Registration as a British citizen of a child born to a British parent outside the UK
The client is our regular customer whom we have been assisting in his immigration matters for many years. He applied for his first Student visa, then a work visa and eventually got his settlement. A few years ago, he received his first British Passport and later got married. In September 2022 they gave birth to their first baby outside the UK. He informed us that he wishes to instruct us with the registration of his child as a British national.
We prepared all the required evidence and application that the client wished to be submitted physically to the Passport Office in London. Our client travelled to the UK for a couple of days to hand in the application. We have been later approached by the Passport Office staff who required us to submit the paper form of a passport application again due to the fact that the child was born outside the UK. They sent us the form for overseas British Passport applications by post. Our client had to travel to the UK again to sign it and post it back to the Passport Office.
Everything was submitted on time, however very close to the child’s and his parent’s immigration status expiration date abroad we have been informed that the Passport Office is unable to consider his application on time and they will need a couple of months. Unfortunately, we haven’t been provided with a more definite timeframe for the decision to be made. We have contacted our client and advised them to make an official request for the authorities to extend their stay in the country where they were residing at that time. The authorities approved their extension of the application only for a week. We have sent an official complaint to the Passport Office and requested that the minor’s (2-month-old baby) Passport is considered immediately. We did not receive any response from the Passport office after chasing them on a daily basis, however fortunately for our client and us, after a few weeks’ time, the Passport office sent the child’s British Passport to their country of residence and the family was able to successfully return to the UK.
