Immigrationboards.com

Hi,

I am recently naturalised British. My wife has a South Korean passport and has had ILR for past 18 months. She does not want to get BC because then she will have to give up her Korean passport, so she will just stay on ILR. (South Korea normally does not allow dual citizenship)

She is pregnant and wants to have the child in Korea. When the baby is born in Korea, he/she will have Korean citizenship automatically.

How do I bring him/her to the UK? By the way, Korea does allow dual citizenship if the baby is born into it (that is, the parents are of two different nationalities or the baby was born overseas to Korean parent(s) ).

Here are two options I can think of:
1. Apply for a UK visa as a dependent to a UK citizen (with Korean passport). Naturalise him/her in the UK later.
2. Apply for the UK passport in Korea, based on "Citizenship by descent" (so ends up with both Korean and UK passport immediately)

No 2 seems to be the natural choice, however I am a little concerned that he/she will not be able to pass on the UK citizenship to his/her child, if his/her child is born outside the UK (since anyone who attained the UK citizenship by descent cannot pass on the citizenship to one's child)

I would appreciate your opinions on this.

Thanks.

Either a British Passport or CoE.

1. is impossible, as a British child cannot apply for leave nor naturalise.

Hi Amber, Vinny,

Thanks for your reply. I have additional questions.

When you say either a British passport or CoE, I presume you mean
1. Either claim British citizenship by descent while in Korea and get British passport at the British Embassy in South Korea
2. or get Korean passport only and then get CoE at the British Embassy in South Korea, and enter the UK with the Korean passport

Right?

If I take the no 2 route, can I get the baby British citizenship after he/she enters the UK?

Thanks.

The baby is British so you don't get it, a passport is not proof of Nationality.

I think I finally realised what my misunderstanding was.

If the child is born outside the UK to a British parent (or parents), the child is automatically "British by descent", and there is no way to give him/her "British otherwise than by descent" status. Is that right?

I was hoping to give my child (who will be born next year) the "British citizenship otherwise than by descent" status (so that he can pass on the British Citizenship to his own child if he has the baby outside the UK), but it seems that there is no way to do this.

Is my understanding correct?

Thanks.

Yes.