moving to the UK - practicalities

[SenoraPartridge]

has anyone done this recently?

I'm wondering now, as I'm wondering whether it's worth getting British consular birth certificates for the kids (they currently only have Spanish birth certificates). how easy is it to get registered for family allowance etc with foreign birth certs? and schools?

6 months till we move. all looking a bit scary now!

forgot to say - consular birth certs cost 100E a pop so don't want to get them if they're not necessary.

Here is a link for child benefit - the form should tell you if they'll accept foreign birth certs
this

thanks theBlonde. that will be helpful later.

but has anyone actually registered a child with a foreign birth cert? I know you can because EU nationals can register and they aren't entitled to consular certs, but was it a hassle?

I never got consular birth certificates for mine (mainly because of the exorbitant cost!) and got a British passport no problem with an EU certificate. I'm still living abroad so don't have any experience first hand, but I presume that if they're British passport holders that alone certifies that they are citizens and therefore entitled.
Re the schools my French cousin recently moved to the UK and had no problem registering her kids using official translations of French documents.
HTH

i don't have a birth certificate. i was born in morocco. no problems here, just have my home office certificate thing, and a passport now.

mine have uk passports too - I know you can get those without consular birth certificates. But official translations are also expensive and a palaver (because I think you have to get the docs stamped at the Spanish foreign office first? you have to do that for UK docs in Spain) - consular birth certs would probably be easier than that. did your cousin have to get her papers apostilled as well as translated?

I never got a consular birth cert for dd and she was born outside the EU.

No problems registering for anything - allowances or schools.

if they have uk passports then surely birth certificates are by the by. they don't stand for ID at all.

but what docs did you have, cq?

dizzybint - as far as all the websites say you usually need birth certs for family allowance etc. it doesn't say if passports will do.

We had the foreign birth certificate and foreign passport. I can't remember if we applied for the UK passport before we came back, but we probably had that as well.

Both dp and I have UK passports and had only been away 3 years, not sure if time away makes a difference.

I had never even heard of consular birth certificates!

ok, that's reassuring! one less thing to worry about.

now I just have to worry about finding a house, finding a school, finding a nursery, finding an office to rent, finding staff (probably) for our business, buying about a million plug adapters, selling our excess crap, finding some men with a van big enough and fixing the car. I think that's it.

Where are you moving back to? Can mn help with anything?

I remember having to do that and feeling strange and out of place, as if I was moving to another foreign country.

sheffield or chesterfield, or more likely, one of the villages in between. I've just posted a thread!