Baby travelling on American passport?

[ElizabethApricot]

I'm American and my husband is Polish. I have a residence card as the family member of an EU national. My husband has never applied for a residence card, and we've chosen not to apply to the new registration scheme until we see how Brexit pans out. We have an 8 month old daughter and have already registered her birth at the American embassy in London and obtained her American passport, which was hugely inconvenient as we live in Cornwall and couldn't book an appointment more than two weeks in advance. We emailed the Polish consulate in London and never got a response, so we've given up on applying for her passport in London, and instead my husband's dad is arranging everything (applying for her PESEL, etc) so we can apply for her Polish passport in Poland, when we fly there for Christmas. Our question is: should they allow our daughter to re-enter the UK on her American passport, as long as we bring proof that she's my (EU national) husband's daughter, such as her birth certificate? I'm fairly certain we won't have her Polish passport in hand before we leave.

[kamoe]

We have an 8 month old daughter and have already registered her birth at the American embassy in London and obtained her American passport

She will most likely be allowed in, but the immigration official might not have clarity of what to do, and could end up giving her a 6-month tourist stamp. Read a similar story of US/EEA couple travelling with UK-born baby, here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... rist-stamp

I believe the above story happened likely because the baby's passport was American, not British, and a 6-month tourist stamp is what American citizens get at entry ports when no work or study purpose is established (Immigration officials were just following the rules). Although technically the baby was British, as he was born to permanent residents in the UK, it is not clear what documentation the parents produced at the border.

So, best to have her birth certificate at hand, and maybe be prepared to wait a little at the border and get a ridiculous entry clearance for your baby. It will be fine in the end.

[mia777]

Do you have a permanent residence card? If you do, it should be very easy to obtain a UK passport for the baby. I think it took a week to get ours after applying in person on the baby’s behalf at the passport office. Because you’re in Cornwall, it may be a hassle if there isn’t a passport office nearby.

For the Polish side of things, we translated our child’s birth certificate and got a Polish birth certificate at the local USC (in Poland, of course). We took that back to London and applied for a passport at the Polish consulate. The lady who processed the application expressed surprise that we already had a Polish birth certificate so you can probably get it in London as well.

I would have your partner call the Polish consulate because they were responsive to my wife’s phone enquiries.

Technically, anyone born to a Polish parent is automatically a citizen and they are supposed to enter and leave on a Polish passport. My kid has been a few times and used a British passport and it wasn’t an issue. Our child is there now and is due back this week so hopefully there are no issues.

The US is stricter and requires anyone with a claim to a US citizenship to have a US passport when visiting. You’ve already taken care of that but remember to also bring the baby’s British passport for the return entry.