I am British and want my little girl to be British too. Please help?

Question

I am a British Citizen who lives in the Philippines and who is married to a Philippines citizen.
We have a daughter aged 2 who was born in the Philippines.
I want my daughter to be a British citizenship. I understand that she will or already has automatically acquired it BY DESCENT

Please how do I do it ?  Do I have to regis

From reading the large number of literature on line issued by the British Government, I understand that a child born to a British Citizen is automatically a British Citizen BY DESCENT.
My question is... do you know if my daughter needs to be registered as a British Citizen or is she automatically British (by Descent) with no need for form filling and registration ?
She is a child of a British Citizen, me the father. I believe she will be a British by Descent but do we have to fill any form and register her, pay any fee or is she automatically a British Citizen by Descent with no need to fill in forms and register ?
How would I, or my daughter, in future prove that she is a British Citizen  ?  Do I ask Immigration for such a document?
 
I am not interested at this stage in applying for a British passport for her but I would like some sort of official document to prove when necessary that she is British.
Please help with all the information you can give me.   Please do no give me LINKS because I visited those already and I am still confused.

Sorry to be so confusing and thank you so much for your help.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Agree with PC. It is just as simple to apply for her British passport, and that will obviously be the evidence of her citizenship, which she should be able to use as evidence even when it has expired in the future. Please only use .gov.uk websites for any applications:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-renew-passport

https://www.gov.uk/check-british-citizen

Your understanding that she is a British citizen "by descent" is correct, assuming that she was born to you after your naturalisation. She will most likely also be entitled to Portuguese citizenship, (potentially useful post-Brexit), and of course Philipino. The UK has no problems about dual or multiple citizenship, but some other countries do, so you would be best advised to check out the situation with the Portuguese embassy and the Philipine authorities.

sunshine_mel · Answer

Were you or her father a British citizen born in the UK?

If you're a citizen by descent, for example, she doesn't get citizenship from you.

W.T. Door · Answer

Edit: To pass UK citizenship to your children you have to be a UK citizen "other than by descent". If you naturalized then it was "other than by descent", so you CAN pass UK citizenship to your daughter. Just apply for a UK passport for her. Another answer is correct that since your daughter will have received UK citizenship "by descent" the only ways for > her children < to receive UK citizenship are 1. The father is a UK citizen "other than by descent" or 2. Her children are born in the UK.

I fail to understand why the UK Immigration website was not clear to you:

https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth/y/philippines/...

However, once you have the child's Philippines birth certificate then you and the mother take the child to the nearest UK Consulate and apply for a UK passport for the child. I know you said you don't want to apply for the passport but you are being a fool if you don't. A UK passport is both proof of identity and proof of citizenship for the child. Having the passport > before < sending the documents to the UK to register her birth will both speed the registration process and eliminate any questions about the legitimacy of her claim to UK citizenship.

ibu guru · Answer

You must register birth to UK citizen while abroad at the nearest British consulate, and then get baby a UK passport. You should have done it as soon as baby was born. You need baby's long-form birth certificate (which includes citizenship of both parents), hospital records, proof of your UK citizenship & residency, marriage certificate, baby's passport photos. If you were not married at the time of the birth, you must also prove paternity (DNA tests all around). While child may have a claim to citizenship, you still have to prove it to protect your child's rights!

If you obtained UK citizenship by descent, you cannot pass on citizenship to your child. If your child obtains UK citizenship by descent, your daughter cannot pass on her citizenship to her children in future.

thinkingtime · Answer

Register her at the British Consulate.

Maxi · Answer

You make an application for a British passport for her and provide all the documents they request

Politically Correct · Answer

If you naturalised as a British citizen, your daughter is a British citizen by descent.  That means that she will not be able to pass on her citizenship to her own children unless they are UK born.  It has nothing to do with her entitlement to British citizenship.

So how to process her application.  You can register her as a British citizen at the British embassy in Manilla but there is no need to do this.  It will cost you just as much money as a passport.  Best to just apply for her first passport.

Whether you register her or apply for a passport, they will tell you what you need.  When I did it, they only needed my Great British passport, my child's birth certificate and the counter signed photos.  If the last names are different, you will also need your marriage certificate.  If that is not sufficient, they will let you know.

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I am British and want my little girl to be British too. Please help?

7 Answers