British Citizenship eligibility for child born overseas

[arts99]

Hi,

I have been trying to find suitable information but couldn’t find that would help in guiding if the person with the following circumstances is eligible for British Citizenship and if so what application he needs to make to gain/prove British nationality.

Age: Over 40 years (Born before 1983)
Place of birth: Pakistan
Current nationality: Pakistani

He lived in UK on a student visa recently and has a daughter who was born in UK, currently he is outside UK.

Father: Born in Pakistan and gained British nationality in the early 60s and was married to the mother (Pakistani) at the time of his birth. Father is now deceased.

The person unfortunately does not have his father passport however he does have a letter dated late 90s from Immigration and Nationality directorate issued to his father confirming father registration but on that letter the date of his registration issue is stated of early 70s. The person thinks the date is mentioned incorrectly or could it be the case that registration certificate was requested by him first in the 70s? The father had returned to Pakistan in late 60s and did not return.

Any help and guidance will be highly appreciated.

Thank you

[secret.simon]

Before 1983, Commonwealth citizens registered as British citizens and people of other nationalities naturalised. Also, at that time, the requirements for Commonwealth citizens were not as onerous as they are now. So, there is a chance that the father may have registered as a British citizen in the 1960s. Contact the National Archives to obtain a copy of the registration certificate.

If the father was registered as a British citizen and the son was born after the date of the registration certificate, he is a British citizen by descent and can apply directly for a British passport.

However, because he himself was born abroad, he can not pass his British citizenship to his children. If he wishes them to get British citizenship, he would have to move with his children and wife to the UK (the fees for that will be quite high), stay here for at least three years and then any children under the age of 18 at that time could be registered as a British citizen. Any children over 18 would have to naturalise in the normal way and there is no advantage to them of having a British grandfather.