British or Indian Passport for new born baby born in India

Dear all,

I hold British passport by naturalization (before the baby is born), and don't have OCI yet, instead I hold Indian visa. My wife is Indian holding Indian passport with UK ILR visa. I have a child that was born in India a month ago, and now we are trying to get the newborn to the UK in the next 5-6 months. Following are the options I came across, could someone with similar experience or knowledge offer some guidance please?

1. Apply for British passport from India: as the child is born to British passport Father, as baby has British citizenship by descent. However, looks like this route will take time. Does anyone know what are the recent processing times for new British passport for a newborn, when applying from India?

2. Apply for an Indian passport as Mother is India, and apply for RoA/CoE. As per my research, looks like this route is faster.
Any idea what are the recent processing times for RoA/CoE? And given that the child is British by descent, will she be eligible for RoA/CoE if baby gets Indian passport?

Which options are better in terms of process, document submission, hassle free travel to the UK, etc.,


Thanks
GNM

Applying for a first child British passport from the Subcontinent can take six months to a year.

You can also apply for an Indian passport and then a CoE-RoA, but be aware that a CoE-RoA costs many times (£589) that of a first child British passport (~£70). The typical process time for a CoE-RoA is supposed to be between six and sixteen months. Essentially, choosing to have the child born abroad will impose a non-insignificant financial cost in the short term.

gnm wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 04, 2026 4:31 pm

given that the child is British by descent, will she be eligible for RoA/CoE if baby gets Indian passport?

All British citizens, no matter how the British citizenship is acquired, can apply for a CoE-RoA.

Note that as the child is a British citizen by descent, their children (your grandchildren) born outside the UK will not automatically be British citizens.