Can the UK actually strip Shamim Begum of her British citizenship? Won't that make her stateless contrary to international law?
I’m all in favour of personal freedom, even the personal freedom to make bad decisions. In fact freedom is only meaningful if it includes the freedom to make bad decisions.In this case a 15 year old decided to turn her back on pluralist western way of life, and join a state with very different fundamentalist religious beliefs. No-one forced her to do this, and it infantilises her to view her as some kind of passive victim of ISIS, a ”spectator in her own life”. She was 15 years old, not 12 or 10 or 5! She had the wherewithal and gumption to travel across Europe in pursuit of her rejection of Britain and British life. Four years later the only part of what has happened that she appears to regret is that the society she joined didn’t win the war that she went to support. To see her actions otherwise is to deny her moral agency.So I feel that we should respect the decision she made. She effectively abrogated her British citizenship herself and it is ludicrous to then view her as “our problem” any more. I would in fact fight for her right to make the decision that she made to leave the UK. No-one should be forced to live in our society if they don’t like it. That is something that separates us from totalitarian regimes. But a decision to leave for such a hostile regime is a “one way ticket”. If she were to state, very clearly with no weasel words, that she’d made a terrible mistake then I would be prepared to consider a request from her to immigrate to the UK, to be with her family again, contingent on future good behaviour and prison time for any crimes that she may have been involved in. But there is not the slightest sign that she considers emigration to join ISIS to have been an error. She appears to just see it as personally convenient to return to the UK and once again enjoy the benefits of a modern secular social welfare society. She can’t have it both ways!
Can my 2 children under 18 years apply for a British passport if I have a British birth certificate and passport from my parents, but I was born outside the UK?
This is a tricky one. If you were born outside the U.K. then you may not be able to pass your British citizenship on to your children.It depends on a number of factors, includingWhere your kids were bornTheir other parent’s nationalityWhere you and they have lived sinceThe rules are in the British Nationality Act 1981. If you were born on or after 1/1/1983 then your status is of “British Citizen” but your nationality is by descent. Only nationality otherwise than by descent can be passed on to your kids unless they were born in the U.K. or their other parent was a British Citizen.If you were born before 1983, then yes, your kids are British Citizens.Hope that helps.
If kids are born in UK from non British parents, how do they get citizenship?
Just stay in the UK. If such a person remains in the UK for the first ten years of his or her life, and is not absent from the UK for more than 90 days during any of those years, then he or she is entitled to apply for registration as a British citizen.I see this answer has been collapsed by down votes. The answer is true, accurate, and is, without doubt, the easiest way for kids born in the UK from non-British parents to get UK citizenship. Before downvoting, read the reference, which is from the government of the UK. From that reference:“You lived in the UK until you were 10You can register to become a British citizen if you were born in the UK on or after 1 January 1983 and neither of your parents was a British citizen or settled at that time.You must:be 10 or olderand have lived in the UK until you were 10 or olderYou must also normally have spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in each of the first 10 years of your life.If you spent more time than this outside the UK but there are special reasons for this, you’ll need to explain them on the form.Apply using form T. Read the guidance before you apply.”Register as a British citizenYou can find the form and guide here:Application to register as British citizen: form TI will, however, add Sue Ambrose’s caveat that “it is best to take advice from an immigration lawyer based on your own and the child’s/children’s circumstances.”