If your child was born outside of the UK, they will not gain British nationality automatically. the UK on or after 1 January 1983, who would otherwise have been born stateless, will be a British overseas citizen if at the time of their birth either or both of their parents was a British overseas citizen. To qualify, the child’s parents need to be British nationals and to have lived in the UK for a continuous period of at last three years, with no more of 270 days of absence. Overseas British Birth Regulations. In 2017, there were 3.6 million people resident in the UK who were born abroad and held British nationality – people born outside the EU are more likely to hold British nationality than those born in the EU. Children who are born outside the UK will only acquire British citizenship from their parents in certain circumstances. Page 7 of 12 Published for Home Office staff on 11 August 2017 British nationals (overseas) (BNO) A claim to be a BNO should be supported by a passport describing the holder as a BNO. Put very briefly, under the current law people born in the UK after 1 January 1983 only automatically acquire British citizenship at birth if one of their parents was a British citizen or was living in the UK without an immigration time restriction at that time. A child born in the UK to non-British parents is not able to apply for British Citizenship immediately. It does not replace the locally issued birth certificate which you would obtain when in the UK. Through British citizenship by descent, individuals who were not born abroad can naturalise in the UK based on their parents or grandparents’ nationality status. Please see below. 2. British overseas citizens can: Hold a British passport. If British citizens living outside the UK have children out-of-country, the children will not automatically receive British Citizenship by descent.The ways for children to get British citizenship if they were born abroad outside the UK, is through adoption, naturalisation or (usually) registration. Under UK nationality rules, British citizens are classed as either having British citizenship by descent’ or ‘British citizenship otherwise than by descent’. Under the law in effect from 1 January 1983, a child born in the UK to a parent who is a British citizen or 'settled' in the UK is automatically a British citizen by birth. I am British (father),the mother is Filipino and the child was born in the Philippines. Information about this can be found on page 6 of the guide MN1. According to those agreements, people in Hong Kong born before the 1997 handover are eligible for British National (Overseas) passports, a class of British citizenship … Post by CRBT161116 » Thu Dec 10, 2020 3:42 am I am looking to understand whether my newborn is already classed as a British citizen or not. Father born in the UK before 1 January 1983. As always, the law is not simple on this matter! The Act has also conferred a right to registration as a British citizen on persons born between 8 February 1961 and 31 December 1982 who, but for the inability (at that time) of women to pass on their citizenship, would have acquired British citizenship automatically when the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force. The law on British citizenship for children born abroad is governed by the British Nationality Act 1981. 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