Nationality from birth place / parentage?

[MrMoonyMan]

Hi guys.

Simple (probably stupid) question.

I'm English. My g/f is Polish (lived here 10 years, not taken citenzenship yet)

If we have a child will the child be English?

Thanks all

[rsox87]

Your child can have a British or Polish passport - both countries have Jus Sanguinis ("by right of blood") nationality laws; if one of your parents is a British (or Polish) national, then you are a British (or Polish) national, regardless of where you were born.

The alternative, Jus Soli ("by right of soil") also applies to your child as they were born in Britain to someone that has lived here for more than 10 years, but is irrelevant as you are British and so Jus Sanguinis applies.

I would get them registered as both British and Polish, if Brexit happens they will still be eligible for an EU (Polish) passport and will be able to wave at you as you wait in the non-EU immigration queue at the airport.....

[MrMoonyMan]

That is fantastically helpful.

Thank you very much.

[anonymous-user]

rsox87 said:

Your child can have a British or Polish passport - both countries have Jus Sanguinis ("by right of blood") nationality laws; if one of your parents is a British (or Polish) national, then you are a British (or Polish) national, regardless of where you were born.

The alternative, Jus Soli ("by right of soil") also applies to your child as they were born in Britain to someone that has lived here for more than 10 years, but is irrelevant as you are British and so Jus Sanguinis applies.

I would get them registered as both British and Polish, if Brexit happens they will still be eligible for an EU (Polish) passport and will be able to wave at you as you wait in the non-EU immigration queue at the airport.....

Which airport? It'll be the other way round coming into the UK.

(Of course, the likely truth is little will change from now, everyone will be queuing..... )

[rs990]

REALIST123 said:

(Of course, the likely truth is little will change from now, everyone will be queuing..... )

Last time I flew into Gatwick it was quicker to get my passport checked in the Non EU line than waiting for the large group of elderly travelers in front of me attempting to use the passport scanners!

[fooby]

It's weird how it works. My parents are both English, I was born in Ireland, lived there for less than a year, but I can get an Irish passport.

[snorky782]

REALIST123 said:

rsox87 said:

Your child can have a British or Polish passport - both countries have Jus Sanguinis ("by right of blood") nationality laws; if one of your parents is a British (or Polish) national, then you are a British (or Polish) national, regardless of where you were born.

The alternative, Jus Soli ("by right of soil") also applies to your child as they were born in Britain to someone that has lived here for more than 10 years, but is irrelevant as you are British and so Jus Sanguinis applies.

I would get them registered as both British and Polish, if Brexit happens they will still be eligible for an EU (Polish) passport and will be able to wave at you as you wait in the non-EU immigration queue at the airport.....

Which airport? It'll be the other way round coming into the UK.

(Of course, the likely truth is little will change from now, everyone will be queuing..... )

Except he could use his British passport on the way in to avoid the queues

[Dr Jekyll]

A slight complication of the 'right of blood' is that at least for UK nationals it only works for one generation. A friend of mine was born in the US of British parents and came back to the UK when she was about 1 year old and has lived here ever since. Her husband was born in New Zealand also of British parents and also grew up in the UK. Both regard themselves as British but if they had a kid born out of the UK the kid would not qualify for a British passport.

Edited by Dr Jekyll on Thursday 4th August 16:00

[TooMany2cvs]

Dr Jekyll said:

A slight complication of the 'right of blood' is that at least for UK nationals it only works for one generation. A friend of mine was born in the US of British parents and came back to the UK when she was about 1 year old and has lived here ever since. Her husband was born in New Zealand also of British parents and also grew up in the UK. Both regard themselves as British but if they had a kid born out of the UK the kid would not qualify for a British passport.

What nationality are they, though?

If they're US and NZ nationals, then it makes perfect sense - simply because the kid would not have British parents, no matter how they might "regard themselves", or if they have ILR or whatever residency status here. The kid would have one US and one NZ parent.
If they're UK nationals, though, then the kid would have British parents, so would qualify.

[Dr Jekyll]

TooMany2cvs said:

What nationality are they, though?

If they're US and NZ nationals, then it makes perfect sense - simply because the kid would not have British parents, no matter how they might "regard themselves", or if they have ILR or whatever residency status here. The kid would have one US and one NZ parent.
If they're UK nationals, though, then the kid would have British parents, so would qualify.

They are British nationals but not born in the UK, so if the kid isn't born in the UK they aren't quite British enough.
Otherwise you could emigrate to (say) the US, have a child there who would have British nationality (fine) and then the child could stay in the US and pass British nationality on to your grandchildren and greatgrandchildren infinitely.

[Red Devil]

MrMoonyMan said:

Hi guys.

Simple (probably stupid) question.

I'm English. My g/f is Polish (lived here 10 years, not taken citenzenship yet)

If we have a child will the child be English?

Thanks all

Have you used the interactive tool here? - https://www.gov.uk/browse/citizenship/citizenship
First you need to check you own citizenship status, then move on to that of your prospective child.

[craigjm]

Simple answer is the child will be British. Even if both parents were Polish and they had been here for five years minimum then the child could be registered as a British citizen. As it stands they will be British but also have a claim to a Polish passport

[grumpy52]

My sister was born in Singapore of British parents .She came back to the UK at 2 years old.
She can claim dual nationality.
She has been back a couple of times on holiday and is greeted at passport/immigration controls with "welcome home "

[robwilk]

My mate, an Aussie had a child in Singapore to his Filipina wife and on the child's birth certificate it stated in red.
"Being born in Singapore does not give the right to Singaporean nationality" he had to register the child at the Aussie embassy.

[PF62]

Dr Jekyll said:

Otherwise you could emigrate to (say) the US, have a child there who would have British nationality (fine) and then the child could stay in the US and pass British nationality on to your grandchildren and greatgrandchildren infinitely.

That can happen with Irish citizenship.

You only need one grandparent to have been born on the island (north or south it doesn't matter) to be able to claim Irish citizenship, no matter where you were born.

If someone claimed Irish citizenship through that route and then had children (it doesn't work if you already have children) then the children are entitled to claim Irish citizenship.

So you could have the situation of someone living in the US and claiming Irish citizenship from a grandparent born in Ireland and passing that right onto their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren indefinitely.

Guess who has been looking up the rules to see if they can get an EU passport if it all goes to hell in hand-basket with Brexit.

[C3BER]

I deal with a lot of these type of cases in my job. It's vital to register the child ASAP as mentioned above. Now I'm not saying all is not perfect in the garden and to your dying day all will be roses for all of you but and its a big but if anything goes wrong your child will be deported to Poland.

[MrMoonyMan]

Red Devil said:

MrMoonyMan said:

Hi guys.

Simple (probably stupid) question.

I'm English. My g/f is Polish (lived here 10 years, not taken citenzenship yet)

If we have a child will the child be English?

Thanks all

Have you used the interactive tool here? - https://www.gov.uk/browse/citizenship/citizenship
First you need to check you own citizenship status, then move on to that of your prospective child.

Thank you for that. Have followed it through and it gives me this, rather non committal, answer:

[MrMoonyMan]

C3BER said:

I deal with a lot of these type of cases in my job. It's vital to register the child ASAP as mentioned above. Now I'm not saying all is not perfect in the garden and to your dying day all will be roses for all of you but and its a big but if anything goes wrong your child will be deported to Poland.

Interesting. So are you saying there that there is a chance my child could be deported despite all of the above and my situation as described in the initial post?

[snorky782]

MrMoonyMan said:

Thank you for that. Have followed it through and it gives me this, rather non committal, answer:

It's not non-committal. It has given the one instance where your child wouldn't automatically be a British citizen. As that can't apply, then your child would be a British citizen. Register the birth and that's it done.

[MrMoonyMan]

craigjm said:

Simple answer is the child will be British. Even if both parents were Polish and they had been here for five years minimum then the child could be registered as a British citizen. As it stands they will be British but also have a claim to a Polish passport

Thank you. That is useful.

As has been said. The ability to have a European and non European (if this Brexit thing continues) passport seems like an added bonus.


To answer a previous comment, my family are British for a good few generations.