Aussie baby of British mum going to the UK - help with visas please!

[Thumbwitch]

I am a Brit in Australia, married to an Aussie, with one British-born son (Aussie citizen by descent) who has both a UK and an Aussie passport; and
I now also have an Aussie-born son, who is just about to get his first Aussie passport. He doesn't have a British one, there's no time; he's not a British citizen because I haven't sorted that out yet - does he need a visa, does anyone know?

And how can I get this sorted out before we travel on 4th April?? Arrrrghhhh!!

(Yes I know I should have dealt with all this in good time, but I didn't - the visa thing didn't even cross my mind until late last week )

[Thumbwitch]

Natation, I meant DS2's British citizenship, not DH. He is an Irish citizen as well as Australian, he has no need of or right to a British passport. :)

No, the High Commission in Australian doesn't issue passports any more. They come from New Zealand instead.

I may download the forms, get the relevant bits filled in and signed and then lodge them while in the UK - get the passports sent to my Dad's and then either pay for him to send them out to us registered post leave them with him until we go back next year, as they won't be needed to get back to Australia, iyswim.

[natation]

Alas British passports are not issued abroad any more, only emergency ones. They might transit a 3rd country eg Australia to New Zealand, but they are actually issued in the UK and flown back again. From where I am in Belgium, you apply via the British embassy in Paris, initial checks of paperwork and photos done there, then sent to the UK.

A word of warning about getting British passports done whilst on holiday in the UK. A friend of mine did this a few months ago, but they travelled back here before the passport arrived back. UK Identity and Passport Services phoned one of the referees, the referee was asked the location of the applicant that day, referee told the truth, UK IPS refused to issue the passport and no refund either :-( Had to apply a 2nd time from here, but worse still, had to get an emergency passport which is still issued in Brussels, as the family were travelling less than a month later and because the application from the UK was rejected, there was no time left to apply from Belgium! So in all they paid 3 times!!!! You'll need to brief referees and your dad about the possibility of being phoned up and asked your whereabouts.

[natation]

PS well the dad travelled back from the UK, he was the one who had lodged his child's application whilst in the UK, obviously the child couldn't travel as no valid passport!

[Thumbwitch]

Jeez, they get you every which way, don't they? I checked the prices of getting a UK passport - it's about 3x the cost from here as it would be in the UK. Daylight robbery, really.

Much easier to get an Irish passport (DH) - he just applies online then trots up to the Irish Embassy in Sydney and there you go!

May not bother with the boys' UK passports again then :( :( - too expensive.

[EdithWeston]

Yes, it's because much of the cost of the consular service (all documents, emergency assistance, etc) is defrayed that way - ie payment bourn by long term expats who are the greater users of the service (together with holidaymakers with lost documents, who face similar fees).

It's been like that or at least a decade (when the biometric passports came out, and the (now abandoned plan for ID cards was around)).

[Erebus]

Skim read all of what appear sto be sound advice, but my situation nearly threw us:

I am British of British parents but I wasn't born in the UK. DH is an Aussie, both DSs are Aussie born. I gaily applied for British passports for the DSs (to emigrate here) only to find that, as I wasn't born in the UK, they might not be entitled to British citizenship .

Luckily my father was working for the British Crown Agents abroad when I was born there, and my mother still has the paperwork to prove it, 40 years later, so no problem, but had my parents been on holiday to that country when I was born, my DSs would not have been able to get British citizenship....

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

Erebus that's because you are british by descent. In that case you won't be able to pass on the citizenship.

I've got three different citizenships and I always only carry one passport. (Most of the time I only have one non-expired passport, depending on where I live). I didn't know the rule that you must travel to a country you have citizenship with that countries passport. I just got asked the question where is my xx passport. I just told them it's expired. They are always happy with that and then give me visitor visa stamp.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

But like you said, you are the exception because your dad was working for the military. (I assume the british crown agents is something like that)?

[NotTreadingGrapes]

Children of long term (generational) expats not in Crown Service can also be registered as BCs under some sections of the British Nationality Act.

Generally speaking you need to have had a lengthy period of UK residence at some time prior to the child's birth or in later years with an older child, the child does. Check out Section 3 of the Nationality Act.

These are quite rare though.

[13loki]

If there is a chance you will go back to live in UK before your youngest is an adult, don't apply for his citizenship yet. DH and I are both British by descent. We lived in the UK for 8 years, during which time we had 2 kids, British otherwise than by descent. Now we live in Sweden, and are gong to have another baby. The Home Office advise you not to get citizenship if you will later go and live in the UK, as the child could then be British otherwise than by descent and more easily pass on citizenship.