To be confused about my partner's nationality

[ForestryForever]

Good evening,
My partner's parents were both born in Wales. They both lived and grew up in Wales. As adults they both left Wales and lived in England, where they remained.
Whilst married and living in England, they had a baby - my partner. My partner was born, raised in and grew up in England, and still lives in England.
What nationality is my partner?

That is literally how nationality works.

Well I grew up on the Wales / Cheshire border so I’ve had this conversation many times. I think he’s English with Welsh heritage. If I went to China on holiday and gave birth my child wouldn’t be Chinese. But as the U.K. is made up of the 4 nations I think he’s just British but I’d say I was English with Welsh heritage if I was him. I was born in Wrexham and one parent was Welsh, one was English, but I consider myself Welsh. Everyone born at Chester hospital (probably half and half in my school class which hospital people were born in) said they were English, half said Welsh. Now they are all mid 40’s and lived their entire lives in Wales they want to identify as Welsh. I don’t know the answer to be honest but I know this is a regular debate in my old area!

@Simonjt
Exactly, this is how we can have third generation immigrants who are born and bred British and people will tell them they don't belong.

@Simonjt not really no, as there’s rules around what makes you a particular Nationality. British Nationality isn’t granted to everyone who is born in the U.K. I don’t know how things work in Nigeria so I guess the answer to that is what nationality you are depends on the Nationality rules of the country you’re born in. You wouldn’t identify as Nigerian as a white person living in the U.K. who was just born in Nigeria when parents were on holiday. Nationality is actually quite complex.

He would, that is literally how nationality works. Unless you think its only possible to be British if you have white skin.

Yep, I am far too often told “you’re not British, you’re not white”.

Nationality does not work based on the country your born, or your skin colour. It's a set of criteria.

According to Wikipedia he can consider himself to be Welsh due to Welsh ancestry. I don’t think there’s any actual laws around this given the Nationality regardless would be British (and there’s lots of legislation around what makes you British)

This. Legally it's British nationality. The rest is just what you identify as. It's very clear cut if you were born in same country of UK as your parents and previous generations.

However if you were born elsewhere but by law still have legal British citizenship by descent then it's simply what you identify as. When you fill in form you choose. I know this as a British and Scottish person. I identify as both but my passport says British. I was born in neither and spent most of my childhood outside. I get really annoyed when asked to choose - now live back in Scotland and they love to ask "white Scottish" or "white British" on a form and you can't say both. I'm comfortable being both at the same time. (And European for that matter but let's not go there ).

Sure they are. Officially, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all one country with the same nationality and same passport. What do you think the Scots were voting on independence from, exactly?

I’ve only read section 18 of this thread and can see people implying it’s racist to say that people born in Britain are not British and that where you are born is how Nationality works. However, Britain is a bit unusual in that this isn’t how Nationality works here. You can hypothetically be born in the UK (to non British parents) and live here for 30 years…and if you leave the UK you won’t be allowed back in until you apply for a visa to get back in! Of course if your family apply for British passports while you’re under 18, you will then convert to a British national. But if this hasn’t been done and you’ve never applied for a UK passport, you can be barred from returning to what would be your home country!

Even the US (which is very strict) says that being born in the US lets you have a US passport. That’s even if your parents aren’t US Nationals. I think the UK is crazy in this regard! Most people are correct that generally birthplace is how nationality works. Not so in the UK.

For the record, I totally agree that you don’t need to be white to be British. I’m just trying to say that I don’t think people saying ‘being born here doesn’t make people British’ aren’t necessarily making a racist comment. They’re just acknowledging that the UK is crazy strict on this matter.

No. Not everyone in Wales has that Barry accent. My accent is very different as I live about 30 miles west on the coast.

I never consider myself British, even if I am. I consider myself Welsh. I just happen to have a British passport because I can't have a Welsh one.
I think your husband is Welsh.
I hope he is still speaking to you! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

I'd say English but historically many people counted it as where your father was from.

My grandad was born in Newcastle, lived there until he went to sea as a young adult and had the strongest Geordie accent but insisted to his dying day he was Scottish as his dad was from Dundee.

Yes they do. Go on any Welsh Facebook group or even North Wales and there is a real nastiness if you are English. In fact this thread is also the same. It actually makes me sad how many seem to hate people just for where they are born.

In my mind he would only be half welsh if one parent was from Wales? They both are?

Let him be Welsh if he wants to be?

OP, your H is what he feels himself to be. It's important. Accept & support it.

He's Welsh.

What I’ve learnt from this thread:

if someone with welsh parents is raised in England, they’re welsh
if someone with an Irish mother and English father is born in England, they’re Irish
if someone with Chinese parents is born in Wales, they’re welsh.
if someone with ‘African’ parents is born in wales they’re welsh.
if someone with English parents is raised in India, they’re English
if someone with Indian parents is raised in England, they’re English

clear?

He's Welsh, both his parents are Welsh and he will have been brought up Welsh. His entire family and heritage is Welsh and that needs to be respected. You can't simplify it down to something as he was born and raised in England so he must be English, its really irritating when people do that.

🤦🏼‍♀️ I give up

The Welsh will always be way more passionate about being Welsh than the English will be about being English (for the most part). It's the marginalisation.

Or, different mindset, welcomed him as being English? Same as other children whose parents moved to England and ere born here.

I told Mohammed at work that he was Pakistani. After all both his parents are Pakistani and he will have been brought up Pakistani. His entire family and heritage is Pakistani and that needs to be respected.

i told him it doesn’t matter if he was born and raised in England, that doesn’t make him English!

I have a meeting with HR tomorrow morning. Not sure what it’s about…

I was born in England. Aged 20 I moved to Scotland. 15 years later my Ds was born here, & 3 years after that, my Dd. Both born, educated & live in Scotland.
Ds has my (southern english still) accent, Dd has a more local one.
Ds is regularly told to 'go home' (esp during IndyRef) Dd isn't (so much).

I recently had cause to have my DNA tested. I am 58% Irish/Scottish,
only 22% English, 8% Italian, 5% Askenazi jewish, & a few other odds & sods.
Suprisingly, ethnically, I am not English, so neither can my son be.

These things matter to people (& the 'othering' of people matters too)