Hi all, I've spent the last hours on the UK High Commission website in Australia trying to figure out what i'm supposed to do, and am now even more confused! Hopefully someone can give me a hand.
I'm an Australian citizen, (born in Aus in '55) and my father was born in Northern Ireland but moved out to Australia as a child. Apparently this entitles me to UK citizenship, as my brother and sister both applied for and received UK passports back in the '80s. But now that I've decided to do this too, I can't seem to figure out the necessary steps. I would presume you must register as a british citizen before applying for a passport but I can't find the right sections of the high commission's website where my situation fits. Or is it that because my father was a british citizen, I am automatically a british citizen by descent and can simply apply for a passport without having to register first?
Hopefully my confusion made sense and someone can help me out, and point me in the direction of the right links or websites where I can get the right application forms, at the moment I'm just lost! Thanks very much!
You are a British citizen by descent if your father was married to your mother at the time of your birth - i.e. your birth had to be legitimate.
Just apply for your British passport - you will have to send in your birth certificate, your father's birth certificate and his marriage certificate. If you haven't one of more of these documents, you must get them first. If the High Commission need any other documents, they will let you know.
BTW, any children you may have are not British citizens, unless they were born in UK or one of crown dependencies.
Ok thanks everyone! Yes my parents were married at the time of my birth so thats all fine. So does it mean then that I'm already technically a UK citizen even though I have never been registered as one?
You can find the correct set of instructions that relate to your situation (born outside the UK to a father who was born in the UK) on this page from the British High Commission web site. You should also read this information on the new requirements for the biometric passports they have begun to issue as of April 1st. Too bad you didn't apply before 1st April... as it's now more expensive to get the passport and also you get finger printed like a criminal - unless they're not doing this for overseas applications yet...
"BTW, any children you may have are not British citizens, unless they were born in UK or one of crown dependencies." - However they can apply for a 4 year ancestry visa which is renewable. After 4 years of constant residency in the UK they can apply for the right to abode and consequently get a UK passport.
Yes I know - the same is true for any Commonwealth citizen with a UK-born grandparent. But it takes at least 5 years, plus waiting time for processing naturalisation - currently around 4 months. It does give them citizenship otherwise than by descent - so their children will be British wherever they are born.
There are other, less time-consuming way. For example, the chidren can be given birth in UK or one of dependent territories. This happens quite a bit - e.g. RSA-resident, British-citizen-by-descent mother flies over to UK to stay with a relative while she gives birth. If the parents and the children have lived at least 3 years in UK or in Crown Service or other UK-based organisations (there is a long list on Home Office website), they can be registered as British citizens before they are 18. And Home Secretary can permit registration on exceptional and compassionate grounds. After registration they become British citizen by descent.
Registration of Children.
Your Kids
Since your father was born in Northern Ireland, you are also an Irish citizen, so if you apply for an Irish passport , you will be able to register your kids as Irish citizens ( they won't be British unless born in the UK) hence solving for them any possible future residency problems in the European Union. And yes, Australia, UK and Ireland recognize multi citizenship. You are in a very, very lucky situation--avoiding red tape!
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