British consular birth registration

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

Don't get me started on middle names and birth registration at ward offices..... I spent almost two hours with a ward office worker on thinking about the correct place to put the middle name in the birth registration, only to find out when I registered their birth at the British embassy they had added to our surname that started another great paper chase between my ward office and ministry of Home affairs in Tokyo. That was 2009, fast forward two and half years and baby number two, determined not to have a repeat of this episode and seriously contemplating not giving my daughter a middle name, only to find out that the ward office now has a space for middle names on the birth registration. Japanese bureaucracy however inflexible can change albeit at a glacial speed.

[kuma]

I recently completed the process for my youngest child.

The FCO branch that does the consular birth registrations had been closed for a while during restrictions, and I'd procrastinated. After mailing the documents, the certificate came mightily quick -- less than two weeks from Japanese post office to certificate delivered to relative in UK, I think.

[macdannyjp]

Hello everyone,

As a British-Japanese (born to a British father) married to a Japanese wife and with a newborn daughter, will there be any issue registering her birth in the UK?
I have different first names (not surnames) on my British passport/birth certificate and Japanese passport. Furthermore, my family register, marriage certificate and daughter's birth certificate have my Japanese first name on it. So, I'm wondering whether this will cause any confusion during the application process or will I just have to provide additional documents?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[RetireJapan]

Might depend where you were born. I was born outside the UK, so my children won't be UK citizens unless they are born in the UK or live there for a few years.

Ask the embassy, they should be able to give you the current information.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

Hello everyone,

As a British-Japanese (born to a British father) married to a Japanese wife and with a newborn daughter, will there be any issue registering her birth in the UK?
I have different first names (not surnames) on my British passport/birth certificate and Japanese passport. Furthermore, my family register, marriage certificate and daughter's birth certificate have my Japanese first name on it. So, I'm wondering whether this will cause any confusion during the application process or will I just have to provide additional documents?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You have a British and Japanese passport?

[RetireJapan]

You have a British and Japanese passport?

Most dual nationals by birth keep both with the tacit permission of the Japanese government.

[Tkydon]

I am informed by the British Passport Authority that the British Consular Birth Certificate is not acceptable in applying for a British Passport, and the applicant must provide the Local Birth Certificate of the Country of Birth, and if not readable then the applicant must also provide a Certified Translation done by a Registered Translation Company to accompany the application, along with the other required documents.

[Tkydon]

Hello everyone,

As a British-Japanese (born to a British father) married to a Japanese wife and with a newborn daughter, will there be any issue registering her birth in the UK?
I have different first names (not surnames) on my British passport/birth certificate and Japanese passport. Furthermore, my family register, marriage certificate and daughter's birth certificate have my Japanese first name on it. So, I'm wondering whether this will cause any confusion during the application process or will I just have to provide additional documents?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

If you were born in the UK, then you are a British Citizen, and your daughter (if born in Japan) will be a British Citizen By Decent. She will automatically be a British Citizen, but children born to her, if not born in the UK, will not.

If you were born in Japan, then you are a British Citizen By Decent, and your daughter (if born in Japan) will not automatically be a British Citizen.

[kuma]

Hello everyone,

As a British-Japanese (born to a British father) married to a Japanese wife and with a newborn daughter, will there be any issue registering her birth in the UK?
I have different first names (not surnames) on my British passport/birth certificate and Japanese passport. Furthermore, my family register, marriage certificate and daughter's birth certificate have my Japanese first name on it. So, I'm wondering whether this will cause any confusion during the application process or will I just have to provide additional documents?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm very late to answer here, but in addition to others' answers, the overseas birth registration service has an email address for enquiries: birthregistrationenquiries@fcdo.gov.uk (source: https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth/y/j ... me_country).

[kuma]

Hello everyone,

As a British-Japanese (born to a British father) married to a Japanese wife and with a newborn daughter, will there be any issue registering her birth in the UK?
I have different first names (not surnames) on my British passport/birth certificate and Japanese passport. Furthermore, my family register, marriage certificate and daughter's birth certificate have my Japanese first name on it. So, I'm wondering whether this will cause any confusion during the application process or will I just have to provide additional documents?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm very late to answer here, but in addition to others' answers, the overseas birth registration service has an email address for enquiries: birthregistrationenquiries@fcdo.gov.uk (source: https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth/y/j ... me_country).

As others have mentioned, consular birth registration will only be possible if your daughter automatically acquired British citizenship at birth... which ordinarily means you were born in the UK. See https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/United_Kingd ... itizenship

If that's the case, there may or may not be difficulties ahead if you wish to proceed with the UK consular birth registration (or behind, if you've already been through the process).

You may have already navigated some name non-alignment issues when applying for passports from two countries.

For example, Page 1 of the guide to applying for a UK passport states:

"If you’re a dual national and hold a non British passport in a different name, you must change it to match the name you want on your British passport. You must do this before you make your application."
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... a-passport

However...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark29

This HMPO guidance document suggests that the UK passport office may make exceptions to their rule in cases where customers have a foreign passport from a country which does not accept dual citizenship:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark28

Sorry, that's tangential to what's being asked... but shows that there is some recognition of name non-alignment issues.

Back to the registration, the notes on the registration form state:
"The father/parent’s name must match that on the local birth certificate."
https://www.gov.uk/register-a-birth

Sorry, late, lengthy and disjointed 'answer'!