Moving back with our Australian baby

Hi all,

We recently moved back to the UK with our two kids aged 1 and 4, both of whom were born in Australia, but only the first we went through a UK citizenship application for. In the stress and effort of the move we forgot about the fact our younger never had UK citizenship.

As we should have expected, this led to the uncomfortable experience of being told at UK passport control that she couldn't enter to reside permanently in the UK. After some discussion, she was issued a Leave to Enter visa valid for 6 months, but without recourse to public funds. This is a huge problem, as she's deaf, and most of our research before moving was into the UK therapy programmes available for her, and how quickly we can get her into them.

Looking at the gov.uk website, it seems we would have to pay £1000 for an application to gain her citizenship by descent. I assume this is not fast, particularly at Christmas. For our eldest, we simply applied for her UK passport and her citizenship was confirmed in the process.

So - now that we've made this costly omission, does anyone have any suggestions on how we can get her UK citizenship as quickly as possible so as to get her into both council and NHS healthcare programmes? She's also now just turned one, being born mid-November last year.

Many thanks!

D

You do exactly the same as you did with your elder child. I don't know why you think it would be any different.

Apply for her British passport.

I would presume there's a difference due to one of her being over a year old, or being outside Australia. We didn't pay £1000 last time.

No. Her age makes no difference to her eligibility for British citizenship. Her location makes no difference to her eligibility for British citizenship.

Just apply for her British passport, the same as you did for her elder sibling.

Ok - as she was born to British parents, she appears to be a de facto British citizen. So no need to apply for citizenship by descent, as she simply is one, we just apply for the passport.

I can see the reasoning behind the position we find ourselves in now - although she is a citizen, we can't prove it until we get a passport.

Apparently it would be easier for Border Force if my Italian passport had been current, as she could have entered with me as an EU citizen by descent, identified with her Australian passport.

Just apply for British passport as you have already previously done.

Just apply for British passport as you have already previously done.

Yep, am doing - thanks :-)

When we arrived in the UK with our 2 Australian born children the lady in passport control stamped their passports with the same thing only because they had to put something in it. Both of your children are British by descent and they is no need to apply for anything and it doesn't cost £1000 or indeed anything. Just apply for their UK passport. There really is no need to wirry.

Exactly the same thing happened to us when we moved back to the U.K. with our Aussie born son. The guy at immigration explained that he shouldn't actually be letting us in as we had intention to reside for more than 6 months. We cr@pped ourselves! But he said that he would let us through on the proviso that we applied for a British passport for our son within 6 months of arrival, which we did and got with no issue. Please don't worry, just apply for the passport ASAP.

Thanks - we have our express passport application appointment in London on Monday!

Thanks - we have our express passport application appointment in London on Monday!

That's not really necessary but if it gives you peace of mind it's worth it.

Well, we need to get our daughter into specialist medical appointments asap to continue her care from AU, so it seems the passport is going to be urgently necessary since her UK visa specifies no access to public funds.

Well, we need to get our daughter into specialist medical appointments asap to continue her care from AU, so it seems the passport is going to be urgently necessary since her UK visa specifies no access to public funds.

Ours were the same but one of our sons broke his arm 3 months into us being here and he was treated no questions asked. They won't ask for proof of her citizenship when going for treatment. As I say if it gives you peace of mind that's what is important.

That's A&E, but I understand that for GP and specialist appointments they'll expect to find her in a database of eligible patients, and she won't be there. For example, she has no UK birth certificate, no NI number, and no GP. To register with the GP I understand they need ID for adults and Birth Certificates for kids.

That's A&E, but I understand that for GP and specialist appointments they'll expect to find her in a database of eligible patients, and she won't be there. For example, she has no UK birth certificate, no NI number, and no GP. To register with the GP I understand they need ID for adults and Birth Certificates for kids.

We didn't need anything like that when we registered our kids with the GP, it was just a matter filling out a form. We were in the system already of course as we had lived in the country before. It was a very simple procedure. We only got our boys passports a few months ago because they went on a school trip.

My point is don't worry, it will be fine. The problem is you hear all these horror stories about all the hoops you have to jump through, the reality is much easier.

We didn't need anything like that when we registered our kids with the GP, it was just a matter filling out a form. We were in the system already of course as we had lived in the country before. It was a very simple procedure. We only got our boys passports a few months ago because they went on a school trip.

Yeah, but as you say, they've lived there before so they're in the system. She's not :-)

As it turns out, we don't have enough proof of address yet until our first bills come through, so we're waiting for that to register. The passport application is in process and we should have it afterwards. I might try registering without it first to see if they ask.

Yeah, but as you say, they've lived there before so they're in the system. She's not :-)

 

As it turns out, we don't have enough proof of address yet until our first bills come through, so we're waiting for that to register. The passport application is in process and we should have it afterwards. I might try registering without it first to see if they ask.

No, we were in the system, they had never lived here and weren't in the system.

Just to close this off: I did try registering at our local GP without the passport. They accepted my passport and the girls' (Australian) birth certificates, plus utility bill, without noting Ellie was not technically British.

That is to say she IS technically British - their mum is, which means they are by default - but since Mum wasn't there and I didn't present her ID, they couldn't know that.

Cheers Bristolman, all

Glad its all sorted

Your local GP isn't like border control or immigration Some practices may be more strict than others but generally you should be able to register with a GP without too much drama. Everyone should get an NHS number then iirc. It used to be cards were sent out with the number and details of each person newly registered but it may have changed in recent years.

Being registered with a GP means you will be able to access other areas of the NHS as and when required. However, you may come across someone who likes to dot all the i's and cross all their t's if you know what I mean. Also depending on your postcode, what you can access and when may vary. There are quite noticeable discrepancies between trusts and areas and the old postcode lottery can prove very real. A couple of times I elected to pay private rather than have the wait for minor things to be sorted. So I was seen within a week-10 days and on my way rather than waiting 6 months plus for the first available NHS treatment to come round.

Just to close this off: I did try registering at our local GP without the passport. They accepted my passport and the girls' (Australian) birth certificates, plus utility bill, without noting Ellie was not technically British.

 

That is to say she IS technically British - their mum is, which means they are by default - but since Mum wasn't there and I didn't present her ID, they couldn't know that.

 

Cheers Bristolman, all

No problem at all. Glad it all worked out. We didn't have to show any of that stuff but as with everything all these places are different.