sassage100

Hi Alijane Yes its confusing :-) So I am pretty certain it says on form MN1, thT ny child born abroad ie Australia to a british born citizen is automatically a british citizen by descent, you can apply under section 3 (5) for them to be a british citizen other than by descent after living in the uk for 3 years. What I am not sure now is if I go ahead and get his british passport, is that like sealing in stone as it were his citizenship by descent or can I still apply in three years from the uk for him to be a citizen other than by descent. I will see what I can find out about this online unless anyone who reads this has done this successfully after 3 years in the uk? Thanks Alijane for your help.

Thanks for that. So actually I am getting mixed up then, I don't need to apply for actual citizenship for him to get him a passport, I can just provide my own birth certificate looking into this, and then I can look at applying for citizenship otherwise than by descent specifically once we have been in the uk 3 years. Thanks for your help. Thats really useful :-)

Hi I wonder if anyone has any experience of the above. I am a british citizen and my husband is australian but has uk citizenship and passport also. Our son was born in australia in June 2014. We are looking to move back to the uk in march, my son has only an australian passport and I know I can apply for british citizenship and therefore british passport before we go, but according to form MN1, section 3, if we do this now he will be a british citizen by descent and therefore any children he has abroad in the future will not automatically be british citizens. According to section 3 (5) if we live in the uk for 3 years with him before applying for british citizenship and a passport, then he will be made british citizen otherwise than by descent, therefore any children he has will automatically get british citizenship. I know this is a long way off, but if we apply for the passport now before we leave then it is fixed and you cannot change this over for them once in the uk. My question is therefore does anyone have experience of taking their child to the uk in this situation and applying after 3 years for their passport, if so what visa did you take your child to the uk on and did you have any issues? Sorry I have checked websites and tried to call the canberra helpline so far without much success. I believe I may need to get him a settle in the uk visa for a child under 18 but as I said just looking to see if anyone has done this is or in this situation. Thanks