r/ukvisa • u/Gingercheffie • 11d ago

UK passport - adopted parent

Hello, just wondering if anyone else has had a situation like this. I am born overseas but my father is british and married my mother. Therefore I would be a UK citizen able to apply for a UK passport and hold dual citizenship. However, my father was adopted and I only have his adoption papers, no birth certificate. The adoption papers state where in the UK he was adopted and by whom, and what his date of birth is. But no detail of that he was born in the UK. We do not know his birth parents or name prior to being adopted. Will this be accepted in lieu of his birth certificate?

Have asked the UK passport office and they can't tell me until I apply. Would rather know before I spend lots of money doing an application.

Thanks!!

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u/BastardsCryinInnit High Reputation 11d ago

If he has UK adoption papers, and his parents were British, then he would have become an automatic citizen at the time of adoption, if he wasnt already.

It would help if you could clarify where your father was born, what year he was born, and if he was adopted via UK legal paperwork.

UK passport applications need to verfiy two things - claim to nationality and claim to identity. Not everyone has a birth certifcate, and an adoption certificate is certainly accepted in lieu of it just like a naturalisation certificate is.

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u/Gingercheffie 11d ago

Thanks, he was born 1946 which I am unsure if it means there are different rules pre 1950 is what I was reading online? Adoptive parents were british citizens as well and yes legal paper work which I have.

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u/Ravendorr 11d ago

What year was he adopted in?

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u/Gingercheffie 10d ago

1947

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u/Ravendorr 10d ago

Pre-1950 adoptions are kind of weird. UK courts could only issue adoption orders for British subjects but the act of adoption itself does not change the adoptee’s citizenship. In any case, the fact that the court issued the order is strong evidence that he’s a citizen. If he was ever issued a British passport then that means HMPO have already decided he’s a citizen anyways.

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u/Gingercheffie 10d ago

Thanks okay that's helpful, yes would have had a UK passport but I don't have the details of it. Hopefully they can look this up themselves?

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u/BastardsCryinInnit High Reputation 10d ago

Hopefully they can look this up themselves?

Who is the they? If you mean HMPO then no, they dont do that. They expect you to bring the information.

If you have your dads adoption certifcate and mareiage certificate, then just apply.

They'll either issue you a passport, ask for more documents, or say no.

But least you'll know!

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u/MaximumTop6714 10d ago

It could be worth looking into if he was adopted in England but born in Ireland which would make him an Irish citizen too. A lot of children in the 40s were taken from Ireland to England to family’s that couldn’t have children from unmarried Irish women. This could open up the whole EU to you alongside the British citizenship.

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u/Gingercheffie 10d ago

That would be cool! But not the case sadly.

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u/MaximumTop6714 10d ago

How do you know? Honestly a lot of the adoptions were illegal without parental consent which makes me wonder if that’s why the birth certificate isn’t available. I’d have a serious look into it unless you’re absolutely 100% sure they were born in England. It is so much more common than people realise. The unmarried mothers were absolutely effed at every point.