Tuesday 26 November 2013

Child of Bermudian unable to travel?

The Royal Gazette has published an article about the problems of a Bermudian woman getting Bermudian status or a passport for her son, as she only acquired Bermudian status after her son was born.

She says she is unable to travel with her son as she has been unable to obtain travel documents for him.

If the circumstances of the case are as reported, there should be a relatively simple procedure to get a British Overseas Territories (BOT) passport for her son. She could ask the Governor to register him as a BOT citizen, and she would then be able to get a passport for him.

The story reports that the mother was not Bermudian at the time of birth, but the father was. Provided that paternity can be proven then the child should be entitled to Bermudian status from birth.
 I also wonder whether the mother might have an argument for claiming that she was entitled to Bermudian status at birth. She was born overseas, but if her Bermudian dad was domiciled in Bermuda at the time of her birth (which doesn't necessarily mean he was living here) then she would also be Bermudian from birth and so her son would be too.

Even if her son cannot get Bermudian status from birth, he will be deemed to be Bermudian until he turns 22, so it is not too much of a problem right now. The key thing is the passport, which shouldn't be difficult to get.


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