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.

Born Bermudian?

A couple of articles in the Royal Gazette have highlighted the case of a woman born to a Bermudian father, currently trying to obtain Bermudian status.

I decline to make any comments on the individual case, and note that the woman has been invited by the Immigration Dept to make an application. However, the comments to the articles raise some questions of concern.

Under section 18 of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act (the "Act"), a person born in Bermuda with a Bermudian parent shall possess Bermudian status. They must also possess commonwealth citizenship, but this is not normally a problem, as practically every Bermudian has commonwealth citizenship and will confer this to a child born in Bermuda.

This is very straightforward and there are no other requirements.  However, some commenters have claimed that applicants are being required to prove that their Bermudian parent was involved in their upbringing. This is completely irrelevant and should not be required in order to get status. Whether one has a Bermudian parent is a question of fact, and there is no element of discretion as to the involvement of a parent in a child's upbringing.

In order to prove that one is a mother of a child, all that is normally required is to show the birth certificate. There is a common law presumption that a child born to a married woman is also the child of her husband. Obviously when a mother is unmarried, there can be no presumption as to who the father is, so it must be proved. This might be done by looking at the birth certificate, or perhaps by a DNA test.

Furthermore, the Act provides that where it is necessary to determine that a parental relationship exists, the Minister must be satisfied that the parent held him/herself out as the parent before the child's 15th birthday of the child by bringing up the child or providing maintenance and support and taking an active role in the child's life.

It must be stressed that this applies only where it is necessary to do so - i.e. that the relationship cannot be otherwise determined. Perhaps no father's name appears on the birth certificate. Or perhaps the father is deceased or uncontactable or uncooperative.

A child born to a Bermudian parent possesses Bermudian status as of right. There should be no additional test of parental involvement imposed. To do so is unlawful as it is beyond the powers given to the Minister under the Act, and also unjust, as it imposes an additional penalty on a child who has had the misfortune to have a useless father (or to have tragically lost a father) that they also lose their Bermudian birthright.