Please advise.
I’m a British citizen and had an affair whilst working in Taiwan. The girl has had my child and now our daughter is 5yo. We have been in contact during this time but it’s been distant. We want to be a family but I’m not on the birth certificate due to not being a Taiwanese national. I live in UK and we want the child and mother to come to uk to live.
We plan for them to come and visit UK and complete a DNA test as proof of parentage.
Once we have this how do we register the child as a British citizen to obtain a British passport?
We know that the household registration can be updated with my details but still unsure on how to actually obtain citizenship and apply for British passport.
This link might help.
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You would fill out the online form and pay the fee:
Children of British fathers
This page tells you how to consider applications made by children of unmarried
British fathers under sections 4F, 4G, 4H and 4I of the British Nationality Act 1981.
These sections apply to people who were born before 1 July 2006 and who would
have automatically become British citizens, or would be entitled to register under
other provisions of the 1981 Act, had their parents been married at the time of their
birth.
…
Parents who married after the child was born
If a person’s parents were not married at the time of the birth, but later married, the
person may have been “legitimated” in accordance with section 47 of the British
Nationality Act 1981 or section 23 of the British Nationality Act 1948 – see Nationality
policy children of unmarried parents.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/824429/registration-as-british-citizen-children-of-british-parents-v6.0ext.pdf
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Just want to clarify - there is no such thing as an official birth certificate in Taiwan, similar to what you would find in most Western countries. Instead there is the following:
- Hospital birth certificate: These are not official documents, they are just issued by the hospital where the birth occurred, you can usually even get one in English. It will list the parents, not sure how they deal with it if the father is not present at the birth. I am not Taiwanese but I was listed on this with no issues for my child.
- Household Registration: This is the official government record. You can be listed on your child’s/wife’s Household Registration as a non-Taiwanese, there’s no issue there in principle, but of course you’d need to be married to her. In fact, “marriage” in Taiwan from the government’s perspective is merely the act of going to the Household Registration office and registering together. There is no official marriage certificate.
Hope this helps - just wanted to clarify that non-Taiwanese can certainly be listed as parents on both of these types of documents, though of course it may be trickier to accomplish for your case.
4 Likes
Thanks.
We plan to complete DNA test in UK when they can visit due to covid.
Once this is done she will return and update household register to add me as the father.
Then I guess the British citizenship can be applied for due to parentage. Is this correct?
Do I need to be present for the updating of the register?
Is there a specific reason she isnt adding you as the father before she leaves and does the whole dna test/uk passport deal?
Not to sound paranoid, but why not now? Protect yourself. this story sounds pretty familiar for a.lot of foreigners.
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I worked a lot in Taiwan she is a business manager at the hotel I used. Last time I was there was for 7 weeks.
We even travelled to India and had 2 periods of a week there together.
We ended the affair before I knew about the child due to my wife knowing. She fell pregnant during the 7 week period and we spent nearly every night together.
What we are planning is for them to visit me and us to get the dna test done here. Reason being is for a court permissible test we both need to be present at time of samples being taken.
Once we have the results she will return to Taiwan and get the household registration updated. If this is possible.
Then I will visit Taiwan and see about passport.
From what you say it might be easier to get the passport done here for the child once the register is updated and for the mother to apply once here for a family visa.
Does this sound like the way to go?
Without commenting.on family matters I will say you can get a taiwanese passport in your hands in taiwan within 48 hours for a.minimal fee. I remember 1000-2000 when I did it, but most certainly I am wrong. should be under 100 pounds. Quite convenient. Uk passport no idea the procedure. But if.all the people involved are playing nice, should be painless.
DNA test is best done in the UK then update all documents in Taiwan followed by the rest of the paperwork in the UK.
Wishing you a joyous family reunion!
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You may not even need DNA evidence. Perhaps Taiwanese household registration and a statutory declaration from the mother would be sufficient. If it were me, I would explore options that don’t require travelling to UK.
Officials must not require DNA evidence, but applicants are free to volunteer DNA evidence where they choose to do so. …
Where applicants choose not to provide DNA evidence, no negative inference can be drawn from that and used in the decision-making process.