British passport for child

[Bessie090]

My son, who is now 18, is wanting to apply for a British passport but is being told that he may not be able to. He has a german passport as I am a german citizen but I have lived here for over 20 years. His father is British but we were never married. My son was born in the UK and has always lived here and both our names are on his birth certificate.

If anyone knows anything about this or has been in a similar situation help would be much appreciated.

I think he should be OK. If his father is British and he was born here, that's his claim to nationality. The notes that come with the passport form should make it clearer

Thank you Bobbins43, thats what I thought but some information on the website says his fathers nationality will not pass on to him as we are not married but we think this might only be for children not born inside the UK?

As he's claiming citenzenship through his father and you've never been married he may need to register as a British citizen first.

www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-citizenship

Your DP should look into this on your DS's behalf. He may need to ring up the advice line, but with a British father who is named on his birth cert and being born in the UK I would expect that he has a right to British citizenship. Why have you never looked into getting it for him before if you were resident here?

Check if he is a British citizen: www.gov.uk/check-british-citizen

If not check if he can register as a British citizen: www.gov.uk/register-british-citizen/overview

You can register as a British citizen if you:

were born before 1 July 2006
would have become a British citizen automatically if your parents had been married
are of ‘good character’ - see the guidance to form UKF for details

www.gov.uk/register-british-citizen/born-before-2006-british-father