Passport application - child born abroad - parents born after 1983

[BertieBotts]

Has anyone done this and can you tell me what the deal is with the grandparents' birth certificates? I'm not sure whether they'll be needed or not? Both DH and I are British citizens. I'm worried that if they are needed the delay to order copies and get them sent is going to massively delay the application and we were hoping to go home for Christmas. Wondering whether to just get 4x copies ordered now just in case...

[dementedpixie]

I don't think you need grandparents details if you are providing your own passport details as they prove you are British citizens

[dementedpixie]

Are you both born after 1983?

[Iaimtomisbehave1]

I thought the information applied to the child born abroad after 1983, not when the parents of the child were born.

I was born in South Africa in the 80s to British parents (both by descent) and we had no issues. My birth was registered at the British consulate so I have 2 birth certificates; South African and British issued from the consulate in South Africa. I got a passport as a child with no issues; just my parents if needed.

[Iaimtomisbehave1]

*info not if

[theSnuffster]

My partner and I were both born after 1983 so we had to send grandparents details with our children's applications- not their actual birth certificates, we just had to supply their full names and places of birth I think. (Also asks for marriage dates but those don't apply to us.) The children were born in the UK though so not sure if that changes things?

[dementedpixie]

The notes say this:

About grandparents: If the applicant’s parents were born on or after 1 January 1983, you will also need to provide evidence of grandparents’ claim to British nationality by providing their birth certificates and, in the case of grandfathers, their marriage certificates.

This does not apply if: the applicants parents’ British nationality is based on registration, naturalisation or their immigration status, or the applicant has provided the British passport number for parents’ in Section 4 of the application form

[BertieBotts]

Yes both born after 1983. The form for a first child passport from abroad is different from the normal form and the website says you can't use the normal table for guidance - it's this one instead:

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/564950/OS_Guidance_G1_10.16.pdf

In table 4 it says they may be required - I was just wondering what people had experienced.

[BertieBotts]

Sorry - Table D not table 4.

The notes which say that dementedpixie quotes have a big disclaimer on page one saying you can't use those notes or the form associated with them for overseas applications. You have to apply online using the overseas application service only. The notes for overseas applications don't say anything about the parents' passport number being an exception.

You don't need to register an overseas birth with the consulate in the country we live in but we have got an international birth certificate which we can use to make the application.

[dementedpixie]

Could you phone and double check?

[BertieBotts]

I probably will, I just thought I'd try posting on the living overseas board to see if anyone living overseas had done a passport application for a new baby recently :) Calling will tell me whether it's likely to be needed or not but not how long the whole thing will take.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Were you born in U.K., Bertie?

[Ofitck]

We applied for DDs passport last year and sent them but we already had them from when we did DSs.

You don’t say what country you’re in, but they wouldn’t accept our “international birth certificate” which was in English, only an (expensive) translation of the spanish one. They gave us both when we registered the birth but we had hoped not to have to pay for a translation.

[BertieBotts]

Yes I was born in the UK, so was DH and 3 of 4 grandparents (the other was born in British overseas territory). Oh really they don't accept the international one? It was highly recommended to us by local friends so I hope they do. We're in Germany. We had to pay for it as well but it wasn't any more expensive than a German one.

[Eledamorena]

Bit late to this thread but I can clarify that even babies born IN the UK to British parents, with British passports, are now required to provide evidence of the grandparents. It's relatively new and my MIL outright refused to believe it!

My son was born in Sep last year in the UK and we didn't have to send GPs birth certs but I did have to provide their full names, DOBs, place of birth, and marriage date and place. I didn't know all these details and remember thinking how so many people would have unmarried parents, unknown fathers, or a lack of info and no parents around to ask. This applied to parents born after 1983 as well.

We are now abroad again and if we have another DC I simply won't be able to provide all GPs birth certs as I don't have copies and not all are around to ask for them! The passport office does generally seem to have a modicum of common sense though; I have always found them helpful.

Best of luck to OP, hope you got/are getting it sorted ok.

[MumInBrussels]

We got our second baby's passport this summer, born in Belgium. We're both British, both born in the UK after 1983. With my oldest (2015), I phoned for advice on exactly this question - helpfully, the person dealing with the call didn't really know. We didn't send grandparents' certificates the first time (wanted to see if we could get away without them) and got a letter from the passport office asking for them. So with my youngest, we sent them with the application and got his new passport 2 weeks later. I think, sadly, you do need them - the GRO website was an easy way to get copies. We had no trouble with either child using an international birth certificate, though!

[BertieBotts]

Oh yes I know as DS1 was born in the UK so I'm old hat at that part :) You can order copies of birth certificates from the records office, I know that much, I just didn't want to go around ordering things if they weren't going to be needed.

I ended up phoning and they said a grandparent's passport number (should) do - so fingers crossed that's enough otherwise I'm going to have to try to order one really fast and have it sent to them. In fact I might ask my mum and dad if either of them have one to hand.

Friends here said they have used the international certificate so I've sent that.

[BertieBotts]

I don't know most of the details for DS1's paternal grandparents as I'm no contact with his dad any more so his always takes ages.