Applying for British passport for son born overseas, grandparents had ILR at time of my birth

[hannahflowernose]

Hello there, I'm wondering if anyone else has faced this situation or could help out. I'm currently in the U.S. applying for my son's British passport. My son was born in the U.S. and I'm a dual UK/US citizen. Dad is US citizen only.

I was born in the UK in 1984 and have a British passport; my parents had ILR at the time of my birth. I thought that I only needed to show my birth certificate/passport to pass my citizenship down to my son as I was born in the U.K. However, the passport office is asking for proof of my parent's ILR at the time of my birth, which was in 1984. We do have my parents' 40 year old passports (luckily!!!) with the stamps, but they are in extremely fragile condition and I am afraid they will not survive the courier trip from the US to the UK. In addition, if they got lost, we would lose the only proof we have right now of my son's citizenship. We did ask if they would accept a notarized copy of the grandparents passport and they said no.

My questions are:
They suggested my son could just enter the UK on his US passport on a tourist visa and then apply from within the UK for a passport. They said we probably won't have to show these requirement from applying from within the UK for some reason. However, he'd be travelling with my husband, who will be entering the UK on a spouse visa. I'd be entering the UK on my British passport at the same time (we are all planning on moving to the UK this June). Is this going to look dodgy to passport control, or somehow get us in trouble at the border?

Is there any other way to get proof of my son's right to British citizenship, other than taking the risk of sending in the grandparents' passports with the ILR stamp?

Thank you so much, I'd really appreciate any help or suggestions anyone can offer!

[vinny]

If HMPO have been issuing you with British passports all these years, then presumably their records should be aware that you are British otherwise than descent. Then ask them for cogent reasons as to why they are taking a different view now?

Moreover, both HMPO and UKVI are Agencies of the Home Office. Ask them what’s stopping HMPO from requesting UKVI to share your parents’ records, with respect to date of grant of ILRs?

I agree that HMPO should not force you to risk losing your irreplaceable parents’ passports, with vital ILR evidence. Especially, if the Home Office have apparently destroyed or lost records of your parents’ ILR evidence themselves?

[hannahflowernose]

Thank you for the reply! I agree that it makes no sense at all, clearly the govt. already knows that I am a UK citizen from birth as I've had a passport my entire life and never been naturalized!

We called back again and this time they didn't say they needed the ILR stamp, just me and my son's birth certificate and passport copies, so I imagine it's the luck of the draw if you get someone who wants to make life difficult for you with extra paperwork or not.

Still curious if there is anyone out there who has brought their kid into the UK on a tourist visa on a foreign passport and then applied for a passport within the UK? We're concerned about how long overseas passport applications are taking right now and wondering if we could do that as a backup option if we don't get his in time. The HMPO staff actually suggested that to us, but I still feel like we could get a lot of questions and problems at the border.

[vinny]

Immigration Officers expect

3

(9) A person seeking to enter the United Kingdom and claiming to have the right of abode there shall prove it by means of—

• (a) a United Kingdom passport describing him as a British citizen,
• (b) a United Kingdom passport describing him as a British subject with the right of abode in the United Kingdom, or
• (c). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• (d). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• (e) a certificate of entitlement.]

If they are not satisfied that child is British, then I suspect they may admit a non-visa National child as a visitor, in the child’s best interests.

Perhaps referring them to Apply for or renew a British passport if you're visiting the UK may also help?