Am I British?

[1sam1]

Hi, I am a Canadian, born in 1991 here in Canada. Only my father is a Britsh citizen. He was born in India and moved to UK 30 yrs ago, where he became a naturalized British citizen. Am I a Uk citizen? How do I apply/register myself?

Thanks

[Wanderer]

Hi, I am a Canadian, born in 1991 here in Canada. Only my father is a Britsh citizen. He was born in India and moved to UK 30 yrs ago. Am I a Uk citizen? How do I apply/register myself?

Thanks

Sounds like ur dad is only British by decent, which means u are not British. Sorry.

[John]

Wanderer, I beg to differ, if he obtained British Citizenship by Naturalisation, then he will be British otherwise than by descent.

So 1sam1, assuming your father was Naturalised before your birth, and assuming your mother and father were married before your birth, you have been British from the moment of your birth. British by descent that is, which means you can only pass on your British Citizenship to any children if a particular child is born in the UK.

To obtain a British passport you need to make an application at your nearest British Mission. Do you have, or can you get hold of, your father's Certificate of Naturalisation?

[1sam1]

Yes, I may not have made it clear that he was naturalized in the UK, that is why I had to edit my inital post. John, I am not sure if he can locate his naturalisation certificate as it was a long time ago. However, he has said he will try to look for it. Is this a major problem if he can't find this? Does the UK government have some database on which to look at to verify his information? He does hold a UK passport and owns property there.

Thanks!

Wanderer, I beg to differ, if he obtained British Citizenship by Naturalisation, then he will be British otherwise than by descent.

So 1sam1, assuming your father was Naturalised before your birth, and assuming your mother and father were married before your birth, you have been British from the moment of your birth. British by descent that is, which means you can only pass on your British Citizenship to any children if a particular child is born in the UK.

To obtain a British passport you need to make an application at your nearest British Mission. Do you have, or can you get hold of, your father's Certificate of Naturalisation?

[John]

1sam1, you need to clarify :-

• were your parents married before your birth?
• was your father Naturalised as British before your birth?

[1sam1]

Yes my parents were married before i was born.
My father was naturalised before I was born

1sam1, you need to clarify :-

• were your parents married before your birth?
• was your father Naturalised as British before your birth?

[John]

Then you have been British all your life.

As long as your father permits you to submit his British passport in support of your application, and your birth certificate names your father, I do not expect you to have a problem getting your own British passport.

If your father can also find his Certificate of Naturalisation, that might speed up matters, because it will show that he is British otherwise than by descent.

[Wanderer]

I was well wrong then!

Sorry!