# British Citizenship for my wife (We're both American)



## panthers75 (Jul 14, 2010)

My wife's father was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1945 with British citizenship. His mother was a British Citizen, born in 1928 or 1929 and unmarried. My wife's father moved to the US at age 2 and obtained US Citizenship and retains dual citizenship, having lived in the US for the past 63 years and is alive and well. 

My wife's parents were married in 1977 in the US to her mother (American citizen). My wife was born 14 months later in the US in late 1978. 

How difficult should it be for my wife to gain British citizenship? I assume that our children are not entitled, correct?


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

panthers75 said:


> My wife's father was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1945 with British citizenship. His mother was a British Citizen, born in 1928 or 1929 and unmarried. My wife's father moved to the US at age 2 and obtained US Citizenship and retains dual citizenship, having lived in the US for the past 63 years and is alive and well.
> 
> My wife's parents were married in 1977 in the US to her mother (American citizen). My wife was born 14 months later in the US in late 1978.
> 
> How difficult should it be for my wife to gain British citizenship? I assume that our children are not entitled, correct?


Your wife is a British citizen by descent and is entitled to a British passport just by applying. She will need documentation to prove her descent, such as her and her father's birth certificate and father's marriage certificate. Your children are not British, unless she has lived in UK for 3 years before having them and she applies them to be registered as British before their 1st birthday. They can still be registered as British if the whole family move to UK and live for 3 years before they are 18 - they then become British citizens otherwise than by descent and will be able to pass on their nationality to their children wherever they are born. You yourself can apply to be naturalised as British citizen after 3 years.


----------



## panthers75 (Jul 14, 2010)

Joppa said:


> Your wife is a British citizen by descent and is entitled to a British passport just by applying. She will need documentation to prove her descent, such as her and her father's birth certificate and father's marriage certificate. Your children are not British, unless she has lived in UK for 3 years before having them and she applies them to be registered as British before their 1st birthday. They can still be registered as British if the whole family move to UK and live for 3 years before they are 18 - they then become British citizens otherwise than by descent and will be able to pass on their nationality to their children wherever they are born. You yourself can apply to be naturalised as British citizen after 3 years.


Thank you! You have been an immense help! When you say I can apply to be naturalised after 3 years as well, do you mean after I have lived in the UK for 3 years or simply that 3 years have passed after she officially becomes a citizen (even if we're still in the US)?


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

panthers75 said:


> Thank you! You have been an immense help! When you say I can apply to be naturalised after 3 years as well, do you mean after I have lived in the UK for 3 years or simply that 3 years have passed after she officially becomes a citizen (even if we're still in the US)?


After you've lived with your wife in UK for 3 years (being married to a British citizen). Your wife has been a British citizen since birth, but has never applied for her passport till now - that's all.


----------



## AprilRose (Jul 15, 2010)

Joppa said:


> After you've lived with your wife in UK for 3 years (being married to a British citizen). Your wife has been a British citizen since birth, but has never applied for her passport till now - that's all.



I have a similar situation in which my father was born in Northern Ireland to a young mother from Northern Ireland during WWII. His father was an unknown American G.I. She moved to the US a year later and married an American citizen. My father says he’s a British Subject and an American Citizen. My parents were married when I was born and are still married, but had each been married once before to someone else. Given that I was also born in the US to a father who is a “British Subject,” what am I considered from the British standpoint? Do I have British/US citizenship? Am I a British subject? Or am I just an American citizen, nothing else? Am I able to get a British passport?


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

AprilRose said:


> I have a similar situation in which my father was born in Northern Ireland to a young mother from Northern Ireland during WWII. His father was an unknown American G.I. She moved to the US a year later and married an American citizen. My father says he’s a British Subject and an American Citizen. My parents were married when I was born and are still married, but had each been married once before to someone else. Given that I was also born in the US to a father who is a “British Subject,” what am I considered from the British standpoint? Do I have British/US citizenship? Am I a British subject? Or am I just an American citizen, nothing else? Am I able to get a British passport?


It looks as though your father is a British citizen otherwise than by descent, because before 1983, anyone born in the UK was automatically a British citizen. You are a British citizen by descent because your father is British (as well as being an American) and he was married at the time of your birth. So it appears both you and your father have been British citizen since birth, even though neither of you have attempted to obtain British passport. BTW, the term 'British subject' had a special meaning under British nationality law of 1949 - someone born in the colonies or the empire and owing allegiance to the crown, and the distinction isn't relevant here.

To claim your British citizenship (i.e. as a dual British/American citizen), just apply for your British passport. You will need documentary evidence of your descent, such as your and your father's birth certificate and your father's marriage certificate. The consulate you apply to will tell you if they need any other documents.

As a British citizen by descent, any children you may have aren't automatically British, unless they are born in UK or overseas territories (e.g. Gibraltar, Falklands, Bermuda), you have lived in UK for 3 years before having them or the whole family move to UK and live for 3 years before they are 18. In latter two cases you have to register them as British before they are a year old (second case) and before they turn 18 (third case), and they become British citizen otherwise than by descent.


----------



## AprilRose (Jul 15, 2010)

Thank you Joppa, you are so helpful!


----------



## panthers75 (Jul 14, 2010)

Because my wife is believed to be British by decent (her father was born a British citizen in Belfast in 1945), would I be required to have my company sponsor my visa if the whole family moved with me? We'd be there for greater than 3 years, so I assume my children and I would qualify to apply for British citizenship after that 3 year period, correct?


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

panthers75 said:


> Because my wife is believed to be British by decent (her father was born a British citizen in Belfast in 1945), would I be required to have my company sponsor my visa if the whole family moved with me? We'd be there for greater than 3 years, so I assume my children and I would qualify to apply for British citizenship after that 3 year period, correct?


No, because you apply for a spouse settlement visa which, when granted, will give you the right to work in UK without further ado.

Yes, you can apply for naturalisation after three years living in UK. Your children can be registered as British - much easier procedure than naturalisation and they have the right to be registered, whereas naturalisation is at the discretion of the Home Secretary. As I've said, your children will become British citizens otherwise than by descent and will be able to transmit their nationality to any children they may have anywhere in the world.


----------



## panthers75 (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks again! You are the best!


----------



## panthers75 (Jul 14, 2010)

*British Passport*

I have a follow-up question.

As I'd stated, my wife's father was born in Belfast in 1945. We have a copy of his birth certificate (official stamped copy). However, when he was born, his name was Harry Harvey Smith. After he moved to the US with his mother (British) and father (American) when he was 2-3 years old, his father passed away (a few years after they moved to the US). Herein lies my question...

After his father passed away, his mother remarried a man named Joseph Wilson. My wife's father was not adopted, but had his name changed from Harry Harvey Smith to Harry Joseph Wilson. On my wife's birth certificate, her father's country of origin was listed as "Ireland," despite Belfast being in Northern Irelend (UK). We've tried to track down the name change documentation by going to the counties where we suspect it occured, as well as asked the state where we believe the name change had occured. Unfortunately, we've been unable to find this documentation.

My question is - can she still get a British Passport? Our main goal is to have a document proving her British Citizenship, hence the passport. Sorry for all of the confusion, but these are the facts.


----------

