Is my wife British?

My wife was born in Kenya in 1971

Her father is British, mother I assume was British although she was born in Hong Kong and spent early years in Hong Kong then East Africa, before family (including my wife) moved to UK in 1974

With all this Windrush stuff in the news my wife is now worried whether she is British or not.

I told her that I assume that as her father was British she is, but she can't remember ever seeing any documentation anywhere.

Is someone automatically British under circumstances I describe?
«13

Comments

  • thorsoak
    thorsoak Posts: 7,166
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Was her birth registered with the British Consul/Embassy in the country where she was born? I would imagine that with her father being British, that this would have been the case.
  • UKSBD
    UKSBD Posts: 795
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    thorsoak wrote: »
    Was her birth registered with the British Consul/Embassy in the country where she was born? I would imagine that with her father being British, that this would have been the case.

    She has no idea but I would have thought so.
    Her Grandparents were in the legal divisions of one of the consuls so I would assume everything was done correct. I've no idea how these things work though.

    I'll tell her to have a word with her father, I'm sure that will put her mind at rest a bit, she's got it in her mind now that someone's going to come round and send her back to Kenya
  • mgdavid
    mgdavid Posts: 6,705
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite
    UKSBD wrote: »
    She has no idea but I would have thought so.
    Her Grandparents were in the legal divisions of one of the consuls so I would assume everything was done correct. I've no idea how these things work though.

    I'll tell her to have a word with her father, I'm sure that will put her mind at rest a bit, she's got it in her mind now that someone's going to come round and send her back to Kenya

    Has she not got a copy of her birth certificate?
    What does it say, where was it issued and who by?
    The questions that get the best answers are the questions that give most detail....
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 45,938
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    It's also going to depend on when she was born and why her parents were in Kenya at the time.

    Does she have a passport? If she does, and there are no restrictions in it, that settles it. If she doesn't, it would be worth looking at the questions asked when completing a passport application ...
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • TonyMMM
    TonyMMM Posts: 3,376
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    The birth would be registered in Kenyan records and then the parents had an option to additionally regsiter it with the British Embassy/Consulate. Whether that happened or not has no effect on British citizenship. But if it did happen it will mean a "birth certificate" can be obtained through the General Register Office in the UK, rather than having to apply in Kenya.
  • Pollycat
    Pollycat Posts: 34,581
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Savvy Shopper!
    Forumite
    UKSBD wrote: »
    She has no idea but I would have thought so.
    Her Grandparents were in the legal divisions of one of the consuls so I would assume everything was done correct. I've no idea how these things work though.

    I'll tell her to have a word with her father, I'm sure that will put her mind at rest a bit, she's got it in her mind now that someone's going to come round and send her back to Kenya
    If it were me, I'd want something a bit more concrete to verify my nationality than what someone - even a close relative - says happened or was done.
  • theoretica
    theoretica Posts: 12,256
    First Post Name Dropper Photogenic First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Were her parents married when she was born?
    But a banker, engaged at enormous expense,
    Had the whole of their cash in his care.
    Lewis Carroll
  • clairec79
    clairec79 Posts: 2,512 Forumite
    Does she have a British passport? If so then she has British nationality and is ok (a lot of the issues with the windrush generation apparently is that they arrived on their parents passport rather than their own - Floella Benjamin was saying she is only ok because she didn't travel with her parents, so had her own passport and therefore has proof)

    My birth certificate states I'm a British citizen and is registered with the consulate - there is a service on find my past about births registered abroad -however I don't think Kenya is one of the countries that is indexed on there as I just tried to find my aunt on there and she's not listed
  • dekaspace
    dekaspace Posts: 5,705
    I've been Money Tipped!
    Forumite
    Something similar happened with my mother a few years ago, my grandfather was in the army and whilst she has a foreign birth certificate there was some issue we found as he didn't declare something when he came back to UK, did say something though that she could get a passport in the nationality she was born.


    Bearing in mind parents are as of now married over 40 years we were told its not a issue anyway.
  • UKSBD
    UKSBD Posts: 795
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Thanks all

    She's had a passport in the past, has a National Insurance and NHS number so we are assuming everything is fine.

    She just has no other documentation anywhere that she knows about.

    We don't even know what documentation if any is required.

    If she applied for a job, told employer she was born in Africa, what would they actually ask for and would just a NI number be all that was required?
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards