Immigrationboards.com

Hello all,

I'm a British Citizen by descent which means that I cannot automatically pass on British citizenship to any child who is born abroad. However, after checking the British Nationality Act 1981, in section 3: Acquisition by registration: minors, there mention that it is possible to obtain British citizen even born outside UK when some requirements are met.

My question is that I am the father of the child, while both my parents are British citizen otherwise by descent, but not at the time of my birth but obtained in sometime around 1998-2000. Does that fulfill (3)(b)(ii)??
Also, I studied in the UK in 2000-2009 which was around 10 years ago and then I went back to HK and apart from the college and university certificates, I do not have much to prove. Would that be enough to proof my case for (3)(c)??

Please advise, thank you~

Did you and your family acquire British citizenship under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990?

I do not think that the provision of Section 3(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 would be engaged in the case of your child as Section 3(3)(b) - the grandparent being a British citizen otherwise than by descent at the time of the birth of the parent - is not met.

However, if you were to move with the child and other parent (on a spouse and dependent visa) to the UK and live here for three further years, the child would be entitled to be registered under Section 3(5), which does not have any requirements about the status of the grandparents. A registration under Section 3(5) would make the child a British citizen otherwise than by descent themselves.

Alternatively, you can apply to register the child under Section 3(1), at discretion. However, that is not an entitlement (i.e. it can be declined, especially if the child does not live in the UK) and even if granted, would make the child a British citizen by descent themselves.

Section 14 of the British Nationality Act 1981 wrote:Section 14(1)(c)
(c)he is a British citizen by virtue of registration under section 3(1) and either—
(i)his father or mother was a British citizen at the time of the birth;

Thank you for your help~~