British passport for child born in USA

amother

Ginger

Tue, May 03 2016, 8:07 pm

I'm a british born citizen, british parents etc

I live in usa now and my child was born here, Ive read that she's automatically a british citizen by descent - is this true? Does that mean all I have to do is apply for her UK passport rather than apply for citizenship through the mn1 form?

Raisin

Wed, May 04 2016, 6:16 am

I don't think you need to apply for citizenship. None of my kids were born in the UK and they all have british passports. I just applied for passports for them. You might need to include your passport/birth certificate. However both me and my husband are UK citizens - I'm not sure if it makes a difference if just one parent is...

You can also apply for a british birth certificate from the embassy but I never did this, its completely unnecessary.

Go onto the website and you should be able to figure out the requirements.

Raisin

Wed, May 04 2016, 7:36 am

amother wrote:

You have to do a report of birth abroad at the British embassy. You can apply at the same time for a British passport

Like I said, I never did this. My kids foreign birth certificates were perfectly acceptable when I applied for passports for them. (especially if they are in english, as an american one would be)

littleprincess

Wed, May 04 2016, 8:42 am

If u were born in England ur kids are automatically British citizens.
I had a baby in England but both my husband or I weren't born here and are not citizens yet so my son is not British.

amother

Firebrick

Wed, May 04 2016, 11:12 am

amother wrote:

You have to do a report of birth abroad at the British embassy. You can apply at the same time for a British passport

You do not have to do this. You can but it is not necessary.
I just got a British passport for my 2 year old. I am British, I sent in my birth certificate, my marriage certificate and a copy of my British passport. They also asked for my mothers marriage certificate and birth certificate which was weird and a bit annoying but I got the passport 3 weeks later.

Mrs Bissli

Mon, May 09 2016, 1:19 pm

littleprincess wrote:

If u were born in England ur kids are automatically British citizens.
I had a baby in England but both my husband or I weren't born here and are not citizens yet so my son is not British.

Not strictly correct. Only if the parents are either British citizens or permanent residents (indefinite leave to remain). Otherwise the child needs to be naturalised. I recall there's a separate rule for a child born in the UK from non-UK EU parents.

Anyway irrelevant to OP's question (apologies) which is about a child born abroad from UK parents. Yes, he/she does acquire UK citizenship by descent. No need to register birth abroad (in contrast to babies born to US parents), you can just apply based on local birth registry and your own documentation demonstrating your UK citizenship. If I recall you do the whole thing online rather than apply via Consulate General. For child passport, you need to get photos countersigned, and I think you may need your own birth certificate. Check gov.uk about guidelines on applying for child's first passport. They should list documents needed.