Posthumous birth and the U.K. immigration law. Please help

[arhanka]

I have a question.

A British citizen was married to a Japanese woman. Due to a cancer illness, he had to start a chemotherapy course. Before he started the chemotherapy, he and his wife went to a clinic and froze some of his sperm.

After unsuccessful course of the chemotherapy, he passed away. Few months after his death, she finally got pregnant and had a child from the sperm which her British citizen husband stored at the clinic in Japan.

My question is; can that child be considered a British citizen? Yes, it is a posthumous birth from in vitro fertilization, but her British husband really wanted to have a second child so their first child would have a brother or sister to play with and would not feel lonely later on in life.

Thank you for any help you can provide. I would really appreciate if you could provide some legitimate sites where I could read more about it or where I could get help.

Thank you reading and I hope to get some clarifications soon.

By the way, the child was born in Japan and she is two months old. Their first child, who is two and a half year old, is a British citizen since he was born before his father’s unexpected death.

The question is about the second child, who was born one and a half year after the biological father’s death.

[Greenie]

See section 50(9A) of the British Nationality Act 1981 as well as
section 48 of the same act

and also section 39 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008

was the father British by birth?

[Richard W]

Let us assume the biological father was a British citizen other than by descent and that the mother has not remarried.

So, the father is "(c) a person who satisfies prescribed requirements as to proof of paternity" by Section 50(9A)(c). The prescribed requirements are given by the British Nationality (Proof of Paternity) Regulations 2006.

If the biological father was promptly entered on the birth certificate, then he is the father, and so the child would be British. This would be in accord with Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 Section 39.

Suppose he weren't entered on the birth certificate. Then the requirement to be satisfied is that "the person must satisfy the Secretary of State that he is the father of the child". Now, I don't like my logic, but as I am told I cannot rewrite or paraphrase the law, simple, honest manipulation tells me:

The biological father is the father if and only if he satisfies the Secretary of State that he is the father of the child.

I don't see how the biological father can do it, as he is dead. Therefore, the child would not be British.

Now, time has moved on since the question was asked, and the regulations have changed. It now only suffices for a person to be named in a prompt enough birth certificate if the certificate was issued before 10 September 2015. Otherwise, the requirement to be satisfied is that "the person must satisfy the Secretary of State that he is the natural father of the child". As reasoned above, it seems to me that very few, if any, posthumously born (let alone conceived) children can now have British citizenship because of their biological fathers! BNA 1981 Section 50(9A) Option (a) (mother's husband) is ruled out because the mother would no longer have a husband; Option (b) (nominated male father in case of sperm donation etc.) rules out the biological father; Option (ba) (two female parents) rules out all men.

Where has my logic failed? Has it failed?

[Casa]

This thread is 4 years old! I doubt that the OP is still waiting for an opinion.