British Expatriate Network

My son and I are moving back to England in January. He was born here, so has an American passport. Will I have to get him a British passport. We are planning on staying for two years or more. He's 13 by the way.

Jo

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by maczippy on 2002-11-22 1636 ]</font>

He will at least need a document to prove that he is a British Citizen - a birth registration from the British Consulate in Washington DC.

You can download the form for this and the passport from http//www.britainusa.com

When your son was born here in the U.S., did you obtain his British birth certificate from the British embassy in D.C.??
If you didn't that is the first thing that I would do. As your son he is entitled to live in the U.K. because he can claim British citizenship through you but you need proof.

I have a U.K. friend married to U.S. and they live in U.K. and when they travel to the U.S. her children come back into the U.K. on their U.S. passports with her and don't have any trouble.

I would check with the British Embassy if I were you to get clarification.

I don't know the legal answer to this but I would have to say yes it would be the best idea to get him a British passport, but use the US one to leave here and if you return to the US.

I understand that the way to do it is to get a British passport for your son; he is a British citizen by descent (eg. at least one of his parents is a British citizen).

What you would then do is to leave the US with him showing his US passport to the airline/immigration staff upon departure. But then at arrival at Heathrow/Gatwick or wherever, he would then need to produce his British passport (otherwise they would give him just six months to stay in the UK on a US passport!). They have no need to see his American one.

My understanding is that when he leaves the UK again he just needs to show his British passport, and upon re-entering the US he shows the US Immigration staff his American passport.

If he is going to do that it might be an idea to leave the US on his UK one too. When he returns he would have to use his US one because it's illegal for a US citizen to enter the USA on anything but a US passport.
The only reason i say to use it on the outbound one is airlines and immigration etc don't like it if you swap passports half way through a journey, so if he baords the plane on a US passport and it all shows him travelling as a US citizen then he enters the UK on his UK passport with a different number and thats logged when they scan it sometimes they don't like it.
I don't think the US has exit checks so there isnt a problem with him travelling from US->UK on his UK passport then UK->US on his American passport. Otherwise he will end up also showing two passports at immigration in UK and they don't like people showing two passports because it is confusing for them to keep track of people.

Do they scan UK passports on entry now? Last time in MAN and LHR I just showed it and walked on by, they didn't even take it off me for a good look.

Pretty much no... I live in the UK now, with my brit hubby, and have been back and forth to the US 2 times this year. Other than asking me why I am am in the UK, they do nothing, but I also have my ILR stamp now as well, and so that makes me all legal in their eyes. I have NEVER had my passport scanned in the UK. Just in the US.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: saucywitch on 2002-12-08 13:01 ]</font>

It might not happen routinely, but they have the facilities to scan should they wish. We've all seen it happen on "Airport".