Uk Birth Registration By Unmarried British Father

[eggnog]

Hi all,

My situation is that I have 2 children born in Thailand to a Thai mother to whom I am not married. The children where born prior to the 2006 cut off date for unmarried British fathers automatically passing on their British nationality. I am British otherwise than by descent. I am named on the childrens Thai birth certificate as the father. I already have the long form version of my own birth certificate. I realize I have 2 options to register the births and subsequently get them UK passports and bring them to the UK:

1) Marry their mother and therefore legitemize their birth. Then pay the B 9815 fee in Bangkok each to register them, plus the B 4940 each for childs passports (Total cost B 29510 <plus whatever is costs to get wed>).

2) Stay unmarried and apply at the British embassy to have their births registered at the discretion of the Home Office (which should be straightforward as I can provide evidence I am the father etc) at a cost of £400.00 each plus B 3835 consular handling fee each and wait 4 months for a reply (Total cost B 59670).

I have been reading posts on this forum regarding the need to register the birth of a child, over just appying for a passport based on providing the fathers long form birth certificate without getting the child a birth certificate. Should I assume those who have gone down this path have children born after 01/07/2006? Do I have that option given my situation? I know I could just go ahead and hand in an application form, but would it likely be successful? Are there any other options open to me other than those mentioned above? My main aim is to get them UK passports so they can travel to the UK, based on what I have read on this forum I am not too bothered about birth certificates if passports can be obtained by bypassing that stage. Thanks very much in advance.

[the scouser]

If you choose your option 1, you are under no obligation to register your children's births and may simply apply for passports for them. However, you would need to marry the mother and it is likely that prior to the passports being issued, you will need to complete a domicile questionnaire.

If you choose your option 2, the fee for the registration of the children as British citizens is a total of £400.00, not £400.00 each, plus the embassy forwarding fee. I would suggest that providing you are named on the Thai birth certificates as the father, it would be perverse of the UKBA to not register them as British citzens as a child born on or after 1 July 2006 in similar circumstances automatically acquires British citizenship. Your children would be issued with certificates describing them as British citizens and these may then be used for the purposes of obtaining passports.

The one potential drawback is that British nationality law assumes a woman's husband to be the father of any children she bears, whether or not this is the biological reality. Therefore if your children's mother was otherwise married and not divorced at the time of their birth, her husband at that time will, in law, be seen to be their father.

Scouse.

[eggnog]

Thanks for the reply. Will probably go with option 2 seeing as the registration fees will only be half that which I expected. No problems with any previous marraiges etc. Thanks again.