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Confused over child's eligibility for British nationality

A section for posts relating to applications for Naturalisation or Registration as a British Citizen. Naturalisation

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Mckk
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Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:16 pm

Confused over child's eligibility for British nationality

Post by Mckk » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:25 pm

So, I'm about to give birth abroad and I don't know if my daughter will be eligible for British nationality or not.

Reading all the .gov pages is doing my head in because it's not any clearer and my head's about to explode.

So, a bit of background...

I'm a British citizen. I was born in Hong Kong in 87. My parents are both Chinese ethnically and born in Hong Kong. In the early 90s, they applied for British nationality from Hong Kong and were approved. (Hong Kong was still a British colony at this time) I do not know how I got my British nationality - I imagine I got it because I was a minor in their care.

Thanks to this, I don't know if I am a "citizen by descent" or a "citizen otherwise than by descent".

And thanks to that, I don't know if my daughter will be eligible for British nationality or not?

She will be born in the Czech Republic (part of the EU). Her father is Czech and born in the Czech Republic - he has no ties with the UK at all.

Please help :(

secret.simon
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Posts: 11592
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:29 pm

Re: Confused over child's eligibility for British nationalit

Post by secret.simon » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:43 pm

There was legislation in the 90s that gave British citizenship to some very select groups of Hong Kong citizens and your family may have been one of them.

If you got citizenship some years after birth, there is a good chance that that citizenship was attained by registration, which normally gives British citizenship "otherwise than by descent". But when citizenship is given by such special Acts of Parliament, that may digress from the norm.

Can you check with your parents if they have any documentation of your registration? That should state the law that you are being registered under.

EDIT: Found the law that likely applies to you (I could be wrong). It is the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990. Unfortunately, Section 2(1) seems to make you a British citizen by descent, which means that if your child is born outside the UK, s/he will not be a British citizen.

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