nationality of baby advice

[bikeinbatangas]

hi, my fiancee is expecting our baby at the end of october. unfortunately we are not in a position to marry before that time. We tried before i left in march but didnt have time with all the red tape involved. We now plan to marry after the birth.

so though i expect the child to carry my family name, i presume it is going to be considered as filipino?
Does anyone know about the process of changing the childs nationality to british? no doubt there are hefty fees involved and lots of paperwork as with everything else involving foreigners in the philippines.

[Steve.r]

No matter if you are married or not the baby will be entitiled to become British and carry a British passport. Make sure you can satify the criteria for the C2 form, there are other threads on the forum relating to baby passports so take a look at them with the search facility.
Make sure your fiancee keeps all her scan photos and paperwork from the doctor and hospital, plus all birth registration papers, receipts for meds in the hospital etc etc. The British Embassy recommended that we register our son's birth by applying for his passport as soon as we could after his birth. You do not need to get your baby a British birth certificate your official NSO cert is enough. We applied for our son at 5 weeks old. After application, we recieved his British passport 4 weeks later.

[joebloggs]

was your fiancee born in the UK?

[malditako]

the child can still carry your name upon birth but you have to be there when the babys born as you need to sign the birth certificate allowing the baby to use your name

[bikeinbatangas]

that is great news steve r. i thought i'd have a long and costly process to get her british papers. will having the baby registered as british help bring my fiancee over here faster? she will be my wife around the end of the year which should help anyway, but i hope the fact that i would like my baby to be with me in the UK will speed things up.

i will be there for the birth, i'm going over a little earlier than normal to be there. my fiancee is filipina, not born in UK.

[Steve.r]

I really dont think it will help get your fiancee/wife over any quicker, but it does prove that you have a serious relationship already. When your daughter arrives just get her British passport as soon as you can. Regisitering the birth at the embassy is costly and not necessary, the girl in the embassy said it just isnt really worth it as it has no real benefit, so just apply for the passport.

I was like you and booked up to get to phils ready for the birth, all arranged and paid for..... then my wife had a fall at our farm, and my son decided he wanted to come out 6 weeks early. I missed the birth as he had to be cut out quickly, but got there 3 days later and luckily both my wife and son were doing fine.

Good luck, I hope it all goes well for you.