Why I made my son’s British passport a priority

In 2002, my husband Alastair stood in the queue of the Mexican Embassy in Belize. He was clutching his South African passport and silently cursing his father. He had done just this in many embassies worldwide, many times before.  Meanwhile, I was sitting in a bar outside, reading a book with a glass of wine. I was silently thanking my mother for my British passport, which currently gives me visa-free access to 157 countries.  South Africans only have visa-free access to 93 countries worldwide. For them, travel is not easy and definitely more expensive.  Alastair and I were both born in Africa and eligible for a British passport through descent. So why did we have such different outcomes?   It’s simple really… my British mother was organised and forward-thinking. My British father-in-law, unfortunately, didn’t realise it was a priority.

For more details on Dual Citizenship and a Second passport, please see our in-depth article.

The paperwork to get citizenship for me and my brothers was done as soon as we were born. Alastair’s father assumed that he’d be able to get citizenship for his kids later in life. Unfortunately, a law change rendered them ineligible, and the opportunity was gone. 

And travel wasn’t the only benefit that I got from my maroon passport.  When we got married, it was my British passport that allowed us to live and work in London.  When we moved to Australia, it was my British passport that allowed us easy access to an Australian working holiday visa. The self-same British passport now allows us to live in Spain. My passport’s access to the European Union has allowed us to live the brilliant life we have had.

Life would have been very different–with a lot less travel and adventure—if it wasn’t for my British Passport.

Thanks to my mother’s foresight, I could share my gift of mobility and travel with my husband and son!

Just as you want your children to have the best possible education to open doors and provide new opportunities, you should consider the opportunities available with the gift of a second passport.

You may think that the nationality and passport your child holds today is respected and useful. This may not be the case in the future.  Think about the implications that Brexit could have on UK passport holders.  Political unrest, disagreements and uncertainty often bring changes to visa requirements and rulings.   

Check out our analysis of the world’s most powerful passports.

Immigration laws change, too.  Even though you think your child is eligible for nationality in another country today, that may not be the case tomorrow. 

Don’t put off the application, your child may potentially lose out forever.

Be aware of the deadlines many countries have in place for applying for citizenship for your child.  For example, if your child is eligible through you, you need to apply for British citizenship for them before they turn 18.  The same rule applies in Croatia and Macedonia.

In other countries, if a child’s parents were not married when the child was born, the father needs to formally acknowledge them before a certain age so the child can get citizenship through him.  For example, in Denmark and Iceland, a child needs to be acknowledged by their father, and registered as a citizen, before the age of 18. In the Netherlands, a father needs to register a child as a Dutch citizen before the age of 7.

If you are pregnant, you should also consider whether you need to apply for citizenship yourself before your child is born.  In most countries, parents need to be citizens of the country of interest when the child is born, in order for the new-born to be eligible for citizenship in the future.

I only found out a couple of years ago that I am eligible for an Irish passport through my grandmother.  If I had I known earlier, I could have become a citizen of Ireland before my son was born. This would have allowed him to become an Irish citizen.  My son is lucky enough to hold two very strong passports. Unfortunately, though, he lost out on an Irish passport which would have kept him as an EU citizen after Brexit.  Make sure that your child doesn’t miss out too!

To find out how you could get a second passport, read our article to explore the options available to you.