Declining automatic citizenship for newborn baby

I am British living in Portugal with my Chinese wife and we are expecting our first child in 6 weeks.

According to the ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk website our child will automatically become a British citizen once born but we are planning to return to China in the near future and China will not give citizenship to a child who is a citizen of another country. I'm not talking about dual nationality, they will not change nationalities. You are either born Chinese or you are never Chinese (with a few exceptions if you have the right government contacts).

What I want to know is this: is the 'automatic' citizenship something which you have the right to apply for or do you get it purely by being born to a British parent?

If it is the latter, how do I go about our child not getting citizenship in the first place?

I assume you are British otherwise than by descent, e.g. born in the UK to British parents. Therefore,it's automatic. The child cannot renounce such citizenship.

Can I give up my citizenship?

If you are a British citizen, a British overseas territories citizen, a British overseas citizen, a British subject or a British national (overseas), you may give up your citizenship or status if you:

already have another citizenship or nationality; or
are going to get another citizenship or nationality after you have given up your British citizenship, British overseas territories citizenship, British overseas citizenship, British subject status or British national (overseas) status.


http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... tionality/

The bit in bold is of interest to you. I think you can get some sort of official assurity that they will renounce your citizenship once youve got another one, otherwise doing so would render you stateless.

Sh1981, don't you think you missed the most important piece of information:

above link wrote:In addition to this, you must also be:

aged 18 or over (but if you are under 18 and have been married, we will treat you as meeting the age requirement); and
of sound mind (but if you are not of sound mind, you may still be allowed to give up your British citizenship or other British nationality if it would be in your best interests).

Amber_ wrote:Sh1981, don't you think you missed the most important piece of information:

above link wrote:In addition to this, you must also be:

aged 18 or over (but if you are under 18 and have been married, we will treat you as meeting the age requirement); and
of sound mind (but if you are not of sound mind, you may still be allowed to give up your British citizenship or other British nationality if it would be in your best interests).

right first of all, i dont think the child becomes a citizenship by default just by virtue that one of his parents was or is a british citizen. if he's born abroad, he has to be registered. hence this: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... ornabroad/

Anyway regardless, even if it is passed automatically then consider this...

As with a child born in the UK, since 1 July 2006, the parents of a child born abroad do not need to be married for a father to be able to transmit British citizenship, but he should be named on the birth certificate. If he is not so named, it may be necessary for him to undergo a DNA test to determine paternity. Additionally, if the parents are unmarried and the mother is still married to another man, it is the mother’s husband who will be considered to be the father for the purposes of determining the child’s qualification for British nationality, unless of course, the mother can transmit it in her own right. To give an example, a child born to an unmarried British father and Thai mother, where the mother is still married to a Thai, would not automatically acquire British citizenship. http://thailand-uk.com/forums/showthrea ... r-Children

so basically, divorce your wife, tell her to marry another man, preferably chinese since that's where y'all going anyway, then once you have the child re-marry your wife! sorted

I'm sorry but you're wrong, if a parent is British otherwise than by descent then the child born abroad of such parent will be British at birth by virtue of section 2(1)(a) BNA. No registration is required as the citizenship is acquired by descent. Moreover, if the said parent is a permanent resident of Portugal the child may also be Portuguese if born in Portugal.

However, for the OP I suggest you look at Article 5 of the Chinese Nationality law as you may find your child can have both British and Chinese nationality. I believe the same would be true if the child was born in China, that is,the child could be both Chinese and British.

Amber_ wrote:I'm sorry but you're wrong, if a parent is British otherwise than by descent then the child born abroad of such parent will be British at birth by virtue of section 2(1)(a) BNA. No registration is required as the citizenship is acquired by descent. Moreover, if the said parent is a permanent resident of Portugal the child may also be Portuguese if born in Portugal.

However, for the OP I suggest you look at Article 5 of the Chinese Nationality law as you may find your child can have both British and Chinese nationality. I believe the same would be true if the child was born in China, that is,the child could be both Chinese and British.

No, you're missing a point that I made. In order to register birth, it has to be done by the mother if divorced. The father can ONLY register birth IF he is married. In case of a divorce, whether or not the father is british or whatever, it doesnt make a difference. Am I wrong on that? So, get divorced, get married to a chinese guy, then get remarried, that's the only way!

sh1981 wrote:No, you're missing a point that I made. In order to register birth, it has to be done by the mother if divorced. The father can ONLY register birth IF he is married.

You are mixing between registering a birth which is optional if born aborad and applying for Registration as a BC.

Birth registration has nothing to do with nationality. If you are born to British parents (under certain conditions), you are British from birth irrespective if your parents registered your birth with the British authorities or not. You also don't need to apply to register as a BC (the link you provided) as you are already a BC from birth.

See also Wife has ILR, newborn baby in China, returning to UK.

See also, Article 4 and 5 of Chinese Nationality law.

Jambo wrote:

sh1981 wrote:No, you're missing a point that I made. In order to register birth, it has to be done by the mother if divorced. The father can ONLY register birth IF he is married.

You are mixing between registering a birth which is optional if born aborad and applying for Registration as a BC.

Birth registration has nothing to do with nationality. If you are born to British parents (under certain conditions), you are British from birth irrespective if your parents registered your birth with the British authorities or not. You also don't need to apply to register as a BC (the link you provided) as you are already a BC from birth.

Yes true but what am i saying? I'm saying, if the parents are divorced then its the MOTHER who can register, or counts for anything at all, not the father. If the mother is not british, which she isnt in this case, then her NEW husband would count, not his biological father. In that case there will be no automatic registeration of any sort whatsoever.

2. Who has parental responsibility

A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth.

A father usually has parental responsibility if he is:

married to the child’s mother
listed on the birth certificate (after a certain date, depending on which part of the UK the child was born in)

https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-resp ... onsibility

sh1981 wrote:Yes true but what am i saying? I'm saying, if the parents are divorced then its the MOTHER who can register, or counts for anything at all, not the father. If the mother is not british, which she isnt in this case, then her NEW husband would count, not his biological father. In that case there will be no automatic registeration of any sort whatsoever.

2. Who has parental responsibility

A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth.

A father usually has parental responsibility if he is:

married to the child’s mother
listed on the birth certificate (after a certain date, depending on which part of the UK the child was born in)

https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-resp ... onsibility

Just admit you were wrong in your initial advice. Trying to explain yourself just means you are digging a deeper hole for yourself.

And by the way your are still wrong. Registration is irrelevant if the child is British from birth. The father is still the father even if not married to the mother.

Jambo wrote:

sh1981 wrote:Yes true but what am i saying? I'm saying, if the parents are divorced then its the MOTHER who can register, or counts for anything at all, not the father. If the mother is not british, which she isnt in this case, then her NEW husband would count, not his biological father. In that case there will be no automatic registeration of any sort whatsoever.

2. Who has parental responsibility

A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth.

A father usually has parental responsibility if he is:

married to the child’s mother
listed on the birth certificate (after a certain date, depending on which part of the UK the child was born in)

https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-resp ... onsibility

Just admit you were wrong in your initial advice. Trying to explain yourself just means you are digging a deeper hole for yourself.

And by the way your are still wrong. Registration is irrelevant if the child is British from birth. The father is still the father even if not married to the mother.

I'm not wrong, that's a fact. Anyway I'm not digging any 'holes' for myself, I'm giving my advice based on facts, if you know otherwise, thats your opinion then! If you've ever lived in the uk you'd know a father has almost NO rights if he is not married, and that's that, that's the end of it.

The father rights (as little as they are according to you) are irrelevant to the child citizenship.

Jambo wrote:The father rights (as little as they are according to you) are irrelevant to the child citizenship.

Look man, read up about illegitimate children born overseas.
http://www.govyou.co.uk/allow-illegitim ... h-fathers/

Actaully I might be wrong! There might be hope for children born after 2006. Read up about it I can't be bothered much but I think that might be case now I'm not quite sure.