Several years ago I finally got around to registering my daughter's birth (she was born in the US in 2001) with the British Embassy in Washington DC. She also got a UK consular birth certificate. She is moving to the UK later this year to do a master's degree at university. I was under the impression that the UK consular birth certificate could be used to apply for a British passport - but it appears not to be the case. It seems that her British passport application requires her US birth cert (long form, with full details of both parents), a parent's UK birth cert and, if that parent is the father, the father's marriage certificate to her mother.

So did we basically waste our time and money obtaining the UK consular birth cert? What's the point of it if it doesn't prove British citizenship and therefore can't be used for a British passport application?

Has your daughter's consularc
b/c been explicitly declined, or is it just not offered as an option for supporting documents?

We haven't submitted a British passport application yet. The UK consular birth cert is not in the list of supporting documents:
https://assets.publishing.service.go...e_G3_12.24.pdf

In fact, I've just noticed that they also want the parents' passports at the time of conception!

I'll double check, but little Miss P sent her application about three weeks ago, under almost identical circumstances (first British passport), but no consular registration of birth.

AFAIK she sent copies of her own and our certificates, our marriage certificate, and her own US passport (I didn't realise she was doing that, only discovering that she'd sent the original after it was already mailed!!! ) Plus a teacher's attestation that the picture of little Miss P was a good likeness, and a copy of her passport, and I think that was about all.

I suspect that not including a consular registration of birth as an acceptable document was an error/ oversight. So personally I would send that with my application, and none of the other certificates (birth, marriage).

Yeah - I'm sure you know she should have sent photocopies of her US passport pages. This link doesn't make that clear though - only in the very small print at the bottom of page 3:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...e_G3_12.24.pdf

Isn't a Consular birth certificate just a birth certificate issued overseas. In the link you attached it says "full birth certificate" if that is what you got from the Consulate I read that as being sufficient.

If they are not happy with what you send them they email and ask for what is missing.

Good point!

Yes, a consular birth certificate is a British birth certificate issued for a birth in a country where the British government never had authority over birth certificates. You cannot (so I was told), obtain a consular birth certificate for a child born in Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, etc. I don't know if that applies to all former British colonies.

I didn't ask my question clearly enough but I see now that there are 2 different questions:

(1) This wasn't what I was asking but one question is: can the UK consular birth cert be submitted for a British passport application instead of a local birth cert (in my daughter's case, her US birth cert)? This would at least make the consular birth cert somewhat useful - but really not useful enough to justify the time, effort and expense since a local birth cert can be used anyway.

(2) This is what I was trying to ask but did a poor job: Is a UK consular birth cert on its own sufficient for a British passport application? It seems not. To get that consular birth cert, we had to submit my daughter's US birth cert (long form with full details of both parents), my UK birth cert, my wife's UK birth cert, and our marriage cert. So what is the actual point of the UK consular birth cert if we have to submit all those documents again for my daughter's first British passport application? I was under the impression that the consular birth cert was handy to have because it negates the need to submit all the other documents that we already submitted to get the consular birth cert in the first place!

The ones I received are not a “birth certificate” they are “Birth registered at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office”

I don’t think they are issued overseas. When I applied for my 2 sons they were sent from the FCO in the U.K. maybe it was different when you actually went to a consulate to do it, but I sent all
my documents direct to the U.K.

and the disclaimer says:
”This copy of the Consular Birth Registration is not a UK birth certificate and should not be used as one. It does not replace the original birth certificate issued by the authorities in the country in which the birth took place. It is not a certificate of identity. A person does not acquire British nationality by virtue of having a Consular Birth Registration.

need to follow this thread as I likely need to get British passports for both mini tht’s soon.

It’s been over 15 years since I did this for my kids, but to my recollection the documentation supplied for the certificate was the same as for the passport (I got both).
I just looked at one of the consular certificates and section 4 Claim to citizenship has “S2(1)(a) British Nationality Act 1981”, indicating my son was a British citizen.

So from the certificate I have seems pretty clear it’s proving British citizenship in much the same way one issued for a UK birth would be, and could be used in the same way.

Don’t know if anything has changed since ours were issued though.

Earlier this year when I applied for SmallChogs First British passport I sent in her Consular Birth certificate and they sent me a RFE for her US birth certificate too.

Did they ask for additional evidence of UKC ? Like parents birth certificates?

My original packet for the 2 of us, I was also renewing my passport included
My birth certificate, my marriage certificate, my old passport, photocopies of our US passports, her British Consular birth certificate, A copy of the passport picture page of the guy who confirmed her photo.

They asked for her US birth certificate

This confirms what I feared. I'm struggling to think of how a consular birth cert is in any way useful.

I'm glad you raised this issue. I have uk passports for my offspring, but thought we had lost them. I was thinking a consular birth certificate would make the process easier, especially if they decide to live in the UK.
I had a friend verify my passports online. They are sent a link from the passport office . They work for the NHS.