Consular Notification thingy of Birth Abroad

Do you need to get the British passport and the US one before you travel? I assume so, but just checking!

This all sounds like a lot of faff, and I'm not keen on having to travel to London to the embassy, but at least you only have to do it once.  

Modified to add: Can you go to the consulate in Edinburgh?? Or does it have to be London? Hmmm, it looks like you can do it in Edinburgh, but only if you live in Scotland? That sucks for us, since Edinburgh is only an hour's drive away and London is a four hour train ride. 

Modified to add: Can you go to the consulate in Edinburgh?? Or does it have to be London? Hmmm, it looks like you can do it in Edinburgh, but only if you live in Scotland? That sucks for us, since Edinburgh is only an hour's drive away and London is a four hour train ride. 

I'd phone and ask. I think Edinburgh is only for those who live in Scotland but it can't hurt to ask them to see you seeing as the distance between the you and London is so big.

And yes, you will need the passports before you travel. It's against federal law for Americans to travel into America on anything but their American passports. Plus you'd need the British passports to prove the children can come back to the UK.

And yes, you will need the passports before you travel. It's against federal law for Americans to travel into America on anything but their American passports. Plus you'd need the British passports to prove the children can come back to the UK.

Yeah, I expected that. Can you give estimates for cost for both passports? It is going to be hard to come up with the money to take the baby to see everyone.

Yeah, I expected that. Can you give estimates for cost for both passports? It is going to be hard to come up with the money to take the baby to see everyone.

British passports are £49. (http://www.passports-office.co.uk/child_passports.asp)

American passports are $105 plus $100 for the report of birth application. You'll also have to pay about £16 for the envelope that sends your docs back.

(http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/acs/passports/robirth4.html)

(http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/acs/passports/passport_fees.html)

Thanks, Ashley. I'm guessing that's about £200, along with the trip down to London, which will be pricey. They do run specials on train fares sometimes, but I expect you don't have much flexibility in appointment times. Ugh. I'm only 3 months pregnant and already complaining... LOL.  Just trying to look into things ahead of time so I know what to expect.

Actually the appt dates were very flexible. You picked what date and time you wanted, assuming they were available. I can't remember how far in advance it let you, though. And you book the appt online. It's really very simple. The hardest part is the waiting around the room for your number to be called but we were in and out within 3 hours for the girls.

You do right to look into it. Get saving. Kids suck every dime out of you.

Actually the appt dates were very flexible. You picked what date and time you wanted, assuming they were available. I can't remember how far in advance it let you, though. And you book the appt online. It's really very simple. The hardest part is the waiting around the room for your number to be called but we were in and out within 3 hours for the girls.

You do right to look into it. Get saving. Kids suck every dime out of you.

Hopefully I can find a good fare and get there and back in one day. Kids do suck out every dime, and when you barely have 2 nickels to rub together it's even tougher!

I thought I'd bring up a note from my latest experience as we took DD2 two days ago.  Overall, it all went pretty well, but there was one hitch that I hadn't had before in that my card got blocked by the fraud department of my bank.  It seems it happened to quite a few people in the queue--since it's charged in US Dollars, banks panic that fraud is happening and block the charge.  I had to do a group of phone calls later to get my card reactivated.  

Most of the people in the queue that had it happen to them were then able to put through a different card and have it be fine, but I thought I'd bring up that it might be wise to have a second possible means of payment. My husband's business card worked okay after mine was blocked, so I'll pay him back now.  They did tell me I would be permitted to leave, get cash, and come back given the circumstances, but the thought of going through the security queue again made my heart ache.  I'm glad it worked out okay in the end.

good to know Cadenza - we've sorted Thomas already but might be useful for anyone in future to call their credit card provider ahead of time

Have you got a way of informing your bank when you'll be making a different purchase like that? We have an internet bank and whenever we make a really large purchase or go overseas, we send secured messages online letting them know. My bank is really trigger happy with shutting the card down when they think there is fraud but at least the money is safe. Plus, they're really quick about it. One time I was buying tickets online and the page hadn't finished loading the error message when I got a call from the bank.

I hadn't thought about it because I was only going to London--not thinking about it being charged in dollars.  When I called the fraud dept to set it back up, I told them I was going to be travelling to the US in a few weeks and could I alert them now so I don't have to do lengthy phone calls from the US.  They said there was no way to alert them ahead of time.  I find this very hard to believe--surely a bank the size of RBS has a way of not shutting down someone's bank account every time they leave the country!

I hadn't thought about it because I was only going to London--not thinking about it being charged in dollars.  When I called the fraud dept to set it back up, I told them I was going to be travelling to the US in a few weeks and could I alert them now so I don't have to do lengthy phone calls from the US.  They said there was no way to alert them ahead of time.  I find this very hard to believe--surely a bank the size of RBS has a way of not shutting down someone's bank account every time they leave the country!

Barclay's does it to my husbands card all the time. He has to go to Bank of America & get cash - if he uses it to purchase at a store they lock it down. No matter how many times we tell them we live in the US now and they have our US address and know this they still activate the fraud protection every single time.

I have been reading about the physical presence requirements for the USC to prove physical presence in the USA to obtain citizenship for their UK born child.

I lived in the USA for 32 years before arriving on my spouse visa, and we are having our first child in wedlock, so sounds like all I need are school transcripts.  http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/acs/passports/physical-presence.html

Does anyone know if they require official transcripts?  (What an expensive pain in the patooty!)  Or can we just show copies?

If you have any experience with this requirement, please let me know, thanks!

Amy

I didn't have to show any school transcripts either time (lived in the US until I was 33). Just showed my previous passport.  I'd imagine unofficial transcripts would be fine though.