I remember right) it was all pretty straight forward. They wanted to see court documents for the reasons she was put with us and adopted, and the finalization of the adoption.
The certificate came in the mail as we then applied for her UK passport.

sunnyarizona

Yes - I have read it several times but Russia is probably the tricky part of the equation. I can't believe that a child adopted from Russia cannot get their British citizenship as that is one of the top foreign countries for adoptions in the UK.

sunnyarizona

I wonder if it matters that our Russian daughter was was readopted in the US?

N1cky

I really don't know, what is readoption?

The situation with my friend is that she is a UKC married to a USC, they adopted while living in the USA using a USA agency and the kids automatically got USC.

sunnyarizona

That sounds the same as us. But we actually went to court in the US (Colorado, at the time) and had a hearing with a judge to "re-adopt" in the US. Not sure now why we had to do that but I think that is how we got our daughter her Colorado birth certificate and ultimately, her US passport.

Did your friend try to get them UKC but it was rejected? Or did she just not think it was possible based on the UKs confusing documentation? Thank you for any further information -- it may be that we need a solicitor just for this daughter's application!

It seems so strange - Russia is one of the top foreign countries for adoption in the UK that it seems strange it wouldn't be possible to get these kids their UKC.

N1cky

I know she tried to get them UKC but wasn't able, but I don't know how hard she tried or how far into the process they got. I see her often so will ask her next time I speak to her.

I found this that says you have to re-adopt them in the UK courts which sounds the same as what you did to get her US citizenship
http://www.kir.org/adoption/uk-adoption-process.html

Mummy in the foothills

I think that is aimed at families who are actually living in UK during the adoption process.
I know we wouldn't have been able to adopt Dd had we been living in the UK as they have different rules when it comes to age etc, but as we were settled in US and the adoption complied with US courts then it was fine.
I don't see why Russian adopted USC children would be different, the parents adopted legally according to the country of origin and legally according to the country of residence.
I believe there are some south American countries where if you adopted, it's hard to get UKC for the kids due to corruption in the courts system and it makes it all very difficult. There was someone on here in the moving back forum who had a lot of difficulty we never heard if they ever managed to get UKC for the child.
It'll be interesting to hear how far into it your friend got and if she was refused, why.

N1cky

You may be right but it does say it is for UK citizens not residents and the bottom bit goes into the details of what you need to do if you adopting a child from a country not 'approved'. I think you may be right about the corruption element of it, maybe not now, but certainly in the not too distant past I believe this was a problem in Russia.

I'll try hook up with my friend tomorrow, I'm intrigued by this now

md95065

Oh, it definitely still is a problem ...

rallybug

But as the second child has a US passport, that makes them a US citizen, and should therefore be no different to the child that was born in the US

Mummy in the foothills

You'd think wouldn't you. But they want to know the actual place of birth and the nationality of birth parents and their address if I remember right, not that I knew either of those things. But I did know her place of birth.

sunnyarizona

We are going to try the MN1 application for both kids and see how it goes. The US born child shouldn't be an issue and if our Russian born daughter isn't approved then we will seek legal assistance to determine if there are any other options. As was said, both have US adoptions so hopefully that will work. Thanks for all of the feedback and information. Wish us luck!