seanlawlor wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:53 am
Oh really? I've been so focussed on getting her Irish citizenship and I thought it would be difficult as I have never had a British passport. I will look into that now and see which documents are required. Thank you.
You can ask for more specific details in the UK immigration section of these forums, but basically you having or not having a passport is irrelevant. Plenty of British citizens do not get their first passport until they are adults, but that doesn't mean they weren't British citizens prior to acquiring their first passport.
British citizenship can be passed one generation abroad. That is to say, there is "British citizenship otherwise than by descent" and "British citizenship by descent". While there are some exceptions, the general rule is that British citizens by descent cannot pass on their British citizenship to their children born outside the UK; only a British citizen otherwise than by descent (e.g. British citizen through naturalization or a British citizen through birth in the UK) can pass on British citizenship to their children born outside the UK.
It
seems that you are a British citizen otherwise than by descent, which means that your child born outside the UK is automatically a British citizen by descent. This status would be automatic; you would apply directly for the UK passport for your daughter since there is no citizenship registration (she would already be a citizen).
But before we go that route, we should actually confirm that you are a UK citizen. Again it
seems like you are, but we should check. There are two sets of rules based on birth in the UK depending on year of birth.
* People born in the UK prior to January 1st, 1983 automatically acquired British citizenship at birth irrespective of their parents immigration status. If you fit into that situation, all you would need to do is provide your British birth certificate (to prove your British citizenship otherwise than by descent) and then your daughter's Vietnamese birth certificate (to prove she is your child and thus a British citizen by descent).
* People born in the UK after January 1st, 1983 automatically acquired British citizenship at birth if at least one of their parents was a UK citizen or had "settled" status at the time of their birth. The concept of "settled" status is complicated, but all that matters to you is that Irish citizens who live in the UK
automatically have settled status courtesy of the provisions of the Common Travel Area arrangements. Thus, to prove your British citizenship otherwise than by descent you would still need to provide your British birth certificate, but also proof that one of your parents was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth and lived in the UK. Then you would provide your daughter's Vietnamese birth certificate to prove her British citizenship by descent.
I strongly recommend you reach out to the British embassy in Vietnam as they will be able to assist you with specific documentation.
Sorry for the off-topic tangent but hope that helped. Good luck!
