Child born in Switzerland from Naturalised parents.??

[Siggi]

My brother and his wife, both Naturalsied Brits, have recently moved to Switzerland.
The question is what Nationality does thier child assume, who was born in Zurich last week? British, Swiss or the parents original nationality?
Any ideas??
Siggi

[Christophe]

My brother and his wife, both Naturalsied Brits, have recently moved to Switzerland.
The question is what Nationality does thier child assume, who was born in Zurich last week? British, Swiss or the parents original nationality?
Any ideas??
Siggi

The child is British by descent, since at least one of the parents is a British citizen otherwise than by descent (in fact, both are). They should apply for a British passport for the child, since this is, if you like, de facto documentation of the fact that the child is a British citizen. (See the passport pages of the British Embassy in Berne.)

Birth in Switzerland does not, of itself, confer Swiss citizenship. In this case it has not since neither of the parents is a Swiss citizen. Naturalisation in due course is possible (but not always easy) if certain conditions are fulfilled; see the citizenship/naturalisation pages of the Swiss Federal Office for Migration.

Whether or not the child is also a citizen of the parents' original country depends on the law of that country as regards dual citizenship and acquisition of citizenship by descent. What country is it, and are they still citizens of that country?

[Siggi]

Christophe,

Thank you for the speedy reply, we where a little confused, because thier son is from Naturalised Brit parents, and born outside the UK. So he will now be resgistered as a Brit, which is fine.

My brother has cut his ties with his original country Namibia.

[Christophe]

Christophe,

Thank you for the speedy reply, we where a little confused, because thier son is from Naturalised Brit parents, and born outside the UK. So he will now be resgistered as a Brit, which is fine.

My brother has cut his ties with his original country Namibia.

Your nephew doesn't need to be registered as British, since he is British already, from birth. The point about getting the British passport is that it's much easier to do that now, while a lot of the necessary papers are to hand, than later in a rush when the family wants to travel. And once he has applied for a British passport, he will be "in the system" as it were.

The family should also be aware that if their son should go on to have children born outside the UK, those children will not be British automatically, since he is British by descent — unless, of course, the mother were herself British otherwise than by descent.

I know nothing about Namibian nationality law, but when you say your brother "has cut his ties" with Namibia, does that mean that he has renounced (or lost in some other way) his Namibian citizenship?

Where was the child's mother from originally? Also Namibia?

[Siggi]

Hi Christophe,
When I say may brother has cut his ties with Namibia it just means he has not informed them of his British nationality.I don't think he's too worried about Namibia one way or another.

In terms of my nephew, so you say he is automatically British, that's good.But he can't pass his nationality on if he has childern.
He will just have to married a EU national in that case!

FYI my sister in law is born South Africa, with daul Germany South African and now British, dont ask me why but that is the facts of her situation.

[Christophe]

Your nephew would pass on his British nationality to a child born in the UK. There are also circumstances in which a child born outside the UK could be registered as a British citizen, but he or she wouldn't be a British citizen automatically in the way that your nephew is. (Of course, this is all looking some years in the future, and laws could be different then anyway, but it something worth being aware of.)

With regard to Namibia, South Africa and Germany, the parents should really contact the relevant consular authorities to find out the situation — although people on these boards who know might be along...

[JAJ]

The child is British by descent, since at least one of the parents is a British citizen otherwise than by descent (in fact, both are). They should apply for a British passport for the child, since this is, if you like, de facto documentation of the fact that the child is a British citizen. (See the passport pages of the British Embassy in Berne.)

Also strongly recommended to get a British consular birth certificate (which doesn't replace a local birth cert but does provide a stand-alone proof of British citizenship).