# Baby Blues in Dubai - British Passport Application process and timeframes



## slr722 (Feb 8, 2015)

Hi Everyone

I know there are a lot of topics on this subject and most of them are over on the ********** site but this is targeted generally speaking for family men who have done this sort of thing before!

My wife and I are expecting our first child. The delivery date is around March 2016.

The plan is for my wife to fly out in Feb (the Dubai Dr has agreed to give us a note)

Once my wife is in the UK she will see the Dr, Midwife and deliver the baby in the UK; I will fly out close to the due date since my holidays are limited (my wife does not work)

I want to know what are the costs and time frames for getting the baby a British passport. Will my wife have to apply for a Birth Certificate and also will we then have to stay in the UK for 6 weeks until we get a passport so she can return to Dubai? Or can we bring the baby without a passport?

We were thinking of having it here; we have found a nice hospital in Al Zahra near Barsha and costs seem reasonable with salary so I don't mind paying here; concerns are of course she will be without her mum and family for the first few weeks this is hard. The other reasons are because I heard a child born to British parents outside of the UK will not be allowed to carry their nationality to their own child known as "British by decent" My last reservation here. And please forgive the pun. But the Emirati, Pakistani, Indian and Philipino workforce tied into the Visa issues, chasing up embassy, getting this form, driving here, waiting here, chasing this, attesting this, come back tomorrow, "sorry sir cant find your address" and all the other mantics I could honestly do without!


Appreciate any thoughts on this. Are there any other costs or considerations I need to make if we have the baby in the UK

Thank you


----------



## Windsweptdragon (Aug 12, 2012)

slr722 said:


> The plan is for my wife to fly out in Feb (the Dubai Dr has agreed to give us a note)


The doctor will only give you a note if your wife and the baby are fit enough to fly, while everything will hopefully go to plan, you'll want to have an option here as you describe below just in case. 



slr722 said:


> I want to know what are the costs and time frames for getting the baby a British passport. Will my wife have to apply for a Birth Certificate and also will we then have to stay in the UK for 6 weeks until we get a passport so she can return to Dubai? Or can we bring the baby without a passport?


Not sure on the first bit as we did it from here, but you should be able to do a same day appointment if in the UK for the passport, I don't think you'll have to wait 6 weeks. You will not be able to bring the baby here until the passport is issued though. Even if you do the application from here, as long as all paperwork is in order it should take less than 4 weeks. 



slr722 said:


> The other reasons are because I heard a child born to British parents outside of the UK will not be allowed to carry their nationality to their own child known as "British by decent" My last reservation here. And please forgive the pun. But the Emirati, Pakistani, Indian and Philipino workforce tied into the Visa issues, chasing up embassy, getting this form, driving here, waiting here, chasing this, attesting this, come back tomorrow, "sorry sir cant find your address" and all the other mantics I could honestly do without!


Kind of, any children your children have which are also born outside of the United Kingdom would not be British Citizens. We had many more problems sorting the passport out with the UK than we did getting the birth certificate and attestations here. 




slr722 said:


> Appreciate any thoughts on this. Are there any other costs or considerations I need to make if we have the baby in the UK


You've looked at deliver charge here, have you also factored in the monthly checkups etc your wife will have for baby development scans? My wife was covered under my health insurance but if not that would have been an expensive contribution to overall cost.


----------



## slr722 (Feb 8, 2015)

Windsweptdragon said:


> The doctor will only give you a note if your wife and the baby are fit enough to fly, while everything will hopefully go to plan, you'll want to have an option here as you describe below just in case.
> 
> 
> Not sure on the first bit as we did it from here, but you should be able to do a same day appointment if in the UK for the passport, I don't think you'll have to wait 6 weeks. You will not be able to bring the baby here until the passport is issued though. Even if you do the application from here, as long as all paperwork is in order it should take less than 4 weeks.
> ...


Thanks for your reply.

What was the cost, time scales and procedure to get a baby a passport if we have it here in Dubai?

FYI: The costs; we have already paid for antenatal so post baby and delivery should be good and covered.


----------



## Windsweptdragon (Aug 12, 2012)

slr722 said:


> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> What was the cost, time scales and procedure to get a baby a passport if we have it here in Dubai?
> 
> FYI: The costs; we have already paid for antenatal so post baby and delivery should be good and covered.


We had a few more steps to complete than you will as my wife is not a UK citizen. 

Once the baby is born you will get a birth notification from the hospital, this is then taken to Department of Preventative Medicine where the Arabic birth certificate is issued. This then needs to be translated into English (can be done at same time). The English version then needs to be attested by Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This needs to be done within 10 days of the baby being born and cost around 600 AED I think all in. It did take two visits to the Department as there was an error on first Arabic certificate which the guy on the desk spotted (correction was free). 

Once you have the attested birth certificate it is sent off to the UK passport office in Liverpool with all supporting documentation. If its UK citizens applying this should take 21 days or less. You need the passport and visa to be in place by day 120 of your baby being born or you will get a daily fine. Cost will be same here as it is in UK, so look that up, add 200 AED for delivery to get it to the UK via secure delivery people.


----------



## slr722 (Feb 8, 2015)

Windsweptdragon said:


> We had a few more steps to complete than you will as my wife is not a UK citizen.
> 
> Once the baby is born you will get a birth notification from the hospital, this is then taken to Department of Preventative Medicine where the Arabic birth certificate is issued. This then needs to be translated into English (can be done at same time). The English version then needs to be attested by Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This needs to be done within 10 days of the baby being born and cost around 600 AED I think all in. It did take two visits to the Department as there was an error on first Arabic certificate which the guy on the desk spotted (correction was free).
> 
> Once you have the attested birth certificate it is sent off to the UK passport office in Liverpool with all supporting documentation. If its UK citizens applying this should take 21 days or less. You need the passport and visa to be in place by day 120 of your baby being born or you will get a daily fine. Cost will be same here as it is in UK, so look that up, add 200 AED for delivery to get it to the UK via secure delivery people.



Did the UK office post it back to you?



> Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs



600 each - are these buildings close to each other?


----------



## iggles (Jan 4, 2015)

My 2 Cent's if I had a baby it would be in the UK.

Couple of reasons

1) NHS 
2) Family close by if support is needed
3) Family will want to see little jimmy
4) Stops any future complications regarding his nationality of little jimmy and little jimmy's babies nationality 
5) Zero complications with passport and birth certificate. 
6) Will be forced to represent England at rugby.


----------



## slr722 (Feb 8, 2015)

iggles said:


> My 2 Cent's if I had a baby it would be in the UK.
> 
> Couple of reasons
> 
> ...


2 Cents? That was worth 50,000 AED "little jimmy" LOL


----------



## Windsweptdragon (Aug 12, 2012)

slr722 said:


> Did the UK office post it back to you?
> 
> 600 each - are these buildings close to each other?


Yes, passport is posted back to you and all supporting documents as you need to provide your birth certificates etc also. 

It was around 600 for everything, certificate and both attestations. I didn't need to go to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stamp was gained from them at the Birth Certificate place. If you need to go separately they are not close to each other. 

As iggles says though.... given the choice I would have had the baby born in the UK, I'm just giving you the 'whatifs' advice. 

If the baby is born in UK I would imagine you will still need to get their birth certificate attested in UK and then go to MoFA as you will need all that to sponsor the child.


----------



## Racing_Goats (Sep 5, 2015)

My wife had our third baby in the UK last year and it seemed best option for us at the time - the hospital birth cert they give you on discharge can be used to register birth and get a birth certificate there and then at a local registrar office, passport same day service is available at UK passport centres with an appointment system. Then you're good to go as soon as have a doctor letter confirming baby is healthy and fit to fly.

One thing to be aware of if you haven't checked it out already, UK agencies including NHS seem to be much stricter on eligibility rules for treatment these days and the non resident status and NI contribution records can be an issue if pitching up for treatment straight off the plane.. I can't remember exactly but something like uk citizen should be resident in UK during x months preceding treatment. Definitely worth making sure your wife will get the care and treatment she needs without any delay.


----------



## stevieboy1980 (Sep 9, 2008)

Hi, we had our first boy here and just had twins here, city hospital full service great. Passports from UK only took exactly 7 days too which was great. We were happy fully both with first and the twins here in dubai


----------

