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Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Old Oct 21st 2016, 12:59 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by MarylandNed
Where was your daughter born?
south america
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Old Oct 21st 2016, 1:06 am
  #47  
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by BritInParis
The commencement of the British Nationality Act 1981, the current Act of Parliament which legislates for British nationality. This cutoff date is relatively recent, presumably because the FCO has gotten cheap and doesn't want to train up its nationality examiners to the previous high standard.



All correct although I would caution against using unofficial sources like this particularly when it comes to a matter as complex as British nationality law.



At any age before her own children are born outside the UK. If she spends consecutive three years in the UK for university then that would normally suffice but be wary that the academic year starts in September but finishes in June. She would need to stay on until she has completed the full three years. If she leaves shortly after her finals then the clock stops and it doesn't count. She'll need to stay for the summer (with documentary evidence) or resolve to marry a British-born spouse or have her children in the UK.



Was your daughter not born in the US or the UK then? If she was born outside the US then you would need to apply for her Consular Report of Birth Abroad via the local US Embassy before you could apply for her US passport. There is no such requirement for a British passport.
She was born in South America. She was granted her US passport based on getting a Certificate of Citizenship. She doesn't have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. Interesting, she happens to be back in country where she was born, consulate on the phone tells me since she is a citizen, she doesn't need the consular report of birth to renew her passport- will see when she actually renews there.
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Old Oct 21st 2016, 1:11 am
  #48  
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by Pulaski
BiP has already answered this, but she should count the days very carefully as there is a strict limit to the number of days during the three year period that she can be out of the UK (IIRC it's 90 days, maybe BiP has the number at his fingertips?) so I would recommend that she keep a detailed diary of her time and travels, supported by a scrapbook of travel tickets and evidence of time she was IN the UK.
Thank you all for answers to mu questions.

My wife isn't a UK citizen, is there a type of long term multiple entry visa for UK she can apply for as my spouse ? Or if my daughter in school in UK would it be difficult for my wife to have a 1 or 2 year visa ?.
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Old Oct 21st 2016, 7:30 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by Pulaski
BiP has already answered this, but she should count the days very carefully as there is a strict limit to the number of days during the three year period that she can be out of the UK (IIRC it's 90 days, maybe BiP has the number at his fingertips?) so I would recommend that she keep a detailed diary of her time and travels, supported by a scrapbook of travel tickets and evidence of time she was IN the UK.
"The British citizen by descent parent must have lived in the UK (or, if the child was born on or after 21 May 2002, in a British overseas territory) for a continuous period of 3 years at any time before the child’s birth. During that period they should not have absences exceeding 270 days. The application must be made whilst the child is under 18 years of age."

So yes, 90 days per year on average.

Originally Posted by morpeth
She was born in South America. She was granted her US passport based on getting a Certificate of Citizenship. She doesn't have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. Interesting, she happens to be back in country where she was born, consulate on the phone tells me since she is a citizen, she doesn't need the consular report of birth to renew her passport- will see when she actually renews there.
That's the normal procedure if you didn't register her birth with the US authorities whilst she was under 18. She cannot be issued a CSBA after she turns 18. She is likely a citizen of the country where she was born as well since most Latin American countries have jus soli citizenship law so it sounds like she is entitled to at least three passports. Which is nice

Originally Posted by morpeth
Thank you all for answers to mu questions.

My wife isn't a UK citizen, is there a type of long term multiple entry visa for UK she can apply for as my spouse ? Or if my daughter in school in UK would it be difficult for my wife to have a 1 or 2 year visa ?.
Which passport does she hold? US? If so she can visit without a visa for up to six months at a time. To spend more than half the year in the UK she will likely require you to sponsor her for a spouse visa or find an employer to sponsor her for a Tier 2 work visa. Does she have any recent European ancestry?
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Old Oct 21st 2016, 6:45 pm
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by BritInParis
"The British citizen by descent parent must have lived in the UK (or, if the child was born on or after 21 May 2002, in a British overseas territory) for a continuous period of 3 years at any time before the child’s birth. During that period they should not have absences exceeding 270 days. The application must be made whilst the child is under 18 years of age."

So yes, 90 days per year on average.



That's the normal procedure if you didn't register her birth with the US authorities whilst she was under 18. She cannot be issued a CSBA after she turns 18. She is likely a citizen of the country where she was born as well since most Latin American countries have jus soli citizenship law so it sounds like she is entitled to at least three passports. Which is nice



Which passport does she hold? US? If so she can visit without a visa for up to six months at a time. To spend more than half the year in the UK she will likely require you to sponsor her for a spouse visa or find an employer to sponsor her for a Tier 2 work visa. Does she have any recent European ancestry?
My wife as citizenship of where she was born, Colombia, and a US green card. I assumed she wouldn't be granted an automatic 6 month visa for UK but would have to apply for each time she visited unless there was some sort of multiple entry visa.

Yes my daughter has US/UK and Colombian citizenship.

The 270 days during three years of university is great as means my daughter could visit home once or twice per year during her studies, unless of course we move back to UK which I am considering. Doing an exploratory visit this year.
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Old Oct 22nd 2016, 9:14 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Getting copies of birth certificates etc is much easier if they are registered as British. I speak from personal experience. We lost the certs for our dual nationality daughters and found that ordering copies by phone was a very simple procedure.


We were also advised (I think by Britinparis) that passports should be kept up to date since renewing an expired passport is time-consuming because of checks etc.
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Old Oct 22nd 2016, 12:58 pm
  #52  
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by scot47
Getting copies of birth certificates etc is much easier if they are registered as British. I speak from personal experience. We lost the certs for our dual nationality daughters and found that ordering copies by phone was a very simple procedure.


We were also advised (I think by Britinparis) that passports should be kept up to date since renewing an expired passport is time-consuming because of checks etc.
i think it depends where the birth occurs. I know for my kids, Oregon allows requests to be made online , the cost is more than the UK at $43 per request. Certainly some countries may be more difficult.
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Old Oct 25th 2016, 3:14 pm
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by morpeth
My wife as citizenship of where she was born, Colombia, and a US green card. I assumed she wouldn't be granted an automatic 6 month visa for UK but would have to apply for each time she visited unless there was some sort of multiple entry visa.

Yes my daughter has US/UK and Colombian citizenship.

The 270 days during three years of university is great as means my daughter could visit home once or twice per year during her studies, unless of course we move back to UK which I am considering. Doing an exploratory visit this year.
https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa/overview

Your wife needs a standard visitor visa.

See option for multiple visits (you'll need to scroll)
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Old Oct 25th 2016, 5:07 pm
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by morpeth
My wife as citizenship of where she was born, Colombia, and a US green card. I assumed she wouldn't be granted an automatic 6 month visa for UK but would have to apply for each time she visited unless there was some sort of multiple entry visa.

Yes my daughter has US/UK and Colombian citizenship.

The 270 days during three years of university is great as means my daughter could visit home once or twice per year during her studies, unless of course we move back to UK which I am considering. Doing an exploratory visit this year.
As a Colombian citizen your wife will need to apply for a standard visitor visa before coming to the UK. This would permit stays of up to six months as a time. She can also apply for long term visitor visas which have a validity of 2, 5 or 10 years but each stay cannot be longer than six months and as a general rule she wouldn't be allowed to spend more than six months in any given year in the UK.
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Old Oct 26th 2016, 12:33 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by BritInParis
As a Colombian citizen your wife will need to apply for a standard visitor visa before coming to the UK. This would permit stays of up to six months as a time. She can also apply for long term visitor visas which have a validity of 2, 5 or 10 years but each stay cannot be longer than six months and as a general rule she wouldn't be allowed to spend more than six months in any given year in the UK.
Thanks. Does being married to a British citizen and mother of a British citizen formally or informally affect the approval the long term visitor visa ?
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Old Oct 26th 2016, 10:38 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by morpeth
Thanks. Does being married to a British citizen and mother of a British citizen formally or informally affect the approval the long term visitor visa ?
It can affect it both positively and negatively. Positively because it gives your wife a genuine reason to want to be able to visit the UK multiple times over an extended period. Negatively because if her husband and daughter are British and her daughter is resident in the UK it increases the likelihood that she will overstay or otherwise not comply with the conditions of a visitor visa. As always your wife will need to prove her ties to her home country (in this case the USA) in order to demonstrate that she has sufficient reasons to leave the UK at the end of each visit.

You may wish to consider having your wife naturalise as a US citizen if she is eligible which would give her the ability to travel to the UK visa free.
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Old Oct 27th 2016, 1:13 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by BritInParis
It can affect it both positively and negatively. Positively because it gives your wife a genuine reason to want to be able to visit the UK multiple times over an extended period. Negatively because if her husband and daughter are British and her daughter is resident in the UK it increases the likelihood that she will overstay or otherwise not comply with the conditions of a visitor visa. As always your wife will need to prove her ties to her home country (in this case the USA) in order to demonstrate that she has sufficient reasons to leave the UK at the end of each visit.

You may wish to consider having your wife naturalise as a US citizen if she is eligible which would give her the ability to travel to the UK visa free.
Good points. Guess I am thinking UK may change visa/immigration rules in the future/ She does have work ties outside the UK.

She has a 10 year green card we are unsure whether she will qualify for citizenship currently.

Got to admit I do find the immigration rules perplexing- my wife is married to British citizen, mother of a British citizen, a highly skilled professional in her field with advanced degrees, but judging from sensationalist press articles, it seems it would be easier for her to be a refugee to enter and stay in UK.

Thanks for your advice, confirms my intention for my daughter to go to university in UK.
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Old Oct 27th 2016, 10:49 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by morpeth
Got to admit I do find the immigration rules perplexing- my wife is married to British citizen, mother of a British citizen, a highly skilled professional in her field with advanced degrees, but judging from sensationalist press articles, it seems it would be easier for her to be a refugee to enter and stay in UK.
Sensationalist press articles are the last place you should be picking up the immigration rules. However, thanks to the fever whipped up by said articles, successive governments have aimed to make it more difficult to immigrate to the UK if you are the "wrong" kind of person. And in the process also made it difficult to immigrate to the UK full stop. And then we get more sensationalist press articles complaining that we refuse professionals but allow terrorists into the country. And so more outrage and more legislation and the circle turns...
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Old Oct 27th 2016, 11:59 am
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by morpeth
She has a 10 year green card we are unsure whether she will qualify for citizenship currently.
It should be easy to figure out when your wife is eligible to apply for US citizenship. How long has she been a Permanent Resident (PR)?

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/...e/chapter4.pdf

What is your citizenship status? If you are a US citizen, it cuts her wait time as a PR from 5 years to 3 years (assuming she has been married to you for 3 years while you were a US citizen).

Originally Posted by morpeth
Thanks for your advice, confirms my intention for my daughter to go to university in UK.
Note that having British citizenship does not mean that your daughter will qualify for the lower domestic tuition rates. There are also residency requirements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_s...United_Kingdom)
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Old Oct 27th 2016, 12:07 pm
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Default Re: Is there any benefit to registering your American kids as British

Originally Posted by kateinbrooklyn
If you're going to register, you might as well apply for a British passport. I did it for my 6-year-old earlier this year and it was easy and really fast.
It depends on the circumstances e.g. how often does the child travel when a British passport would be beneficial in some way? US citizens must leave/enter the US on a US passport anyway. So some people would question the need for a young child to have a 5 year British passport when a US passport is required to leave/enter the US. The cost becomes a bigger issue for families with multiple children.
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