my children's citizenship

[Scotgirl63 0]

I realize this forum is more for question relating to US citizenship, but this is a little different.

So I am a natural born British citizen and my husband is US. I've lived in the US for 25 years and had both of my kids here. I'm not sure why we haven't looked into this sooner but we really want our kids to have British citizenship also. One is 17 and one is 21. For the 17 year I am under the impression I can just apply for his British passport. Would that be a correct assumption? What about for the 21 year old - would I actually have to go through a naturalization application for her?

Any help appreciated

Thanks!

[lost_at_sea 995]

For the 17 year old, it looks easy: https://www.gov.uk/register-british-citizen/children-born-outside-uk

For the older - she was born, what, 1994 or so? She likely has to make her own application as an adult, rather than you doing it for her as with the 17 year old, but it's unclear to me whether she's too old already or whether she's just automatically had it the whole time and just needs to make an application for a passport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nationality_law#British_citizenship_by_descent

[newacct 688]

If you are a British citizen "otherwise than by descent" (i.e. if you were born in the UK, naturalized in the UK, etc), then your children born abroad are automatically British citizens at birth. Nothing needs to be applied for or done for this to happen. As British citizens, they can apply for a British passport at any time.

[lost_at_sea 995]

I googled around a bit, and this was the most easy-to-understand link I found: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/British_Citizenship_by_Descent