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Passports for US/UK babies

laowaigringalaowaigringa member
in International Bumpies
Hi everyone! I'm American, DH is British and we are living in Asia. Our first baby is due in three weeks (!!) and I'm trying to plan ahead on getting the baby her passport after she's born. While we're planning to make sure she has dual citizenship, I'm guessing it isn't actually necessary for her to have both passports, is that right? So we're wondering which passport, US or UK, would be cheaper/easier/faster to get considering we are not living in either the US or the UK. I had read that the US requires even newborns to have their eyes open for their passport photo but the UK does not, so that may well be our deciding factor! But any experience or advice on this would be appreciated! 
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Re: Passports for US/UK babies

  • SebsMumSebsMum member
    I live in the UK but am American (English hubby, too).  Which country in Asia are you living in (ie are you in Hong Kong or another country with super close ties to the UK?  Also, I used to live in Asia myself (Taiwan) and am just nosy.)  I can't really advise about how hard the UK passport was to obtain from abroad as we live in the UK, but we applied from here (UK) and the turn around time was < 3 weeks.  
     
    I am currently looking for an appointment at the embassy to get DS's US passport, which needs to be done in person and DH is actually not allowed to attend the appointment.  Look into the procedure for both, one might be more of a ball ache than the other (US passport, I assume! :P )

    All of that being said, I have heard that baby should enter the US on a US passport only, so if you're planning on going home, then you have to just bite the bullet and get the damn thing.  Friends of mine in Taiwan did it at the Taipei embassy and said it took hours.
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  • laowaigringalaowaigringa member
    I'm living in Thailand, so sadly not part of the former Empire.   ;)) It does seem like I've heard so many different stories about which passport is easier to get. So does that mean your son will have both passports? I had kind of been planning on getting both, I guess mainly because in my mind having the passport equates with having the citizenship although I've realized since that of course that isn't true. Now it seems like there isn't really any practical purpose for having both other than that it's cool.   ;;)  Anyway, I agree with you and am assuming the US passport would be a bigger pain, although I have friends who are US/Canadian and said for their kids the US passport was a lot faster.
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  • BeijingvolBeijingvol member
    Just FYI and something you may want to look into later. As far as citizenship goes, the UK will recognize dual, but the US may not :/
    My hubby is also Brittish and we live in the US. He is hesitant to apply for citizenship because then our kids won't be able to apply for UK passports.
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  • AmericanInOzAmericanInOz member

    It is absolutely legal to get both. The US 'frowns' on people having more than US citizenship, but it's totally legal (as long as your other citizenship doesn't force you to renouce any others - like Germany)

    DD and I both have American, UK and Aussie

    If you plan on travelling to the USA at all at some point, you'll need to get the US passport for your DC. If you're able to have a US passport, you have to use it to enter and exit the US. It was a bit of a pain to get that one, as the child has to be present at the interview at the embassy and the application required a bit of work on my part (proving I lived there through transcripts, making a list of all days I've been out of the USA in my life, etc). But it wasn't a huge deal.

    For the UK passport I just had to show my natrualization paperwork, no drama.

    But we got dd both. You just never know if applicable laws will change so we wanted to get her both from birth so she can now have them forever

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  • AmericanInOzAmericanInOz member
    Beijingvol said:
    Just FYI and something you may want to look into later. As far as citizenship goes, the UK will recognize dual, but the US may not :/ My hubby is also Brittish and we live in the US. He is hesitant to apply for citizenship because then our kids won't be able to apply for UK passports.

    You may want to look into that further, I don't believe that's right.

    If your dh was born in the UK, your kids automatically get citizenship through him. If he got his UK citizenship through descent, then he just has to prove he lived there for a certain number of years (i think it was 4?) in order to be able to pass on citizenship. His other citizenships are irrelevant.

     
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  • KitchenElfKitchenElf member
    Oh snap @AmericaninOz.  I have UK, US and Aussie passports too!
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  • PaturkeyPaturkey member
    It was no big deal for us to get a US passport from the UK. We applied for his passport, consular report of birth abroad and social security number at the same time. Just one apt at the embassy and the passport arrived 2 weeks later even though the govt was shut down at the time. He was around 4 weeks old when we got it. We made the apt as soon as he was born. Good luck!
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  • kmcwhorterkmcwhorter member
    milkergirl1 said:


    AmericanInOz said:

    It is absolutely legal to get both. The US 'frowns' on people having more than US citizenship, but it's totally legal (as long as your other citizenship doesn't force you to renouce any others - like Germany)

    DD and I both have American, UK and Aussie

    If you plan on travelling to the USA at all at some point, you'll need to get the US passport for your DC. If you're able to have a US passport, you have to use it to enter and exit the US. It was a bit of a pain to get that one, as the child has to be present at the interview at the embassy and the application required a bit of work on my part (proving I lived there through transcripts, making a list of all days I've been out of the USA in my life, etc). But it wasn't a huge deal.

    For the UK passport I just had to show my natrualization paperwork, no drama.

    But we got dd both. You just never know if applicable laws will change so we wanted to get her both from birth so she can now have them forever


    Lurker here.  Just an FYI, if you end up getting the UK passport, your child can still travel to the U.S. on a their other citizenship.  The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) just requires everyone to have a valid passport.  If you were moving back to the U.S., you would just have to prove that the child has U.S. citizenship, such as a birth abroad certificate to move your child back to the U.S. with you. And the U.S. doesn't frown upon it, they just don't recognize both citizenships, and the U.S. citizenship trumps the others for U.S. immigration purposes.




    No, a US citizen is required to enter and leave the US on a US passport. https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/74

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  • meggiev123meggiev123 member
    Our DD is a dual American/Canadian citizen and we live in Ukraine.  Getting her US passport was VERY easy. We took the pictures at home following their posted guidelines, scheduled an appointment with American Citizen Services online, waited a half hour at the Embassy and in 6 days had the passport in our hand.  The only annoying part is that if possible both parents (even the non-citizen) should be present. 


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