ppron747 wrote:
Future children born outside UK should be eligible to be registered as British citizens under section 3(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 - have a look at
Section B of Guide MN1, on
this page of the IND website.
The requirements are that
- - the child must have a parent who is a British citizen by descent;
- - the BC parent must have lived in the UK for at least a three year period at any time before the child's birth, and
- - the BC parent must have a parent who is a BC "otherwise than by descent" (eg, born in UK)
The application would need to be made through the British High Commission before the child's first birthday.
Three points to add to what Paul has posted:
- the three year period has to be continuous (allowing for short gaps, no more than 270 days in total)
- for children born since 21 May 2002, parental residence in any of the current British Overseas Territories (other than the Sovereign Base Areas) counts. The Isle of Man and Channel Islands are considered part of the UK regardless of when child was born.
- many people miss the deadline of the first birthday
It might be worth bearing in mind that this would result in the child's becoming a British citizen by descent, and he/she would not be able to transmit British citizenship to a further generation born outside UK. If you have a child born child in Australia and you're thinking of returning to UK with the family to live, it would be worht considering delaying the child's registration until you return here, because registration under Section C in the Guide would result in the child's being a British citizen "otherwise than by descent".
Registration under Section C (section 3(5) of the Act) requires three years residence in the United Kingdom (or a "qualifying territory" if child was born on or afer 21.05.2002). And to come to the UK, the child would need a UK settlement visa on his or her Australian passport.
A further point to note, is that if the family plan to do this, but subseqently change their minds and stay in Australia, then they cannot normally make a "late" application for section 3(2) registration. Unless the change in circumstances was caused for specific reasons.
One further option in this case, would be for the original poster & her husband to delay plans to return to Australia for a while and instead get the mother UK Indefinite Leave to Remain and subsequently British citizenship. As a naturalised British citizen the mother would be British "otherwise than by descent" and hence any Australia born children would be
automatically British citizens (by descent), even if the father was British by descent.
The original poster in this case is on a Working Holiday Visa, but has a British husband - it's not clear why someone would want this status rather than that of a spouse visa.
