Hi ,

i am wandering if someone may know the answer to this question .

my Son Oliver was born about 7 weeks ago and i wish to register him as a British Citizen and obtain a British Passport for him .

the British Embassy website says - - - - - For children born on or after 1 July 2006, it is no longer a requirement for the parents of the child to be legally married..Evidence that any previous marriages of the parents have been dissolved - divorce or death certificate as appropriate;.

having been separated from my wife for 2 years and in the divorce courts for 18months , a verdict was given about 1 month ago . my wife has appealed the decision given by the judge / court because she wants MORE !! ( she was awarded about 10% of her claim ! )

i have been told it may take another 12-18months for her appeal to reach settlement , and that the Thai Law says , she may appeal 3 times if she wants .

am i reading the information on the British Website , correctly or is it open to interpretation .. meaning , Evidence that any previous marriages of the parents have been dissolved - divorce or death certificate as appropriate;. is it saying that if i and my partner are now married , we must show that if we were married before , a divorce paper , and that this statement is therefore , irrelevant to us becuase we are not married ?... difficult to explain what i,m trying to say ..

basically , i dont want to wait what could be 4.5 years to obtain a divorce paper in order to register my son as a British Citizen , and make available to him all the priviledges being a Loyal Subject to Her Majesty , my Queen allows him.

any helpful advice is most welcome indeed

Thanks

Hi Bannerman

I am in a similar boat to you

As I understand it you must be divorced before you can legally pass on your British nationalitiy to your son. As you have been married you will have to produce the absolute divorce papers to the embassy.

I suppose it is possible to tell the embassy that you are single, but you risk having your sons citizenship revoked at a later date should you be found out.

If it is still possible why dont you consider getting divorced in UK, where divorce and financial settlement are entirely seperate issues. The divorce comes first so you could register your son while you sort out the money at your leisure.

I am also in a similar situation, although I am from Australia.

I haven't started the divorce proceedings yet, however our baby girl is due in February and I can't see the divorce being settled before then!

The laws can be so confusing! But from what I have seen and heard you should still be able to legitimize your baby without having the divorce papers.

I may be wrong , like I said everything is confusing!

Good luck with everything. I hope things work out peacefully for you, your partner and your lovely son Oliver!

Any photos?

UPDATE -

i spoke to someone in the British Embassy in Bangkok and was told , not having my divorce papers WAS NOT a problem .. as long as i could provide some documentry evidence my divorce was in progress .. whether it be the initial issuance of court proceeding papers , or any paper from the court relating to my divorce .

it seemed the British Embassy is more concerned about Olivers mother not being married to someone else rather than the person who wishes to transfer citizenship .

i would imagine many people are in the same position as myself and to that end i think the Embassy website should be updated to show more clarifaction on exactly what is acceptable .