British Citizenship for Child Born Abroad

Usually, automatic citizenship is passed down by one generation to children born outside the UK. Generally, children who are born outside the UK will acquire British citizenship by descent if they have at least one parent who has British citizen other than by descent.

However, this is not always the case and if your child was born outside of the UK, they may not automatically have received British Citizenship.

Children born abroad could be automatic citizens depending on their parents status and when they were born. Children born:

• On or after 30 April 2006 will be British citizens if at least one parent was a British citizen at the time of their birth and could pass their citizenship onto the child.
• From 1 January 1983 to 30th June 2006 will be British citizens if their mother or father was a British citizen when they were born, however, the parents must have been married if the father had British citizenship but the mother did not.
• Before 1st January 1983 will automatically be a British citizen if their father was a citizen of the United Kingdom of colonies at the time of their birth, was married to their mother and was eligible to pass citizenship on.

If a child born overseas does not qualify for automatic citizenship but they do have a British parent then they may still be eligible to become a British national by registering for citizenship.

While different to Naturalisation, the application to register your child as a British citizen is still long and complex.

Your child will not need to fulfil most of the requirements of British Citizenship through naturalisation. They will not need to provide proof of English Language ability or pass a Life in the UK test.

You will, however, still need to provide:

• an extensive immigration history;
• reasons for wanting to apply;
• original documents, such as birth certificates and current passports; and
• biometric information (fingerprints and a photograph), this costs less than £20.

To ensure that your application is completed smoothly and within a reasonable timeframe, get in touch with the expert lawyers at IAS.

If your child is an automatic British citizen or if you have successfully registered them as a British citizen then they will be eligible for a British passport.

Someone who has parental responsibility must make a passport application on behalf of the child. Their are two ways to apply for a child’s passport, you can either apply by post or you can apply online.

It costs £49 to apply for a child’s passport online and £58.50 to apply by post. The type of documents that you will need to provide vary depending on the method you choose to apply.

It generally takes around 5 weeks for a child’s first passport application to be processed.