Am I a British citizen???

[plumeplume]

Hello!

I am trying to find out if I am a British citizen or not.

I was born in Lewisham, London on 06/05/1995. My father, born in Wembley, London is a British citizen and my mother, born in France is a French citizen. Both are registered as my parents on my English birth certificate. My parents were not married at the moment of my birth and are still not married. They were settled in London at the moment of my birth and we lived there until I was 9, when we moved to France.
I would now like to know if I am indeed a British citizen. I saw on the GOV.UK website that there was a file to register as a British citizen for people born from an English unmarried father, but it had to be done before I was 18. However I am now 21 and I was unaware that there might be an issue with my British citizenship, having never asked for a passport of my own.
So I would like to know if I am really a British citizen, and if not, what is the procedure to follow, to register as a British citizen and to apply for a British passport.

Thank you very much for your help!

[CR001]

If your parents have never married, then you can apply to register as British using form UKF, links below. Costs £80.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... e-2015.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 016_v2.pdf

Once registration is done, you can then apply for a British passport.

[secret.simon]

If your French mother had applied for and got ILR in her passport before your birth in 1995, you would be a British citizen by birth. Get your mother to check her old passports.

Did you live for the first ten years of your life in the UK, with absences of no more than 90 days a year? As an EEA citizen, your absences would be evidenced with proof such as school reports and GP letters, etc. If you can prove that you were here till within 90 days of your 10 years (and with no other absences in your tenth year), you would be entitled to lifelong registration as a British citizen.

If so, you can register as a British citizen using Form T.

[CR001]

IDid you live for the first ten years of your life in the UK, with absences of no more than 90 days a year?

If so, you can register as a British citizen using Form T.

OP said :

we lived there until I was 9, when we moved to France.

[Obie]

I don't think Form T is the best option. It is very expensive and may be unnecessary.

Was your mum exercising treaty rights in the UK in 1995 when you were born, if she was, then you may be a British.

If she was not, then CR001''s advise is the better of the 2.

[vinny]

I don't think Form T is the best option. It is very expensive and may be unnecessary.

It will also fail.

[Obie]

You are right Vinny. It was an oversight on my part. I did not realise the bit where he said he went back to France at the age of 9. That closes the door to section 1 (4) application as you correctly observed.

I did not realise CR001''s response either.

[rooibos]

I don't think Form T is the best option. It is very expensive and may be unnecessary.

Was your mum exercising treaty rights in the UK in 1995 when you were born, if she was, then you may be a British.

If she was not, then CR001''s advise is the better of the 2.

The notion of exercising treaty rights didn't exist in 1995.

[Obie]

Well we had the Treaty of ROme then, when the UK Joined the EC.

We also had regulation 1612/68 , which was intended to give effect to the right of Free Movement of worker, we had directive for Self Employed and non-economically active people.

We also had the 1972 treaty of Accession, which allowed UK to join the EC.

Therefore Treaty rights has always been in existence from the day UK joined the EU.

So i am unsure of what you mean.

[secret.simon]

The notion of exercising treaty rights didn't exist in 1995.

What we call treaty rights-working, job-seeking, studying or being a self-sufficient person-existed even before 2004.

The major change that occurred in 2004 was the introduction of automatic acquisition of Permanent Residence under EU law.

[Obie]

Article 4 of Directive 73/148 did provide for the right of Permanent Residence for Self-Employed prior to the 30-04-2006.

However after April 2006 it became available in the general sense.