Please help - First British passport for child born abroad

[Entrepreneur9]

Good Evening all,

I am a British citizen by naturalization, and my wife is Indian. We got married in India. We are now expecting our first child in 3-4 months.

Me and my wife, we both are currently living in Oman from over a year. My wife has a full time job and I am currently on a study break.

My questions are:
1. As I have been absent from the UK for over a year, will this be a problem to apply for my child's first British passport?
2. I have heard that it can take upto 6 months to receive a passport abroad. Am I right?
3. My wife would like to take the child to India first, for completing some traditions and celebrations. I believe the process I need to follow is - first apply for the child's UK passport, once received, apply for child's Indian visa or OCI. This will take atleast 6-7 months in total after the child is born. Does anyone know of any quicker ways please?
4. Also, do I have to register a child's birth in the UK. I can see that there is a fee of £200. Not sure if there is any time limit as I wont be able to register till the child gets a British passport. As both the passport and registration needs the same original documents to be posted to the UK. So I can only complete one at a time.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[alterhase58]

Good Evening all,

I am a British citizen by naturalization, and my wife is Indian. We got married in India. We are now expecting our first child in 3-4 months.

Me and my wife, we both are currently living in Oman from over a year. My wife has a full time job and I am currently on a study break.

My question is:
1. As I have been absent from the UK for over a year, will this be a problem to apply for my child's first British passport?
Your absence from the UK is not relevant to a child's passport application.
2. I have heard that it can take upto 6 months to receive a passport abroad. Am I right?
It can take that time on the sub-continent - other countries may vary.
3. My wife would like to take the child to India first, for completing some traditions and celebrations. I believe the process I need to follow is - first apply for the child's UK passport, once received, apply for child's Indian visa or OCI. This will take atleast 6-7 months in total after the child is born. Does anyone know of any quicker ways please?
Can't comment on OCI aspects.
4. Also, do I have to register a child's birth in the UK. I can see that there is a fee of £200. Not sure if there is any time limit as I wont be able to register till the child gets a British passport. As both the passport and registration needs the same original documents to be posted to the UK. So I can only complete one at a time.
It is not a requirement to register a child birth in the UK though I believe it may be useful, not sure of the time allowed for that. You can apply for child's passport without a UK birth certificate. Child's claim to BC is through your naturalisation.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Entrepreneur9]

Thank you for your reply @alterhase58. Much appreciated.

In relation to point 3 - please can anyone help? Child will be born in Oman to Indian mother and British father. We would like to visit India for some family formalities as soon as the child is born. Do I need to apply for British passport and then Indian visa? The entire process will take 6-7 months in total after the child is born. Does anyone know of any quicker ways please?

[contorted_svy]

Hard to know exactly how long it will.take, it's like asking how long is a piece of string. For OCI, you need to ask in the other countries sub forum as that pertains to Indian legislation and processes.

[Entrepreneur9]

Thank you for your reply @ contorted_svy. I didn't ask you how long it will take. I know it will take 6-7 months minimum for the entire process. This query is also not about OCI. I just need to know if there is any alternate way or an emergency document that we can apply for the child to take him/her to India?

Can anyone please help?

[contorted_svy]

Any way to bring the child to India would be relating to Indian immigration law rather than UK law.