Passport for British nationals born overseas

[smellsofelderberries]

I'm sure someone here will have been through this before! DD is 4 months old, we live in Australia and she was born here. I am Australian and have British citizenship by descent, DH is British. We will move back to England at some point in the next several years and DH wants DD to have full British citizenship (not just by descent). Wouldn't affect her but could affect her DC, should she have any. She will also hold an Australian passport.

It's really hard to find information about how to do this. From what we can work out, she needs to live in the UK for 3 years, then can apply for a full British passport. For those three years she would live in the UK on her Australian passport with a 'right to abode' stamp. I want to believe that she would have the right to live there on an Australian passport with two British parents but I know the laws of logic don't exactly go hand in hand with things like dual citizenship and being born abroad. (I don't really care tbh but DH has his heart set on it so 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Anyone done similarly?

Nope I wasn't able to register them in the U.K. I was told they are not British unless they go through naturalization which means DH and I have to move back to the U.K.

It's not my fault my parents were expats. My father was working for the British government in Canada, a commonwealth country, when I was born. Then when I came to have my kids, we were living abroad due to DHs job.

What is frustrating is that if I had been naturalized my kids would be British by descent. Instead, because I'm British by descent instead of naturalized, my kids are treated as if I never stepped foot in the U.K. My dads colleague who was in the U.K. for 5 years became citizens before returning to their home country. Their daughter left the U.K. aged 6, never to return, but her kids have British citizenship.

And no long periods of absence in that period.

Few countries of the world allow their nationality to be passed down 2 bloodlines, so the UK's policy is typical rather than unusual in the world.

All grandchildren of UK born grandparents have the right to come live in the UK and eventually they can gain British citizenship through this method. Then they can pass GBR nationality to their children! There really is not need for British citizens by descent to come back to the UK to give birth when their children have UK born grandparents and can come and live and work in the UK and become British.

How many of the grandparents need to be UK born?

Well, they wouldn't automatically become British, they'd have to pay for naturalisation and fulfill all the criteria for that! So in some cases, it might be easier to arrange to give birth there. A friend of mine is BC-D and has 2 children both born in the UK for that reason.

Bobo- for registration under 3(2)? One.

cannot it isn't that simple a process to qualify through grandparents.

It is pretty simple if you have the birth certificates of the grandparents and parents and 1000s do it every year so they manage the entry clearance process.

Only 1 of 4 grandparents need to be UK born.

Want2Be - if you were born overseas to a parent in the service of the British government, you should be British other than by descent, and be able to pass your nationality onto your children that way. Canada is one of the few countries in the world (I think Aus and possibly NZ are the others) where the British consulate won't issue a British birth certificate, so you would need your father's employment records to confirm that you are British OTBD. I think you would only qualify for this if he was a crown/civil servant/diplomat sent to Canada from UK (or employed directly by the UK, not engaged in country).

Yes, MrsS, that's right- for Crown Service the person has to have been recruited in the UK and sent abroad, not recruited locally.

I'm still surprised there was no 3(2) possibility given that the poster had a long UK residence period.

Often, unfortunately, people are advised wrongly by consulates etc as they are Foreign Office staff, but it's Home Office who deal with Nationality. I've seen no end of people on here over the years who think they have to get their children's birth registered at the relevant consulate abroad to get a consular b/cert before applying for passports etc. I get that it's useful in some cases, but it's absolutely unnecessary and just makes more £££s for the coffers.

This is actually a really interesting thread - so my DC- two of the three were born in Germany- one i the U.K. All have British passports. I am British, but was born in Germany as my father was I the forces.

Just curious to ask how it works going forwards, do. my potential grandchildren automatically become British citizens because my DC are? If not, does it depend on where they are born and what nationality their other parent is.

Potentially, if the British nationality isn't directly passed down by them, depending on who the other parent is they may be 'stateless'?

Question from me: I read that wiki link (and thanks to PP for sharing), and want to clarify.

I'm Aussie and DH Brit/d. If we have a second child here, do we need to be settled for three years before they are born to be considered Brit/birth under S3(2)? That's how I read it. If not they could become citizens under 3(5) like our current DC who was born in Aus.

Is that right? Or would DC2 be Brit/birth by virtue of DH being Brit/d and us living in the U.K. at time of birth? DS and I have family of a settled person visas and DH obv has right to abode.

Very very very few people are stateless. (the first thing we were taught at training) People often think or imagine they are, but what comes into play is stuff like one country saying you belong to the other etc etc.

On the info you have given, doradoo, your children born in Germany would be BC-d as you are (presumably) OTBD because your father was in the forces and in service at the time. The child born in the UK (depending when etc) would presumably be OTBD and able to pass on his/her citizenship. (not taking into account that these grandchildren might also have BCOTBD through their father) The children of your Germany-born children maybe would have the possibility of registration under 3(2) (period of residence before the child was born for the family + BCOTBD grandparent) which gives BC-d or even 3(5) - similar to 3(2) but gives BCOTBD because the family has to be resident in the UK at the time of birth with residence leading up to it.

KS86- the other way round- you have to be resident at the time of birth for 3(5) and have had a period of residence before the birth for 3(2) but essentially yes. 3(2) gives descent, because the family won't be resident in the UK at the time of birth, 3(5) gives OTBD because they are resident at the time of birth. Neither are automatic though, and have to be applied for within time limits. The child born in the UK would, however, possibly already be British due to being born there to a "settled" parent. (settlement is something I'm vague on as again, it's Immigration rather than Nationality legislation. (There is also the mysterious T category which is new since I stopped working there, so am vague on its details, but I believe it's something to do with living in the UK until the non-British child was 10 and then leaving.)

The gov.uk website is quite comprehensive with explanations about the new legislation.

Hi.i applied for my 3 months old baby british passport from overseas almost 5 weeks ago.a few days ago,the passport office emailed that I didn't sent all necessary documents and requested to send them colour copy of passports,my naturalisation certificate and antenatal records. I sent off this document to them. Now I have a question.do you know that will they request for DNA test as well or not?has anybody experience this?any advice appreciated

I doubt it. Never heard of anything like that just for nationality.