Born Overseas

Hi all,

I am a newcomer to this site and legal issues. I have tried researching on my own and cannot seem to derive a definite answer. So any help would be greatly appreciated!
My boyfriend is British and he is going back to the UK in 3 weeks, and I have a flight to join him in 6 weeks as a tourist. I had thought I would need to look for a sponsor and then go through the work permit struggle, but have renewed my hope that I can obtain my British Citizenship.
So first question. Is this actually possible? My dad was born in the UK to British parents. Has lived in the US since he was a child but retained his British passport the entire time (although it is expired now) he had it up to date when i was born. I am 26, born 1986. Am I eligible?
Second question. If I am, do i need to apply within the US, or can I apply when i'm in the UK as a tourist? Ideally I would like to make my flight in May and backpack around Europe and England for 2-3 months while the papers are being reviewed. Whether I can do that while applying in the UK, or from the US and then i would return to the US when its ready, both would be great options. I see the applications that allow you to keep your passport are processed by the Nationality Checking Services, which only have locations in the UK. I dont know if that means anything.
Please if anyone has had experience with this let me know, and if i cant do it, rip the band-aid off quickly before i get my hopes up

I'm new here, so look out for more knowledgeable people's answers, but: I'm fairly certain you already are a British citizen (by descent), and you just need to apply for your passport.

The documents you need to apply for a passport are:

If you were born after 1 January 1983 outside of the UK
- Original previous travel document
- Photocopy of current ID (such as driving licence, bank statement, student card, household bill)
- Original consular birth certificate OR Your full foreign birth certificate AND your mother’s original UK long birth certificate or original naturalisation or registration certificate OR father’s original UK long birth certificate or original naturalisation or registration certificate
-If you were born before 1 July 2006 parents’ marriage certificate – if parents were not married and you were born before this date your father’s name must be on your birth certificate.
- Original British Citizen parent’s passport
- Your original marriage certificate if applicable
- Original deed poll if you have changed your  name other than by marriage plus three

(Requirements found here http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/central-content-pdfs/form-c1-notes.pdf)

If you don't have those documents, then there is a process you can go through to confirm your claim to citizenship. The guide for that form is found here http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/applicationforms/nationality/guide_ns.pdf.

I wrote a response about this on your other thread, but I will repost it here as well:

Ok, I'll keep looking into it, i am very nervous about the job market... but it was my understanding that once i past the age of 18 I would not be eligible to apply. im crossing my fingers!

You would only have to be under 18 if you were trying to register for British citizenship, but if you are entitled to British citizenship through your father, then you don't need to register because you already are a British citizen.

... In which case you can just apply for a UK passport, which you can do at any age (same as US citizens - you don't suddenly lose your US citizenship if you don't have a US passport by the time you turn 18... the majority of US citizens have never had a passport in their life - doesn't make them any less American though).

What determines whether or not you are a British citizen already is the status of your father when you were born.

You've already said that he is a British citizen otherwise than by descent (born in the UK to British parents), so that's not going to be an issue.

However, was your father married to your mother when you were born?

- If he was, you are a British citizen and just need to get a UK passport.

- If not, you may not be a British citizen, and you may not be able to register for British citizenship as I think you would need to be under 18 to do so.

See here for more information:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/othernationality/Britishcitizenship/bornoverseas/

From that page:

If you were born outside the United Kingdom on or after 1 January 1983

This section also applies to you if you were born outside a qualifying territory on or after 21 May 2002 and had a parent who was a British citizen.

Whether or not you are a British citizen depends on the type of citizenship your parents had. This may be British citizenship by descent or otherwise than by descent.

British citizenship may descend to one generation born abroad. So if you were born outside the United Kingdom or qualifying territory and one of your parents was a British citizen otherwise than by descent, you are a British citizen by descent. If you were born before 1 July 2006 you may not qualify if your parents were not married at the time of your birth.

However, you are a British citizen otherwise than by descent if at the time of your birth one of your parents was a British citizen in Crown service, designated service, or service of a European Community institution and he/she was recruited to that service:

-    in the United Kingdom;
-    in the United Kingdom or a qualifying territory (if you were born on or after 21 May 2002); or
-    in the European Community (for service with a European Community institution).

And see this from Wikipedia, regarding if your parents were married when you were born:

As a general rule, an unmarried father cannot pass on British citizenship automatically in the case of children born before 1 July 2006. However, if the parents marry subsequent to the birth, the child normally becomes a British citizen at that point if legitimated by the marriage and the father was eligible to pass on British citizenship. Further, if the unmarried British father was domiciled in a country that treated (at the date of birth of the child born before 1 July 2006) a child born to unmarried parents in the same way as a child born to married parents, then the father passed on British citizenship automatically to his child, even though the child was born before 1 July 2006 to unmarried parents.[7] Such countries are listed in the UK Home Office Immigration and Passport Services publication "Legitimation and Domicile".[8] Failing that, the child can be registered as British if it would have been British if parents were married and application is made before the child is 18.

And see here for the source of the information from Wiki:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/nationalityinstructions/nisec2gensec/legitimacy?view=Binary