uk citizen planning to deliver in india

[rogerroger]

Hello,

My wife (UK national + PIO card holder ) plans to go for her delivery to India and would like to spend her maternity leave there.

I imagine that she is going to be in india in excess of 6 months. Our child on account of being born to british parents will be british. correct? i guess we can apply for the baby's passport at the local british high commission?

[John]

Roger, you and your wife are Naturalised as British? If so you are both "British otherwise than by descent", and accordingly your children will be British, wherever born in the world. So yes, just apply at the BHC for a British passport for your child.

But do appreciate that your child, born outside the UK, will be "British by descent" and accordingly their children will only be British if born in the UK.

Whereas if your child was born in the UK, then your child's children would be British wherever born.

[rogerroger]

thanks for the reply John,

that is an interesting fact which i did not know about.

yes, me and my wife are both citizens after getting naturalised a few years back. so the citizenship/nationality is passed on to our child.

however if we were citizens by birth (descent) then our child would not be british, correct? but then what citizenship would he be?

i think our child would then have the option of having his children here in the uk if he/she wants his/her children to be british?

[John]

Roger, thanks for confirming that both you and your wife have been Naturalised, and thus are British otherwise than by descent. So your child will be British, wherever born in the world.

however if we were citizens by birth (descent) then our child would not be british, correct? but then what citizenship would he be?

Well all British law will say is that he/she will not be British. It is then a question of whether such a child, born say in India, would be Indian, but that is a matter of Indian law.

i think our child would then have the option of having his children here in the uk if he/she wants his/her children to be british?

Indeed, a person who is British by descent has exactly the same rights to live in the UK as someone who is British otherwise than by descent. The only difference is their ability to pass British Citizenship on to their children ... which a person British by descent cannot do .... to their born-outside-the-UK children.

[rogerroger]

thanks for the explanations john.