Do my kids have dual nationality?

MagaliPiendel

author of Purple E 5280, sci-fi novel -coming soon
Location
Lancashire
Hi,
My 3 children were born in England in 1995, 98 and 2000. Their father is British and I'm French. In autumn 2015 my eldest applied for a British passport. The Liverpool branch have been very awkward with her and refused to issue her passport. They asked me to get very old and archived documents from the HMRC which took months to come and eventually, despite giving her extra time, as soon as they received those documents, they simply said that the file was closed. I insisted but they replied with a long quote of law articles to "prove" to me that I was wasting their time since my daughter "was NOT British".
See what I mean. My kids were all born in the UK from a British Dad, speak English as their first language, have attended schools and all since early childhood, lived all their lives here but are treated like outsiders. Now with Brexit looming I fear for them. My son got his French passport recently from the French consulate in London, where they told him he HAS dual nationality anyway. (?) Before he got into apprenticeship, he was getting Universal Credit (which he wouldn't be entitled to if not British).
So are my children British as well as French?
Do they need to apply for Citizenship or is it simply granted to them?
And if they can have dual nationality, can my daughter get her money back which the Liverpool passport office took from her in end 2015? (I'm in a good mind to sue them personally)

Thanks a lot if you can help us with those mind-boggling mazes of law.
 

Riley Haas

Administrator
Staff member
Location
Toronto
Hi,
It sure sounds like your children are British. I can't imagine the government will give her the money back, especially over two years later. (Maybe there is an ombudsman who she can complain to.) Has she looked at this https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/complaints-procedure?

We don't handle French passports so I'm not up on French nationality law but it sounds like your children are dual citizens of the UK and France: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_nationality_law#French_citizenship_by_birth_abroad_to_at_least_one_French_citizen

Hope this helps.
 
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