Question:
I don't have a clear answer to this
yet... Perhaps i've asked the wrong
people or perhaps ther IS no clear
answer, but, i'll try here now.
My husband is a PR of the US, but
a citizen of the UK. I'm a citizen
of the US (since birth). We have
an infant, and i'm curious about
her citizenship.
She is automatically
a citizen of the US, and we don't
foresee any reason for her to wish
to revoke that (in other words,
we don't plan to leave the US).
However, it has crossed my mind
that perhaps someday she will wish
to be considered a British citizen
(i don't have any reason to think
this, but knowing how i was as a
teen, i can see her deciding she
wants to be different than me in
any way she can ;)) So, would she
be eligible for dual citizenship?
Would she
- based on her father's citizenship
- be eligible for British citizenship
if she chose to revoke the US citizenship?
What if her father chooses to become
a US citizen when eligible? Again,
none of these are earth shatteringly
important questions right now, as
we don't foresee a need for Rowan
to be anything other than a US citizen,
but i like to have all the answers
i may ever need whenever possible
:)
Answer:
As I understand it, Rowan will probably
be able to get British citizenship
and a UK passport should he ever
want it, on the basis of his father's
citizenship. If you want to make
sure, the Home Office have a WWW
site somewhere - maybe that might
have information? Or, your local
British Consulate might be able
to help.
A postscript:
you mentioned renouncing US citizenship.
I'm pretty certain that wouldn't
be necessary - if Rowan can get
UK citizenship, I'd expect he can
retain his US citizenship too. Actually,
no registration is required. If
the father is British other than
by descent, and he was married to
the mother at the time of the birth,
then the child received British
citizenship automatically at birth.
She is eligible to be listed in
her father's British passport or
to have a British passport of her
own.
Registration
is required, if a person, born before
January 1, 1983 to a British woman,
wants to claim British citizenship.
Before that date, only British men
had the right to automatically pass
their citizenship to their foreign
born children. If a person was born
to a British woman before January
1, 1983, then the mother had to
register the children as British
before the child's 18th birthday.
Since that date both British men
and women can automatically pass
their citizenship to their foreign
born children, however the law was
not retrospective, so any body born
before January 1, 1983 to a British
woman (and whose father was not
also British) must be registered
by his 18th birthday in order to
receive British citizenship. Note,
that unlike the US, which requires
US citizens to leave and enter the
US with documentation proving their
US citizenship, Britain does not
require that a British citizen must
enter Britain on a British passport.
If a British
citizen has dual citizenship, then
he or she is permitted to enter
Britain, for a visit, on a foreign
passport. If planning to study,
remain, or work in Britain, then
he or she should enter on a British
(or other EU country) passport.
Here is a web page from the British
consulate in New York stating the
current policy on dual British citizenship
for children. http://www.britain-info.org/bis/consular/dualnatc.htm
