Assistance in completing MN1 form
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 11:52 am
Good day
I am hoping someone is able to guide and assist us. Not sure if there is any other case like ours....Our daughter will be 6 years old on 28 January 2016. We applied for her British Passport based on my husband, her father being British and born in the UK. But, she is a surrogate baby. Biologically ours, but had to be adopted by us after birth.
I don't think the passport office really understood our circumstances. Our daughter was born from surrogacy because I was/am unable to carry a child. She was born prior to the new child act in South Africa (prior to April 2010), and at that time we had to adopt her in order to apply for an unabridged birth certificate with both of our names on it. The process took too long here with her original vault copy of birth being destroyed by home affairs after the adoption papers were issued. So her unabridged birth certificate was only able to be issued after the British Passport application deadline of 1 year from birth. The UK Passport office requires an unabridged birth certificate to be issued within the same year of birth.
When I queried the refusal to grant her a British Passport, they said I should first apply for British citizenship, and then reapply for the British Passport. I have read through the guide for applying for our daughter's citizenship, but I don't know how to complete the MN1 form, because although our daughter is adopted, she is still biologically our child and qualifies for a British Passport through her father. I hold a British passport after obtaining it in 1997 due to decent. (Father was British born).
We now also have twin girls who were born on 18 April 2015, also biologically our children, and through surrogacy again. However, due to the new child act, their unabridged birth certificates were immediately issued at birth with no adoption process required! So we can go straight into their British Passport application. It is just our eldest that is proving so tricky because of the word "adoption"... Any help would be greatly appreciated so that we can finalize what has taken over 5 years to try and sort out.
Thank you,
K Tully
I am hoping someone is able to guide and assist us. Not sure if there is any other case like ours....Our daughter will be 6 years old on 28 January 2016. We applied for her British Passport based on my husband, her father being British and born in the UK. But, she is a surrogate baby. Biologically ours, but had to be adopted by us after birth.
I don't think the passport office really understood our circumstances. Our daughter was born from surrogacy because I was/am unable to carry a child. She was born prior to the new child act in South Africa (prior to April 2010), and at that time we had to adopt her in order to apply for an unabridged birth certificate with both of our names on it. The process took too long here with her original vault copy of birth being destroyed by home affairs after the adoption papers were issued. So her unabridged birth certificate was only able to be issued after the British Passport application deadline of 1 year from birth. The UK Passport office requires an unabridged birth certificate to be issued within the same year of birth.
When I queried the refusal to grant her a British Passport, they said I should first apply for British citizenship, and then reapply for the British Passport. I have read through the guide for applying for our daughter's citizenship, but I don't know how to complete the MN1 form, because although our daughter is adopted, she is still biologically our child and qualifies for a British Passport through her father. I hold a British passport after obtaining it in 1997 due to decent. (Father was British born).
We now also have twin girls who were born on 18 April 2015, also biologically our children, and through surrogacy again. However, due to the new child act, their unabridged birth certificates were immediately issued at birth with no adoption process required! So we can go straight into their British Passport application. It is just our eldest that is proving so tricky because of the word "adoption"... Any help would be greatly appreciated so that we can finalize what has taken over 5 years to try and sort out.
Thank you,
K Tully