First British Passport Application

[canine]

UK passport service says that you can apply for a passport through them if you are "living/residing" in the UK.

For argument's sake, assuming that an individual is visiting uk and able to prove their citizenship by being born to a British parent, can they apply for their British passport in UK while they are on a visitor's visa ?

Or is it the case that any limited leave to remain will not be considered as "living or residing" ?

I actually sent an email to uk passport service, asking them what is their definition of residing, they replied by saying "residing as in living" ....but that does not really clarify to me whether a visitor fits into this as well or not.

Anyone able to shed some light on this matter ?

regards,
Canine

[bbdivo]

Well in order to prove citizenship you need a naturalisation certificate or a birth certificate showing you were born in the UK.

If you can prove you eligibility to British Citizenship by being born to a British parent then you need to apply seperately to IND for your British Citizenship, after which they will issue you a certificate if you are eligible. Then you'll be able to apply for a passport!

[canine]

bbdivo,

thanks for the response, but i disagree. Firstly, you dont have to be born in UK to be automatically British at birth.

Secondly, the following documents should represent suffcients proof of citizenship for someone who might have been born abroad but automatically acquired british citizenship through descent from a parent who was registered or naturalised in UK, prior to the applicant's birth :

Applicant's foreign birth certificate
parent's marriage certificate and naturalisation/registration certificate.

That should be sufficent evidence of nationality, so i dont think you have to apply for a certificate that represents evidence of nationality.

question still is ...that can someone do all this procedure up to applying for a passport if they are currently on a visitor visa in UK, something that is very do-able if you are potentially a dual citizen.

regards,
Raf

[ppron747]

You're absolutely correct to disagree with bbdivo - not always, but certainly on this particular occasion.

I think it is fair to say that UKPS wouldn't look too kindly upon a first-time passport application from someone who wasn't ordinarily resident in UK. I'm aware of a few cases where people have been knocked back and told to apply in their country of birth, or the country they're ordinarily resident in - and in a couple of these cases, the applicant wasn't from a country whose citizens need visas to visit UK.

The first question they'd ask themselves is why on earth did this alleged British citizen go to the trouble and added expense of applying for a visa to visit a place where they have the right of abode, and are therefore not in need of a visa for...

The second question would be why on earth did the relevant visa office issue a visa to a person to whom a visa should not be issued, if they genuinely are a British citizen. It simply is not appropriate to impose conditions on someone who has the right of abode.

I wouldn't try it.

[canine]

ppron747,

thanks for that. From you, i now have the answer that i fully agree with and i think i will stick to your advice i.e i would not try it.

many thanks,

Raf