Returning UK Expat: Can my child enter UK on AU passports or do I need to apply for a British child passport before returning?

[toystory]

Hi, 

My wife and I are British expats living in Sydney Australia. We are having a baby next year, after which we plan to return to the UK. The child will automatically be a UK citizen by descent.

I'm trying to work out if I should...

• Apply for a UK passport for my child before travelling back, and enter the UK with all 3 of us on British passports 
• Apply for an AU passport (which is faster) and then enter the UK with the child on an AU passport, and my wife and I using our British passports

My thinking is that it is faster and easier to get an AU passport for my child therefore we can move home sooner after the birth. Google however leads me to believe that entering the UK with an AU child passport may create complications at border patrol. It also may prevent the child from being able to access the NHS healthcare system.

 Does anyone have experience of this / advice that they can share?

Thank you in advance.

[InnerVoice]

Just my opinion, but if you have no intention of returning to Australia in the foreseeable future then applying for a UK passport for your baby would seem the most logical thing to do. I would also do whatever you need to do before you leave to facilitate any future application for Australian citizenship by your family members, so that's still an option in future.

[kmrg]

I applied for both British and Australian passport's for my son when he was born, and they both took a similar length of time to arrive and neither application was difficult.

You need to apply for the Austrian Citizenship certificate first before you can apply for the Australian passport. This was also an easy process. (Unless you are already an Australian Citizen yourself.)

As has already been posted by Inner Voice you will need the UK passport if planning on living in UK. I would however ensure you get the Australian citizenship certificate before leaving Australia even if you don't decide to get the Australian passport. 

Edited September 30, 2023 by kmrg
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[Quoll]

Get them both. It won’t make the process that much longer and it will ensure that your child isn’t on some list as a “tourist” for any length of time. 

[rammygirl]

Are you both Australian citizens?  If not I would seriously consider doing this before leaving. If at all possible your whole family should have the same, both Uk and Aus passports. 
Down the line your child can move back to Australia but without citizenship you may find this difficult.

[toystory]

Thanks for all your replies.

My wife and I are both dual citizens (AU & UK) so the child will automatically have both Australian and British citizenship at birth.
 

I will as you say get a copy of their Australian citizenship certificate. 

Ultimately I will get the child a British passport, the question is simply if we do it before we return, or after in order that we can return sooner.

My fear is that the UK passport will take a long time. We already have one child and when I applied for their British passport back in 2021 it took 4 months which is a lot longer than advertised / a lot longer than it takes to get an AU passport.

If anyone has recently applied for a British child passport from overseas can you tell me how long the application took?

Also, if anyone has brought their child into the UK on a foreign passport, then applied for a British passport after you’ve returned I’d love to hear your experience.

 

Thank you!

 

[Quoll]

5 hours ago, toystory said:

Thanks for all your replies.

My wife and I are both dual citizens (AU & UK) so the child will automatically have both Australian and British citizenship at birth.
 

I will as you say get a copy of their Australian citizenship certificate. 

Ultimately I will get the child a British passport, the question is simply if we do it before we return, or after in order that we can return sooner.

My fear is that the UK passport will take a long time. We already have one child and when I applied for their British passport back in 2021 it took 4 months which is a lot longer than advertised / a lot longer than it takes to get an AU passport.

If anyone has recently applied for a British child passport from overseas can you tell me how long the application took?

Also, if anyone has brought their child into the UK on a foreign passport, then applied for a British passport after you’ve returned I’d love to hear your experience.

 

Thank you!

 

2021 was a bit of an unusual time, they are generally quite quick

[Nemesis]

20 hours ago, toystory said:

Thanks for all your replies.

My wife and I are both dual citizens (AU & UK) so the child will automatically have both Australian and British citizenship at birth.
 

I will as you say get a copy of their Australian citizenship certificate. 

Ultimately I will get the child a British passport, the question is simply if we do it before we return, or after in order that we can return sooner.

My fear is that the UK passport will take a long time. We already have one child and when I applied for their British passport back in 2021 it took 4 months which is a lot longer than advertised / a lot longer than it takes to get an AU passport.

If anyone has recently applied for a British child passport from overseas can you tell me how long the application took?

Also, if anyone has brought their child into the UK on a foreign passport, then applied for a British passport after you’ve returned I’d love to hear your experience.

 

Thank you!

 

Applications in 2021 were affected by COVID staffing issues and mail delays. I've seen people recently reporting UK passports received back in Oz in a couple of weeks. One I saw somewhere today got their UK and Australian ones back on the same day, having applied for both at the same time, under 3 weeks.

[toystory]

Thanks for sharing your experience anémiais. That’s reassuring.