Page 1 of 1

Applying for child passport from south africa

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:21 am
by mistymom
HI

I hope I am posting in the right place. I have spent hours here and else where and still cant find the answers!

I am a South African women married to a British man who i met in South Africa where he had been living for 4 years. We got married in South Africa in April 2010. We have a 15 month old baby boy. These are my questions:

1. Can i register my sons birth with the uk? (as his farther is british) My sons birth is registed in South Africa, but I was also advised by a friend to register his birth with uk before i apply for his British passport.

2. Will he qualifiy for a British passport?

3. If i wish to travel to the uk with my husband on holiday will i need to pay for my visa? ANd is it possible to apply for one without travel plans (in case of an emergency that we need to visit my husbands mom etc)

Thank you for your help in advance

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:24 am
by Jambo
When (which year) was your husband born? Was he born in the UK? Is he British from Birth (or did he apply for British citizenship later in life)?

Your husband ability to transfer British citizenship to your child would depends on the answers to those questions.

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:19 am
by mistymom
Thank you!

My husband was born in uk in 1975 to uk parents. He lived their his whole life and only moved to SA 5 years ago. He has residency in south africa and still has his british citezenship.

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:06 am
by Jambo
Your child is already British from birth. As he was born abroad, he is British Citizen by decent which means that he will not be able to transfer his British citizenship to his children (your grandchildren) if they are born outside the UK.

As for your questions:

1. Consular birth registration is optional but it seems BHC in Pretoria doesn't register births. See Marriage and birth is South Africa

2. Yes. See How to apply for a passport.

3. Yes. You will need to pay for your visa. Visiting visas are normally issued within 1-2 weeks. They can speed things up in cases of emergencies.