CaptainC Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 My wife and I are discussing having a child, and as our aim is to become Australian residents within the next year, we have a question. I'm a British citizen applying for Australian PR My wife is a NZ citizen and she will be living in Australia as a TR on a SCV (subclass 444) If she was to give birth in Australia whilst we are residents as above: Will the child be a citizen of UK, NZ, & Australia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Check and see if any of the countries have any rules on holding more than two citizenships. I don't think the UK does, nor Aus but NZ might. TBH I don't know I'd worry about holding 3. NZ and Aus, I'd pick one of those two (probably Aus) and have the UK one also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernbird Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 It depends on the individual countries. My 12 year old has UK, Australia and Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) My understanding based on your scenario is that the child born in Australia would automatically be a British Citizen (by descent) and an Australian Citizen (by birth). No action required on your part as both these would be conferred automatically. In addition the child would be eligible for NZ citizenship by descent assuming his mother is NZ born. To claim this you would need to register his birth with NZ authorities. Edited August 27, 2014 by parleycross Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurls Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Slightly different circumstance but my children have triple citizenship. They were born in NZ when we lived there (I was on PR and my husband an Australian citizen) and they have NZ birth certificates and passports. They also are Australian by descent (through my husband) and British by descent (through me) which we applied for shortly after moving to Australia. We will probably maintain the British and Australian passports but not the NZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainC Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 That's good info, thanks to all who contributed. My wife is NZ born and a NZ citizen, and I'm pretty sure that she will want him/her to have NZ citizenship as well. I'm sure that all of the countries allow dual citizenship but I can't find anything about holding more than two. This obviously isn't really going to be a great issue at this precise moment but when the child is older they may want to go to the UK or NZ and I suppose that it will make it easier as they shouldn't require any visas. This all being said, it is already complicated enough watching Rugby...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 It depends a lot of the countries involved. Some don't even allow dual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Isn't living in NZ pretty simple for an Aus citizen. My hubby lived and worked over there for a number of years with no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith and Linda Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 It depends on the individual countries. My 12 year old has UK, Australia and Canada. Yep, same with my sister-in-law, niece and nephew. My niece (Australian born and bred) is off to work in Canada next month for two years, easy as with Canadian pass port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainC Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Isn't living in NZ pretty simple for an Aus citizen. My hubby lived and worked over there for a number of years with no problem. Yes it is I think. There is no real issue with what citizenship our child gets except that my wife was wondering about it. She's a very proud kiwi and if her (our) child had a NZ passport it will make her happy. ....and happy wife = happy life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Captain, You might as well register the child as a NZ citizen. As noted the other 2 are automatic. Register him as a NZ citizen, but there is probably no real need to get him a NZ passport (but you can in the future if needed). Once he has an Australian passport he can easily live and work in NZ anyway as an Australian, so if only going back for holidays Australian passport would be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith and Linda Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Yes it is I think. There is no real issue with what citizenship our child gets except that my wife was wondering about it. She's a very proud kiwi and if her (our) child had a NZ passport it will make her happy. ....and happy wife = happy life I would not let pride get in the way of having possible advantageous options. Get the Kiwi one first and then at least she can say 'Kiwi first and foremost'. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainC Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Captain, You might as well register the child as a NZ citizen. As noted the other 2 are automatic.Register him as a NZ citizen, but there is probably no real need to get him a NZ passport (but you can in the future if needed). Once he has an Australian passport he can easily live and work in NZ anyway as an Australian. Thanks, that seems to be the way to go. I appreciate all the replies and the info from you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainC Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 I would not let pride get in the way of having possible advantageous options. Get the Kiwi one first and then at least she can say 'Kiwi first and foremost'.Cheers Oh yes. I'm sure that my wife will cover the baby in All Blacks merchandise. I won't get a chance to put 'three lions' anywhere near them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oppyddrum Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Like most people have said, it is possible. i even know people with 4. as long as the countries allow multiple citizenship. My son has 3 passports, US, Australia, Nigeria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest littlesarah Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) The only thing about getting multiple passports is the cost! Although I'm proud of being British, I have no intention of paying for Baby Little to have more than one passport unless or until we want to spend longer than 6 months in Europe. And I'm pretty sure he'll identify as a citizen of where he grows up. Once you're in the midst of broken sleep, feeding, endless washing & baby fun, things like nationality don't seem very important, in my experience. And my hubby is proof that we don't get to choose what nationality our kids identify as! Edited August 29, 2014 by littlesarah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Yes it is I think. There is no real issue with what citizenship our child gets except that my wife was wondering about it. She's a very proud kiwi and if her (our) child had a NZ passport it will make her happy. ....and happy wife = happy life I'd go with getting citizenship by descent for NZ but I'd not worry applying for an actual passport as baby will have an Aus one to start with. A UK one would perhaps make more sense in younger years if planning trips to Europe. Cost wise, getting new kid passports every 5 years, gets expensive. I'd go with getting the NZ one at a later date if and when. My husband and kid hold dual citizenship and both keep valid passports for both, but renewing the kid ones is expensive espcially if they don't get much use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thombatt Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 If you look at the definition of dual for UK, NZ and Australia, it means "more than one" , not two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annagilda Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 :-( as a Dutch citizen I'm only allowed the one. If I become an Aus citizen at any point I would have to renounce my Dutch citizenship. Go for as many as you can. :-) x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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