Child born in South Africa to British mother & SA father

[redmoomin]

Hi,
New to the forum and not sure where to post my question - so forgive me if it is in the wrong place.

I have recently moved to South Africa with my now husband, he is a South African citizen (and has British citizenship after living in the UK for 12 years) I now have a temporary relative visa and awaiting result of my permanent visa application now.
We are expecting a baby in September and I would like to know what the procedure is for applying for his passport in the UK, we will be visiting family in the UK in April 2015.
As he is born in South Africa I understand he will automatically have South African citizenship (ID & passport) we would like for him to have dual citizenship also.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

[CR001]

Apply for a passport as he will be British by birth and you can contact the British High Commission in Pretoria for further advice.

All passport applications are processed in the UK though and if applying from abroad, it takes a bit longer.

https://www.gov.uk/government/world/org ... n-pretoria

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

[redmoomin]

That's great news, thank you for the info - was worried as it seemed to simple!

[redmoomin]

Hi Char

would you be able to advise what we need to apply for and in what order in regards to South African passport, ID and British passport?
We are presuming he will be born dual citizen but do we need to apply for permission for dual citizenship?
When we register the birth is that when we receive the birth certificate - we have been told that he wont get an ID book until he's 16 but presumably will get an ID number at birth??

Confused again
Many thanks

Christina

[CR001]

Register the birth with Home Affairs and you will receive a South African unabridged birth certificate which will name both parents as well. The birth certificate will contain the childs ID Number, which is needed, with the birth certificate and parents documents to apply for a SA passport (which both parents will need to apply for in person, i.e. 1 parent cannot do it without the other not being present.

ID books are only issued when a child turns 15/16, so no need to worry about that.

You can also register the birth with the British High Commission and you should get a British birth certificate as well, but this is not really necessary as the child will be British by descent anyway.

For a British passport, provide the parents details and copies of the full British passport for both of you, childs birth certificate and your marriage certificate and I think that is it.

The dual nationality rule in SA and the process your partner had to do to get British Citizenship is not relevant to children under 18, they are exempt from this requirement.