British Citizenship for US Adopted Child?

[deedle]

I am seeking information for a friend so lookign for some quick input/advice to share.

He was born in the US and adopted as a baby by a British-born couple who had immigrated to the US. I believe at the time he was adopted, the adoptive parents were still UK citizens. At some point, both became US citizens. The nationality of his birth parents is unknown.

He is interested in obtaining UK citizenship by descent and I see some links which detail some requirements.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... tedabroad/

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... tedabroad/

The only challenge to these requirements are both of the adoptive parents have died and my friend is now a fully-grown, able to support himself adult.

How difficult is the process to claim UK citizenship by descent? Is it a pretty straight-forward do-it-yourself process or something that requires a local lawyer? If it is normally pretty easy (culturally I'm guessing that it would be, plus no language barriers), do you think the adoption would make it significantly more difficult where a lawyer would be a wise investment? He does maintain contact with his extended family still in the UK if that is needed for references.

Thanks for any input, advice, recommendations for legal services, etc.