Advice please on this one...

[sheldon1]

i HAD A BIT IF A NIGHTMARE RECENTLY IN MANILA AS I COULD NOT KEEP MY APPOINTMENT TO REGISTER MY KIDS AS BRITISH. THIS WAS DUE TO BE HAVING TO GET BACK TO WORK.

SO I AM TRYING TO TO RE- ARRANGE IT NOW BUT I WONT BE PRESENT. THEY ARE ASKING FOR ME TO SUPPLY A PATERNITY DOCUMENT SIGNED IN FRONT OF A CONSULAR OFFICER. I EMAILED THEM THAT HOW DO I DO THAT? I COULD NOT GET A REPLY FROM THE UKBA HERE IN UK. NO PHONE NUMBERS ETC. THEY REPLIED THAT I COULD HAVE IT NOTARIZED HERE IN UK. APPARENTLY ALSO I HAVE TO SEND COPIES OF MY PASSPORT ALSO NOTARIZED BY A LAWYER ALSO. I WAS WONDERING IF ANY MEMBERS HAVE REGISTERED THEIR CHILDREN IN MANILA WITHOUT BOTH PARTIES BEEN PRESENT? IF THIS ENDS UP IN A DNA TEST FOR MY BOY (BORN BEFORE JULY 2006 NOT MARRIED AT THE TIME) HOW WOULD I GO ABOUT THIS IF I CANNOT BE PRESENT? I HAVE ALREADY SPENT SO MUCH MONEY TRYING TO SORT THIS OUT.
ANY ADVICE PLEASE I UNDERSTAND THIS IS A TRICKY ONE.GUYS???

[Steve.r]

Not sure how you can prove paternity other than, as I did was supply a copy of the stamped page on my passport showing I was in the country for the time of conception. I also never had to have anything notorised by anyone, apart from the photograph and small section on the C2 form that a teacher friend in Phils signed, saying that she had known us both for so many years and the photo was a true representaion of my son. I don't understand where you are paying money for this, all the documents from the hospital scan photos, doctors notes, proof of relationship should all be to hand. :Erm:

[sheldon1]

I went to see douglas patterson (former consular) in angeles city whilst in angeles city. He told me that because my boy was born before july 2006 he did not get british citizenship by descent. Because we were not married at the time. I am a bit confused now if he was trying to get my kids registered as a consular birth, but he knew we wanted passports for our kids. Basically we got married in 2008 in phils, and we were late to get filipino birth certificated for our kids, we have already and they are legitimised. We just want to get british passports for them. I dont know if we have been mislead or not? The ukba in manila have emailed me that if i not going to be present at my wifes appointment copies of my passport must be notarized. And the paternity document must be also notarized by a lawyer in uk.

But the email to me from ukba says consular birth registsration is this what i need to get british passports or not? This what the former consular told us. He even prepared our paperwork.
Thanks
sheldon

[Steve.r]

On the C2 form (notes) I am sure it has a section for non-married partners. I will see if I still have a copy. I think the consular was lining his pockets...

[Steve.r]

This is the C2 form, http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/central-content-pdfs/form-c2.pdf

take a look at the bottom of section 2. It says about un-married parents, and is to be filled in by your wife only. I am sure if you supply all the documents required, it is striaght forward.

Here are the C2 notes:
http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/central-content-pdfs/form-c2-notes.pdf

Here is a list of required documents for the Philippines:



CHILDREN UNDER 16, BORN OUTSIDE OF THE UK (where only ONE parent was British at the time of birth)

Current British passport
Local birth certificate, if born in the Philippines, NSO version
British Birth Certificate (if held)
Parents passports at time of the birth of applicant
Parents current passports
Home Office naturalisation/registration document of applicant and parents if applicable
Parents Marriage Certificate
CRS Form no 5 - Advisory on Marriages (available from the NSO)
CENOMAR for Philippine citizen parent (if parents are not married)
Birth certificates of all other siblings
Annulment/Divorce/death certificate for parents
Mother's antenatal/postnatal/delivery notes, scans and ultrasounds from hospital.
We understand that not all of the above documentation will be available. Please provide as much as possible when you submit the application.
Contact Us:

If you cannot find the information you need on the website, you could contact the Careline Passport Information Line at +44 208 082 4744 (Credit Card Line - calls will be charged at £0.72 per minute plus VAT) 21:00 Sunday UK time - 01:30 Saturday UK time (24 hour service). Please be aware that you will be charged for this call.

[sheldon1]

Steve was you married at the time your child was born? Could you possibly give me an idea how you registered your child. As i am totally confused what we are doing. As i think i have been misled i think?

[Steve.r]

Hi Sheldon.

Yes I was married at the time, which I guess is the only difference to your situation, but hardly a real sticking point. It was very simple really. The C2 form I posted was the only form needed to be filled by the British Embassy in the Philippines. The list of documents I posted is all you need. I am sure you will have all of them (or the applicable ones) We initially made an appointment to register our son's birth, and went to the embassy, but they rejected our son's photo because his head was slightly to one side (he was 3 weeks old:doh... not easy to keep him awake and head steady) Anyway, all the other documents were in order, the girl in the embassy quickly checked we had them all. Because we needed to get the photo re-taken, and notorised by our friend the teacher, we returned home and re took them. We then sent all the documents (excluding my passport as I needed it to go home again.. so included a xerox of the ID page and stamps relating to time of conception) by LBC courier to the embassy, including return to LBC postage.

All of these documents were returned within about a week, I guess they send all of them to Hong Kong for processing and returned them straight away. They give a guidence that the passport if granted will take 6 weeks to come, ours came in 4 weeks.

I really don't see it as a problem that you were not married when your baby was conceived or born, just get your wife to fill in the appropriate part of the C2 form. Everything else is quite easy. The trouble is with asking someone to help you (like the consular) is that they probably think they know the system when they don't but because they are 'doing you a favor' they want their under the table payment for it. You can email the embassy, they are dreadful at replying, but they will do it, get the proper info from them if you get stuck.

Hope that helps a bit :)

[sheldon1]

Great steve. Number 6 on your check list. Naturalised document. Can you be clear what this is and how did you get it? As i think thats what i am trying to get. I only have filipino birth certificates. And finally could you give me an idea of the cost?

Many thanks steve. I really appreciate it

sheldon

[Steve.r]

I think that relates to your current status. Whether or not you are now living somewhere other than in Phils /living with visa in another country. I belive this is not necessary in your case right now. I cannot remember having to have this for myself or my wife, who is still in Phils. Again, to be 100% sure maybe fire an email to the embassy, but if they dont answer within a day or so, follow it up every day demanding an answer.:)

[sheldon1]

sorry steve to keep badgering you on this one. you must of had a birth certificate to get the passports. did you have a filipino or british birth certificate? if its the latter how did you get it it? i have asked around different sites. and i have been told before we can apply for british passports we must have a british birth certificate. the consular application we have the paperwork could be the wrong one as it does not constitute a british birth certificate. its this document i have been told i need even before i can get to the stage of applying for passports using the c2 form ? my wife in the philippines is totally stumped on this. we are making an appointment in manila but she is still waiting for an appointment to be confirmed. also steve these new proposals on the threshold of earnings for spouse visa. has it 100/% gone through parliament yet? i mean is it definately going to happen? i will be able to earn 18600 possibly slightly more,but no way will i earn an extra £5000 to bring my kids. hence this is why i am trying to get british passports. my m.p. here seems to think there is still hope. lets see...

thanks so much

sheldon

[Steve.r]

My son only had a Philippine birth certificate, it makes no difference, don't sweat about that.

You can get a UK birth certificate at the embassy, but it is expensive, and really it is not more recognised than the Phils one. You can still carry on and process your son's application without needing the uk version. The C2 is the ONLY form you need to fill out for application and supply the docs from the list I posted. Nothing more.

The reforms to the visa application come into force on the 9th July, but if your son is successful in getting his passport, there is no extra earnings needed for him, after all, he is then British and a British passport holder. Other dependant children will need the extra earnings.

hope that helps :)

[sheldon1]

thanks very much steve