British passport for children born outside the UK
|
Children born outside the UK can acquire British citizenship by descent depending upon when you were born and your parent’s status at the time of your birth, you can apply for a British passport.
British by descent
If your father or mother or both were born in the UK and one of them or both were British citizens, then you will be a British citizen regardless of where you were born. If you were born outside the UK, you are classified as British by descent, and this means you can automatically apply for your first British passport.
If you are a British citizen of descent, you cannot pass on British citizenship to your children. Your child needs to be registered with the British authorities first to apply for their British passport. However, you must be living in the UK for at least three years before the birth of your child, and during these three years, you must not be absent from the UK for more than 270 days. You are expected to register your child’s British nationality before their 1st birthday.
A child born outside the UK before 1 January 1983
If you were born before 1 January 1983 outside the UK and your father is British, you may automatically be a British citizen and thus apply for a British passport. At the time of your birth, your father must have been
a. A citizen of the UK and Colonies
b. Married to your mother
c. Able to pass on his citizenship to you.
If you were born before 1983 and at the time of your birth, your mother was a British citizen and not your father, and also your parents were not married, your birth needs to be registered with the British authorities before making a first-time passport application.
A child born outside the UK between 1983 and June 2006
Your birth needs to be registered your birth with British authorities before applying for a first-time British passport if your British father was not married to your mother when you were born. However, if your parents were married before or after you were born, in case your father was a British citizen, but your mother was not a British citizen, and they could pass on their citizenship to you, you would automatically become a British citizen
and thus apply for a British passport. Also, if your father or mother was a British citizen, there is no requirement to register your birth to apply for a British passport.
A child born outside the UK on or after 1 July 2006
A child born outside the UK on or after 1 July 2006 to a British born or naturalized father becomes British national automatically and thus does not require to be registered whether the applicant’s parents were married or not. Therefore, a child born after 1 July 2006 gets a British passport automatically in this situation.
If you are looking for professional advice to apply for a British passport you can contact us for a free assessment by calling 02034111261 or emailing:
info@visaandmigration.com.