Form UKF questions and help!

[Kentrish]

Hey! I recently became eligible for British Citizenship (was previously exempt from citizenship due to my parents not being married at the time of my birth). However with section 65 of the immigration act of 2014 now active I can apply, but I have found the forms somewhat confusing (I have never done anything like this before) and perhaps orientated towards applications from people already living in the U.K. I am super excited and would love to live and work in the U.K so I will describe my situation below and than ask a few questions about the things on the forms I am not sure about. Thanks so much for the help guys (I have had trouble finding proper answers from various other and official channels).

I am currently 24 years old, I was born in Australia and have lived in Australia my entire life. My Father was born in England before moving her with his parents as a child. My father has dual citizenship (Australian and British citizenship) not by descent. He has an expired british passport as well as a british birth certificate. He was not married to my mother at the time of my birth however he was listed as my father on my birth certificate that was issued at my birth. My questions about the form are as follows.

1) Unfortunately both my grandparents are now deceased, but I do have access to their birth certificates ect. Are these necessary?

2) I do not currently have an Australian passport yet the application asks for its number, should I get one before the application.

3) I need 2 references, and it is strongly recommended that one reference has a British passport. I have multiple people willing to give me a great reference but being in Australian none of them have British passports (other than family members which can't do it).

4) Finally and most importantly biometrics. Can I get them registered in Australia or will I actually have to travel to the UK to get them registered (this is rather expensive and I was hoping to travel to the UK once I actually had citizenship). Can I do my application without them?

5) Sorry on last question, once I finally manage to get my application down I must attend a ceremony within 3 months to pledge allegiance ect. Where abouts in Australia can I do this? I am currently living in Melbourne.

I am really hoping I can register entirely while being in Australia, that will save my a vast amount of money and time traveling to the UK. Money that I will need to eventually make the move there. I would hate to spend thousands in flights ect only to have my application rejected.

Thanks so much for any help guys!

[noajthan]

Hey! I recently became eligible for British Citizenship (was previously exempt from citizenship due to my parents not being married at the time of my birth). However with section 65 of the immigration act of 2014 now active I can apply, but I have found the forms somewhat confusing (I have never done anything like this before) and perhaps orientated towards applications from people already living in the U.K. I am super excited and would love to live and work in the U.K so I will describe my situation below and than ask a few questions about the things on the forms I am not sure about. Thanks so much for the help guys (I have had trouble finding proper answers from various other and official channels).

I am currently 24 years old, I was born in Australia and have lived in Australia my entire life. My Father was born in England before moving her with his parents as a child. My father has dual citizenship (Australian and British citizenship) not by descent. He has an expired british passport as well as a british birth certificate. He was not married to my mother at the time of my birth however he was listed as my father on my birth certificate that was issued at my birth. My questions about the form are as follows.

1) Unfortunately both my grandparents are now deceased, but I do have access to their birth certificates ect. Are these necessary?

2) I do not currently have an Australian passport yet the application asks for its number, should I get one before the application.

3) I need 2 references, and it is strongly recommended that one reference has a British passport. I have multiple people willing to give me a great reference but being in Australian none of them have British passports (other than family members which can't do it).

4) Finally and most importantly biometrics. Can I get them registered in Australia or will I actually have to travel to the UK to get them registered (this is rather expensive and I was hoping to travel to the UK once I actually had citizenship). Can I do my application without them?

5) Sorry on last question, once I finally manage to get my application down I must attend a ceremony within 3 months to pledge allegiance ect. Where abouts in Australia can I do this? I am currently living in Melbourne.

I am really hoping I can register entirely while being in Australia, that will save my a vast amount of money and time traveling to the UK. Money that I will need to eventually make the move there. I would hate to spend thousands in flights ect only to have my application rejected.

Thanks so much for any help guys!

UKF is a bit of a specialist form without much discussion on the forum.
You may want to track this thread (simply 'subscribe' to it when you are logged in to forum):
http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... 85782.html

1. Have you gone through the UKF guide?
- about grandparents the form says "see section 2 of guide UKF".

2. If you intend to become a dual national (Australian + British) an Australian passport would probably be useful to you.
If you don't have one now & really don't need one then simply leave the field blank.

3. The 1st (professional) referee can be of any nationality anyway.
For the second one, are you sure you don't know acquaintances (friends of friends) who happen to be British & may still fit the bill as a referee?

Failing that see this from the regular naturalisation (AN) guide:

If you are living abroad and do not know a British citizen who is qualified to act as one of your referees, a Commonwealth citizen or citizen of the country in which you are residing may complete and sign the form, provided he/she has professional standing in that country, has known you for three years and the Consul considers his/her signature to be acceptable

4. Not sure - suggest ask via British embassy

5. Not sure, again suggest ask the embassy.

Good luck.

[noajthan]

About enrolling biometrics, see:
http://lifeintheuk.net/index.php/news/b ... pril_2015/

& from UK gov:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chan ... categories

So it sounds like there could be an enrolment centre 'somewhere' in Australia.

[CR001]

4. You should be able to enroll your biometrics at the British High Commission or their designation agent. You will be notified of this by letter.

5. The ceremony will likely be at the High Commission too, again, you will receive a letter about this and where to attend.

[scarlett.yu]

Hey! I recently became eligible for British Citizenship (was previously exempt from citizenship due to my parents not being married at the time of my birth). However with section 65 of the immigration act of 2014 now active I can apply, but I have found the forms somewhat confusing (I have never done anything like this before) and perhaps orientated towards applications from people already living in the U.K. I am super excited and would love to live and work in the U.K so I will describe my situation below and than ask a few questions about the things on the forms I am not sure about. Thanks so much for the help guys (I have had trouble finding proper answers from various other and official channels).

I am currently 24 years old, I was born in Australia and have lived in Australia my entire life. My Father was born in England before moving her with his parents as a child. My father has dual citizenship (Australian and British citizenship) not by descent. He has an expired british passport as well as a british birth certificate. He was not married to my mother at the time of my birth however he was listed as my father on my birth certificate that was issued at my birth. My questions about the form are as follows.

1) Unfortunately both my grandparents are now deceased, but I do have access to their birth certificates ect. Are these necessary?

2) I do not currently have an Australian passport yet the application asks for its number, should I get one before the application.

3) I need 2 references, and it is strongly recommended that one reference has a British passport. I have multiple people willing to give me a great reference but being in Australian none of them have British passports (other than family members which can't do it).

4) Finally and most importantly biometrics. Can I get them registered in Australia or will I actually have to travel to the UK to get them registered (this is rather expensive and I was hoping to travel to the UK once I actually had citizenship). Can I do my application without them?

5) Sorry on last question, once I finally manage to get my application down I must attend a ceremony within 3 months to pledge allegiance ect. Where abouts in Australia can I do this? I am currently living in Melbourne.

I am really hoping I can register entirely while being in Australia, that will save my a vast amount of money and time traveling to the UK. Money that I will need to eventually make the move there. I would hate to spend thousands in flights ect only to have my application rejected.

Thanks so much for any help guys!

Hi Kentrish, I'm in a similar situation as yours.

But as far as I know, your grandparents' information might not be required if your father was born in the UK - assuming you have his birth certificate which proves he obtained his 'British citizenship otherwise than by descent' by birth. And also please read the guidance for form UKF, which you should be able to download on the same GOV.UK website with form UKF, as it seems to suggest that if you have both your and your father's birth certificates, you can directly apply for your British passport instead of using form UKF which requires your father's naturalisation/registration number (implying this form is more applicable for kids born to fathers who are 'British citizen otherwise than by descent' but not by birth).

Best of luck!

[Kentrish]

Thanks for all the help guys, I have finally finished my application (haven't sent it just yet). I have designated the Melbourne British Consulate-General as the location I wish to have the citizenship ceremony. I still have yet to find out where I will be able to enroll my bio-metrics in Australia and await the letter. I have left the passport numbers blank (would much rather travel on a British passport if/when I get it). Hopefully everything goes well!

Hey Scarlet, it would be beyond excellent if I could apply directly for a British passport, but I can't find anything indicating that I am now eligible to do this. The check if your a British citizen still quotes this when I plug in my details:

"In most cases you’ll be a British citizen ‘by descent’. This means you can gain citizenship from one of your parents, but your own children won’t automatically become British citizens.

If you were born before 1 July 2006 and your parents weren’t married when you were born (and haven’t married since), you can’t get British citizenship through your father."

I have skimmed through the guidance again but cannot find any mention of it being better for me to apply directly for my passport, could you point me in the right direction? Thanks for the hand!

[vinny]

Note that only British citizens may apply for British passports.

You are not yet a British citizen since
your parents were never married to each other and
your mother was not British otherwise than by descent at the time of your birth and
your mother was not employed by the British Crown Service at the time of your birth and
you were born prior to 1st July 2006 and
you were not born in the UK.

Since you were born after 1983, your grandparents birth certificates (and possibly their marriage certificate) may be required to establish that your father was British otherwise than by descent. Your natural father was British otherwise by descent, but the BNA 1981 does not recognize him as your father because he was never married to your mother and you were born prior to 1st July 2006. If your parents had been married to each other, then you would have been automatically British.

I think that you are entitled to register under Section 4H.

[Kentrish]

Note that only British citizens may apply for British passports.

You are not yet a British citizen since
your parents were never married to each other and
your mother was not British otherwise than by descent at the time of your birth and
your mother was not employed by the British Crown Service at the time of your birth and
you were born prior to 1st July 2006 and
you were not born in the UK.

Since you were born after 1983, your grandparents birth certificates (and possibly their marriage certificate) may be required to establish that your father was British otherwise than by descent. Your natural father was British otherwise by descent, but the BNA 1981 does not recognize him as your father because he was never married to your mother and you were born prior to 1st July 2006. If your parents had been married to each other, then you would have been automatically British.

I think that you are entitled to register under Section 4H.

Yep, this is as I understand it. Though I don't think I need my grandparents birth certificates (and marriage certificates) as my father was born in the UK and lived there. He also has a British passport (and an old expired one I am using for my application) that shows he is a full British citizen (not by descent).

Edit: We are also sending off his birth certificate, which establishes him as a British citizen.

[oztravman]

Hi, I am currently going through the same process. My father is British, I was born in 1984 but my parents never married, though my mother changed her last name by deed poll instead of marriage. I am using a London-based law firm to assist with my application.

So far they have lodged my citizenship application and I have registered my biometric details with the Visa processing firm VFS. Once this is done I have to attend a citizenship ceremony at the High Commission then I can apply for a passport. In terms of the character references, I had a British national I could use but my lawyer said if you don't that's fine, just two professionals will suffice.

At the moment my lawyer has no idea on timeframes at the moment since the process is so new.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[bright_star]

Kentrish,

About referees, how did you solve it? I will apply next January, but as I live in Brazil, I do not know a British citizen to be my referee. The UKF guide says I will need the Consul acceptance to my non-British referee. How should I get this acceptance?

Cheers!

[AussieRoamer]

Hello OP,
Did you end up putting your grandparents' information? Did you find out if this was required? Section 2 of the UKF guide doesn't provide any further information as far as I can tell.

[samnz19]

Hi im pretty sure i'm eligible as my father was born in UK to British parents.

My question is: It says i need the following documents but my father just has birth certificate and passport, not the others. If he was registered as British at birth why would he have them anyway??


You will need your fathers full birth certificate and passport, and either:

Your fathers certificate of naturalisation or registration as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (or, before 1 January 1949, as a British subject);
or his Papers showing his legal adoption;
or his His expired citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies passport

[CR001]

Hi im pretty sure i'm eligible as my father was born in UK to British parents.

My question is: It says i need the following documents but my father just has birth certificate and passport, not the others. If he was registered as British at birth why would he have them anyway??


You will need your fathers full birth certificate and passport, and either:

Your fathers certificate of naturalisation or registration as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (or, before 1 January 1949, as a British subject);
or his Papers showing his legal adoption;
or his His expired citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies passport

Were your parents married?

[mercuree]

Hey! I recently became eligible for British Citizenship (was previously exempt from citizenship due to my parents not being married at the time of my birth). However with section 65 of the immigration act of 2014 now active I can apply, but I have found the forms somewhat confusing (I have never done anything like this before) and perhaps orientated towards applications from people already living in the U.K. I am super excited and would love to live and work in the U.K so I will describe my situation below and than ask a few questions about the things on the forms I am not sure about. Thanks so much for the help guys (I have had trouble finding proper answers from various other and official channels).

I am currently 24 years old, I was born in Australia and have lived in Australia my entire life. My Father was born in England before moving her with his parents as a child. My father has dual citizenship (Australian and British citizenship) not by descent. He has an expired british passport as well as a british birth certificate. He was not married to my mother at the time of my birth however he was listed as my father on my birth certificate that was issued at my birth. My questions about the form are as follows.

1) Unfortunately both my grandparents are now deceased, but I do have access to their birth certificates ect. Are these necessary?

2) I do not currently have an Australian passport yet the application asks for its number, should I get one before the application.

3) I need 2 references, and it is strongly recommended that one reference has a British passport. I have multiple people willing to give me a great reference but being in Australian none of them have British passports (other than family members which can't do it).

4) Finally and most importantly biometrics. Can I get them registered in Australia or will I actually have to travel to the UK to get them registered (this is rather expensive and I was hoping to travel to the UK once I actually had citizenship). Can I do my application without them?

5) Sorry on last question, once I finally manage to get my application down I must attend a ceremony within 3 months to pledge allegiance ect. Where abouts in Australia can I do this? I am currently living in Melbourne.

I am really hoping I can register entirely while being in Australia, that will save my a vast amount of money and time traveling to the UK. Money that I will need to eventually make the move there. I would hate to spend thousands in flights ect only to have my application rejected.

Thanks so much for any help guys!

Hi Kentrish.

My situation matches your own, exactly. Except I live in South Africa. And thankfully I have my grandparent's birth and marriage certifcates. And even their parent's marriage certificate.

Did you ever submit your application? What happened with the ceremony and the biometrics? These are two things I am unsure of as well.

[JAJ]

The original poster has not visited the forum in over 2 years and probably- is unlikely to respond.

This thread is locked. Any questions on the topic may be posted to a new thread.