Has anyone registered as British by being born here as an adult?

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Hello,

I hope you are well and.

I may , as a last resort , need and be forced to register as British by birth in the UK as an adult, as I was born in the UK and lived here my whoke life.
This is as I have no contact with my mum to prove her status at the time of my birth in the UK.

Has anyone done this?

What evidence is required?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance

Hey,

I have done this - it was about 6 years ago so my memory is rather faded. From what I do remember though it was simple it wasn't anything that needed a lot of effort.

You need to send your birth certificate showing details of parent. I THINK the online application asked for details of my fathers parents but I could be wrong.

There is guidance online about what info needs to be sent and also an email address for queries which is probably your best bet to make sure it's accurate.

BlueWhale47,

Thank you for your reply.

I have read it, and it says to have evidence of your first 10 years of life. So NHS gp from a kid and nursery plus primary school information.
How do I get these pieces of information? It's like 34 yrs ago now?

Hi there, no experience with this in particular, but used to issue passports, dealing with complex cases. We used to ask to see old school reports, school photos, family photos, the sort of things that only you would have. Maybe an old NHS card, your NI letter. Personal letters. We used to take anything and everything and then sift through it. Do you have any other passport, from any other country, or stateless person’s travel documents? These can all help.

Your nhs number is unique so you should be able to trace back GP surgery as a child from your medical
records. Presumably you remember the name of your primary school?

Do you have a copy of your Birth Certificate?

Do you hold a passport from any other country?

Aydel,

Thank you for your reply.

My mum has been mentally ill for years, she had a nervous breakdown , she burnt all photos of my siblings and I , burnt baby clothes, she burnt school reports and sticker certificates and severely abused us . Now as an adult I know she was mentally ill due to her own childhood experiences. She stopped me from even leaving home, until I ran away at 21years old. So , unfortunately I have nothing of that . She forbade me even to take my expired German passport at the time, so I sneaked in her closet to get it back then and I have not renewed it since 2014. I shoved it away from my memory.

I always thought I was a British citizen and a German citizen, as she was settled and sponsored my father.

I got told from CAB that under the British Nationality Act 1981 I am a British national born citizen, as EU citizens had no restrictions in 1989 to come to the UK when she did in 1985. Only to be told by HMPO without her employment history, her old German 1985-6 German passport with ILR a settled letter status from before 1989, I am not a British national born citizen, despite UKVI telling me I am last Friday.

Then my dad persuaded her to send her employment history, but it says not full , when she also sponsored my commonwealth father at the time as she was working, and her employer wrote to the Home Office so she could sponsor him as she was settled in the UK without immigration restrictions. I have asked for his immigration history since 1985 until he naturalised, hoping it says on his spouse visas his then wife was settled.

I spent the whole Christmas holiday looking for my old expired German passport, because I really do not want anything to do with her , and everytime I look at that old expired German passport, it reminds me if all the horrific things she did to me. I shoved it right at the bottom of a box in my bag closet, which I only found as CAB said firstly, I had to search for it, or report it lost to register British as born in Britain.

I thought I was dual national, German and British, as my mum was settled prior my birth, but without her original German passport, or a settled letter from back then , I am not a British national born citizen. HMPO said this to me. Hopefully, it says she was settled somewhere in my dad's immigration history records.

Do you know if my old council of where I lived as a baby and child, will be able to get my nursery and primary school records from 34 years ago by a subject access request?

Thank you so much for your reply.

BungleandGeorge,

Thank you for your reply.

I have asked my GP to look at my whole NHS records, and GPs. My dad remembers my baby and my mum's antenatal GP, he said will will write a letter to say he clearly remembers me from when my mother was pregnant with me 34 years ago, and that I was registered at his GP Practice for 2 years. Hopefully that's that sorted.

My primary schools said they destroy records of students around 15-20 years after the pupils leave. So they don't have them anymore. I remember the school names, and teachers too. I have asked my previous council as a child if they have any way of getting some sort of evidence, even if it was an application or something.

My secondary school teachers all wrote references, and remembers me . So that's that part sorted too.

Just opticians left, as I have always had medical conditions with my eyes, so hopefully my opticians can find out my history too.

Thank you for your advice.

It may be worth going to the local library and asking Librarian for help to look if there are Newspaper write ups of new school starters or school nativity plays with you mentioned in them.

TheSquareMile,

Yes, a British birth certificate.

Yes, and extremely old expired German passport which was lost until half a day ago. Due to my severely bad childhood with my mother, I shoved this passport away, as it reminds me of the torment I went through. CAB said I need it if I register as British born, or report it lost to the police. So I looked for it all holidays , and found it. All memories flooded back , which is what I wanted to prevent, as my kids saw me so sad and upset- I did not want them to know.

I always thought I was British and German, due to my mum being settled here prior my birth, but without her settled status letter, stamp or her ILR stamp at the time, HMPO said I am not a British national born citizen. This is weird, as UKVI said I am last Friday.

I don't know what I am anymore. I really feel lost.

Is your father on your birth certificate? What is his nationality?

Were your parents married? Were you born before 2003?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but if your father is British and recognised legally as your father, it would make a difference.

Farahilda

Thank you for your reply.

My father was of Bangladeshi nationality at my birth, and naturalised when I was around 11 or 12 years old. He had ILR after I was born in 1991.

I was born in 1989.

Yes, he is on my British birth certificate

Yes, they were married. I had to contact the registry office of where they were married to obtain their marriage certificate from Germany.
I did sent it to HMPO when I applied for a British passport , but they only were interested in my EU mother's documents

Have you tried to order a copy of your British birth certificate?

At some stage in those 10 years there will have been a census, so that’s that year sorted. Your opticians sounds useful. Perhaps if you visit your old primary and ask, someone will have contact details for some of your old teachers?

I suppose you could try local FB groups and ask if anyone remembers you from primary school and take it from there...

My DH was an optometrist before he retired. Patient records are kept for decades, and transferred to the new owners when a practice is sold. Well worth a look. Also, if you were ever referred to a hospital, there should be some record. You would have had an NHS number , too. Good luck.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads,

Yes, I have my British birth certificate, and I even obtained my mother's German birth certificate in English with the registrars stamp . Hmpo said I still need to prove my mum work employment, or a stamp in her original German passport from when she arrived in 1985. This is weird, as The British Nationality Act 1981, 50B 2, states all previous immigration restrictions disregarded for children born in the UK to EU mothers. I even phoned UKVI , to ask if I am a British national born citizen, and they said yes I am. I told hmpo UKVI said I am, and hmpo said without them seeing those old documents of hers, I am not a British national born citizen, and I need to register as British by birth.

It's all odd to me. One says I am a British born national citizens as law states, but hmpo said I am not with them seeing these documents.

I am really at a total loss

TeaAndStrumpets,

Thank you, thank you so very much.

I will contact them now.

I appreciate it so much

Dolphinnoises,

Thank you.

Where can I check the census please?
Sorry if it's a silly question, it's just I have never been in this position in my life, and never even dreamt to be .

Have you tried asking the passport office again? My limited experience with trying to get advice from them was that you might get a different answer depending on who you speak to.

I'd suggest stripping out all the background and just saying you'd like to apply for your first UK passport, as an adult born in the UK to EU parents in 1989 and can they tell you what paperwork you need. You might even be able to just apply online and see what happens.

You will probably need at least your birth certificate, a copy of your mother's birth certificate, and your mother's national insurance number. You might need her parents details, too. But they should be able to give you a clear list.

But just because one person in the passport office thinks you're possibly not British, doesn't mean you're not - they have been known to make mistakes before.

MumInBrussels,

Thank your for your reply.

The thing is , I have no contact with her , and therefore cannot provide any details of hers, other than her birth certificate which I ordered from Germany.

I don't know if that is enough , as I did 2 applications earlier this year - one in March and one in May, both were refused because on my first application, I couldn't provide her birth certificate, and with the second application I could not provide them with anything else other than her birth certificate. They said they needed proof she was either working, a student, her original passport from 1985-6, and ILR stamp and or a settled letter or stamp from before I was born in 1989. I rang the German Embassy, and they say it gets destroyed shortly after it is returned to the embassy upon expiry date.

Nothing is available from her to me , as when I tried to asked various departments after explaining my plight , they said everything gets destroyed around 15years or so, or it is protected by GDPR ect....

A friend suggested to get my father's immigration history records, as she sponsored him as a UK settled working citizen before his naturalisation. Perhaps with luck, there is something in it that states she was settled. Also, the home office granted permission for ,at that time , my commonwealth father to work as she nearly died too so he could support her. If I can find this letter , it would be helpful too.

Every route is proving difficult beyond comprehension.

I really have no idea what to do .

Contact your mp

Have you tried contacting the Guardian? Not sure if their Lifestyle/advice section would take it. The Politics section definitely runs stories about this type of problem from time to time.

i was going to suggest this. if you have a decent active MP, you should find them very helpful. A friend of mine was at her wits end in a similar situation, and her MP got it sorted for her. Good luck.

If you have a British birth certificate, I would have thought that was all you would need. Is it just that you have to prove the birth certificate is actually yours?

If you have an NHS number that was linked to the child on the birth certificate and your medical history can be followed from a baby to date, that would seem fairly good evidence.

Do you have relatives here and or in Germany who can formally identify you as the child on the BC and confirm your mother and father on the BC?

Seems like you just have to gather as much evidence as you can. As someone said above ask your MP for help and the Citizens Advise Bureau. Are there solicitors that specialise in this type of area?

Am just reading through your posts to try to assess the picture.

Am I right in assuming that, if you needed to travel outside the UK in the New Year, that you wouldn't be able to, not having a current valid passport?

Do you speak German, by the way? I ask because I was reading German government guidance on German nationality yesterday - it's in German, which is OK for me and I was wondering whether you would be able to read it too.

Is what you need at the moment a passport which will allow you to travel or do you need a passport for another reason?