Illigitimate Kids Get Passport,

[gregchambers]

Hi

I have finished with my Thai girlfriend for about six years and intend to get a Brit passport for my offspirng this year (he is sixteen), we were never married. I understand the process for getting him a passport but wonder if one of the consequences were I to take him to live in the UK would be whether his mother would be able to get a visa in the future to visit him (she has restaurant contacts and actually wants to go work there).

I managed to extract two visitor visas for here before, seven and eight years ago, but for some reason, despite the kid, they were totally reluctant to give her these visas, ending up with a huge argument the second time and finally a phone interview with the department boss. She then stayed twice as long as we asked for, four months, though did not work. Her sister (married to a Brit) subsequently failed to get her a visa after we went our separate ways. For once, I actually applauded the intransigence of British immigration!

In my highly biased opinion, she is the kinda ex-bargirl, marinated in twenty years of self-delusion and madness, who I would run a four minute mile from these days - and I do not want her turning up on my doorstep waving a newly minted visa or godforbid a British passport!

So if anyone can clarify the situation I will be most grateful.

[Boo]

If she can meet the requirements for a tourist visa then there is nothing that could prevent her being granted one but unlilely unless she has money enough to support herself & property. land, bsuiness in los to provide her with a good reason to return, she will not be entitled to a british passport as he is no longer married to a british citizen (& then would still need live for 2 years on residency visa in the Uk with her husband before applying for ILR) & unless she was to marry another brit & move to the UK on a residency visa to work it is highly unlikely she would get a working visa as they have just cracked down on migrant workers.

Just to clarify, has your son ever had a UK passport & was you ever registered as his father on the birth certificate? as prior to a couple of years ago it was not so easy to pass on citizenship & therefore get a passport for children born overseas to british fathers out of wedlock. Scouse will probbaly be able to get more information on this but just wondered if you were aware that it isn't that straightforward if he has never had a UK passport before.

[gregchambers]

Never married to her but the law now says kids up to 18 can get Brit passport at discretion of UK govn. No, the kid has not had a Brit passport before.

The point I was trying to make, if the kid is living in the UK with a British passport does not the (unmarried) Thai mum have some rights re visits and even getting a Brit passport for herself? Money, land, etc will not be a problem for her as her sister is divorced from a Brit and came back with lots of loot some of which she passed on to her, although I also bought some land and house sixteen years ago when such things could be had for loose change. But for some reason the Brit embassy does not want to give her a visa, only under extreme effort with myself as support. But with a kid in the UK with a Brit passport surely some human rights issue might help her then get one?

[Boo]

AFAIK she will have no way to claim breach of human rights to getting a visit visa but if she can meet the critera for a tourist visa then she will be able to get one, if the embassy are reluctant then it will because they have some doubt on her intent to return imo.

As for her getting a passport, well it is hard enough, with a lot of hoops for our spouses who live, work & pay taxes in the Uk to get one & the govt recently made it even harder so she will have no chance as she has never lived there & is not married to a British citizen.

From the human rights angle, here is an example of the home offices sympathies;

There was a case recently of a young married UK man & thai women with a 2 year old child (who had a brit passport but not mum), the dad sadly died at 33 years of age & the wife, who was already in possesion of a Uk tourist visa received shortly before her husband died, was brought to the UK with the child by the dead guys parents, everyone wanted the mum & baby to stay in the Uk to be taken care of & also as it was the plan for the young family to relocate anyway but she was refused leave to remain & has been told to return to Thailand So I doubt very much if Home office would give a crap about the human rights of the thai mother of a 16 year old dual national as

[the scouser]

The mother would only have rights to access if granted a contact order etc. However, as Boo wrote, if the mother otherwise qualifies for a visa in her own right in another capacity, then there's little you can do to stop her travelling to the UK.

Your son will have to apply for registration as a British citizen. This application is made through the embassy but is ultimately decided by the Home Office in the UK. The cost is approximately £450.00. Once he has his registration certificate he can then apply for a British passport. The mother will need to sign the application form.

Scouse.

[gregchambers]

Thanks for the clarification, makes me feel much more at ease!

What would happen later if he was say twenty and employed, housed independently, with a Brit passport and in the UK and wanted to bring his mother over then?

[the scouser]

He'd be free to act as a sponsor, but there's no God-given right for his mother to get a visa just because he's a British citizen and she would still have to meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules as they then stand.

Scouse.