steve100100

Ok, long story short.

I married my American wife in 2006. She already had a daughter from a previous relationship.

Daughter was adopted by myself in 2009. A new birth certificate was issued with my name on it as her father.

My wife and I had a son in 2007, I understand he is already a dual citizen.

What about my adopted daughter? Thoughts?

AmerLisa

There was a poster on here a few years back that he and his wife adopted their two foster children. I do remember reading his post saying he applied for British passports for his adopted children. I think its too far back to find.....but I'll look.

Ok, they're old, but I found a few.... You could always look in member search and find Patrick and see what you find.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341796
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341756

Mummy in the foothills

We applied for my adopted daughter too, we filled out the MN1 paperwork, she is now registered as a UK citizen.

Xebedee

How odd - have the exact same query going on atm.
What I've gleaned so far is yes, but I'm not sure wether or not I've left it too late to put the paperwork thru at the Embassy for her.

How old is your daughter? Mine's 26 now and was around 10 when I did the adoption.

One thing I did so far was pay an online legal advice thingy who ended referring the question to a solicitor in England. They claimed that the fact that my daughter was adopted makes her have the same rights as any of my kids. I got the sense that even tho the adoption was via an American court, it makes no difference to her claim to UK citizenship........

Not fully sure yet tho.

JAJ

Only UK adoptions and qualifying Hague Convention adoptions automatically confer British citizenship.

In any other case - including most overseas adoptions - registration as a British citizen has to be done before age 18.
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/br...adoptedabroad/

Xebedee

What a disappointment.
Thanks anyway for the info.

steve100100

She is 13. So we need to get her a passport before she turns 18 and it should be ok.

I don't quite understand. My biological son is obviously British. Both their birth certificates have my name on them. How would the British passport agency know she was adopted?

Mummy in the foothills

They don't really I suppose, thats why they aren't supposed to accept birth certificates issued more than 3 months after birth. US has amended BC's for all adoptions showing the adopting parents as natural parents, According to Dd's birth certificate I gave birth in a county I'd never even been to in a town I've never set foot in. We have a friend with kids both born full term 2 months apart in different states due to amended BC's.

steve100100

Thanks everyone. I will apply the same way as my son. Worst case they deny it and we are out the dollars and take it from there.

Jerseygirl

When you apply for a first UK PP the birth certificate will be required. I assume a new BC was issued when the adoption took place...but the date on it will not be the date she was born. Also don't forget with this new fangle interwebby stuff...it's easy for the authorities to pull up all personal records.

My father adopted me when I was 4...when I applied for my first UK PP I had to send in my BC. Obviously it wasn't my original one because it was dated 4 years after I was born...I also sent my adoption papers with the application.

JAJ

What on earth are you thinking? You've been told your daughter is not British, you've been told that there's a way to get her British citizenship, and your response is to contemplate a fraudulent passport application?!?

It might interest you to know that if someone fraudulently acquires a British passport, it does not confer British citizenship and if this is uncovered at a later date, then the passport is revoked or a renewal is refused.

From time to time, countries force passport holders to "re-prove" citizenship, especially if they have uncovered situations of shoddy passport issuance.

So the "worst case" as you put it is not a refusal, instead it's the issue of an invalid passport.

If you are going to get your daughter British citizenship (as opposed to an invalid passport) then you need to follow the instructions already given for her to be registered as a British citizen with the Home Office before age 18.

Jerseygirl

Guess the OP doesn't realise the British Consul reads these thread.

MarylandNed

Er - no that's not the way to go about this. Your daughter is NOT a UK citizen. The UK authorities know all about amended US birth certs after adoptions and will be suspicious of any US birth cert issued more than 3months after the birth.

steve100100

Oh ok...learned a lot from you guys as usual. Will research more.

Thanks again
.

JAJ

You don't need to do any more research. Just read the link in post #5 and follow instructions from that.