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Child born in India to British father and Indian mother

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:37 am
by chiku1980
Hi,
I have tried to go through several posts but couldn't quite find anything which fits the scenario that I am looking for.

For a child born in India I am looking for the quickest and easiest way for the child to travel to the UK. The situation is as follows

1. Father is a naturalised British Citizen before the birth of the child
2. Mother is on a PBS (Tier-1) dependant visa [Married to the father and Dependant on the father] and has travelled to India for delivery.
3. Mother does not qualify for ILR till end of 2017.

Based on what I have read on this forum we have 2 options

1. Because the father is a naturalised British citizen at childs birth the child qualifies for a British citizenship and can apply for a british passport in India.

OR

2. Because mother is an Indian citizen at childs birth the child qualifies for Indian citizenship and hence can get an Indian passport. The child can then travel to UK on a PBS dependant visa. The child can then get an ILR when the mother gets an ILR.

Again based on what I have read on this forum I understand that option 1 can take a long time (6-8 months) and is quite document intensive whereas option 2 should be easier.

Can you please confirm that

a. Option 1 is available in this case
b. Option 2 is also available and a quicker option

We are looking for a quicker option because we wouldn't have anyone who can run around the british embassy to handle all the application details or we don't want to wait for 6-8 months before the child can travel to the UK.

Thanks for your assistance.

Re: Child born in India to British father and Indian mother

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:44 am
by CR001
Child is British by descent if born in India. Passport applications can take 6-12 months from India.

A British citizen can't apply for a visa as they already have right of residence.

You can also apply for an Indian passport and a Certificate of Entitlement or Right of Abode.

Quickest route is to have the baby in the UK, use the 1 week fast track service to get a British passport, apply for a visa for India.

Re: Child born in India to British father and Indian mother

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:55 am
by chiku1980
Appreciate the quick response.

By this I understand the following

- The child can claim Indian citizenship and get Indian passport.

- However the child cannot get a british visa because the child is already a british citizen by descent. This is the reason why it needs to be Certificate of entitlement.

Is this right?

Would you have an idea of the processing timelines for a certificate of entitlement/right of abode if applied in India?

The mother would like to be with her family and hence we are looking to have the baby delivered in India.

Re: Child born in India to British father and Indian mother

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 3:27 pm
by secret.simon
chiku1980 wrote:- The child can claim Indian citizenship and get Indian passport.

- However the child cannot get a british visa because the child is already a british citizen by descent. This is the reason why it needs to be Certificate of entitlement.
Correct.

Timelines suggest CoE-RoA takes between six and sixteen weeks. There are a couple of threads on these forums about embassy staff in India not applying the law about CoE-RoA correctly, which makes the process take more time.

Be aware that if the child is born abroad, the child is a British citizen by descent and hence it can not pass on British citizenship to its own children (your grandchildren), unless they are born in the UK.

Re: Child born in India to British father and Indian mother

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 3:49 pm
by chiku1980
Do we need to register the birth of the child in India with some British high commission before we can apply for the CoE to ROA? or just normal birth certificate from the municipal body is enough?

Re: Child born in India to British father and Indian mother

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 3:58 pm
by geriatrix
Need to? No.
But you can, if you wish to.