Since Jennessie was studying in the UK, we presented documents to prove she was struggling to align the name in her Philippine passport because it would entail traveling to the Philippines to the detriment of her studies. In a previous article, we talked about aligning the documents of a Filipino child recently adopted by a British citizen.
In that blog (JUDICIAL RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN ADOPTION) we discussed that in order for the adopted child to file for a first British passport under the new name, all the documents bearing the adoptees old identity must properly be amended and aligned to show the new details.
Bear in mind that since the adoption by the British stepfather automatically results in the adoptee acquiring adopter’s citizenship, the latter will not be required to apply for British citizenship doing away with waiting for a citizenship ceremony or applying for a registration certificate.
Likewise, because of the instant conversion of citizenship to British, the adoptee no longer needs permission to live, study of travel to the UK, effectively cancelling and transforming the child dependent visa onto a right of abode. The status immediately changed as soon as the order of adoption was signed by the UK court, thus allowing the former Filipino to now apply for a first British Passport.
As the adoptee is now considered to be a British citizen “otherwise than by descent”, she or he, at this point is deemed to have similar rights and status as that of someone who was born in the UK.
For now we will forego discussing issues regarding the UK Spouse Visa , UK Fiancee Visa or UK Visit Visa and deliberate on how to align the Philippine passport without traveling to the adoptees home country, in this case, the Philippines.
EVIDENCE TO SHOW THE IMPACT OF ALIGNING ADOPTEE'S NAME IN THEIR PHILIPPINES PASSPORT
Let us give you an example.
A Filipina minor (let’s call her Lorane) and her Filipina mother (whom we shall call Margaret) are both presently living in the UK on a Child Dependent Visa and Spouse Visa respectively. Their British sponsor (whom we shall call Claire) who is the same-sex partner of Margaret successfully adopted Lorane thus making the latter a British citizen instantly after the adoption decree is issued.
A few days later, still feeling ecstatic about the newly issued adoption decree, the family decides to file for the first British passport of Lorane. Since she is now a British citizen, they are very hopeful and excited that everything will be effortless and trouble-free since it is quite simple and straightforward for a minor-aged British to apply for a first British passport. The whole process can even be done online and the passport will be issued in three (3) weeks.
However, they are in for a surprise. Now comes the tricky part.
Since all civil registry documents of the adoptee were registered in the Philippines when she was born, and bears her previous life vital statistics or civil registry information, like her former last name (when she was not yet adopted) and name of father, among others, these details or information must all be amended and aligned with her new identity.
This means that all the identity documents issued by the Philippine government when the applicant was still a baby in the Philippines must be amended and modified to harmonize and match her new identity.
Under the conventional way, if the rule is to be strictly adhered and followed, the only steps to take for the documents to be amended is for the child to go back to the Philippines and file for a Judicial Recognition of the Foreign Adoption in order for the adoption issued by the UK courts to be considered valid and accepted in the Philippines. Since the child is still a minor, the parents must of course likewise travel to the Philippines.
If the child, however, attends school in the UK and it would be very difficult to travel back to the Philippines, the parents can do the tasks for her and the child can stay in the UK to continue with her studies. But still, this is a tedious process for the parents, who, most definitely, are working in the UK.
Worthy to note is that all legal documents issued by the UK court pertaining to the adoption, including the Certificate of Finality should be apostilled or authenticated by the Legislation Office of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), otherwise it will not be accepted by the Philippine government as valid. Based on the Gov.UK website, it costs £45 per document to apostille a paper-based document.
Once the family is in the Philippines, a Judicial Recognition of Foreign Adoption should be filed with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) having jurisdiction over the case. Hearings for this type of Special Proceeding normally take around 12 to 24 months.
The child, or the parents must attend around two to three hearings which the court will schedule in advance in order to accommodate their availability, so they can fly to the Philippines every time they are required to attend the hearings. In the end, a Certificate of Finality is issued by the court which will then be forwarded to the Local Civil Registry where the adoptee was born, for the certificate's annotation and registration.
Based on records of the Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO), registration of a court decision of a Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Adoption to the LCRO and eventual recording to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) normally takes around one (1) to three (3) months.
After the PSA annotates the fact of foreign adoption in the child’s birth certificate, this is the time the application for a new Philippine Passport may be filed by the child under her new legal name.
In total, the whole process may take a maximum of around two and a half years. The child may also be required to travel to the Philippines for three to four times (depending on the circumstances). Some families may consider to carry out this taxing and nerve-wracking.
But all these procedure can be avoided done away with so that the family need not go to back to the Philippines and carry out these stressful tasks.
In order for all the previous details in the adoptees former documents to be aligned with her new details and not travel to the Philippines, all she has to do is show Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) that adoptee is struggling with the name change and it will be very hard for her to go back to the Philippines and work on the aligning of the documents.
Thus, the adoptee will be asked to submit official evidence, documents of the difficulty in the process because she has to return to the Philippines and it will take a considerable amount of time (which she does not have because she attends) and that any other person (like her parents) cannot carry out the process of alignment on her behalf, because they too are busy with their respective employment in the UK.
For more information on how to align the details of your Philippine passport for purposes of filing a British passport after adoption in the UK, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Our next article: As a consequence of being adopted in the UK, the adoptee is granted the right to pass his or her British citizenship to any future children born outside the UK.
ABANGAN!!!
In that blog (JUDICIAL RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN ADOPTION) we discussed that in order for the adopted child to file for a first British passport under the new name, all the documents bearing the adoptees old identity must properly be amended and aligned to show the new details.
Bear in mind that since the adoption by the British stepfather automatically results in the adoptee acquiring adopter’s citizenship, the latter will not be required to apply for British citizenship doing away with waiting for a citizenship ceremony or applying for a registration certificate.
Likewise, because of the instant conversion of citizenship to British, the adoptee no longer needs permission to live, study of travel to the UK, effectively cancelling and transforming the child dependent visa onto a right of abode. The status immediately changed as soon as the order of adoption was signed by the UK court, thus allowing the former Filipino to now apply for a first British Passport.
As the adoptee is now considered to be a British citizen “otherwise than by descent”, she or he, at this point is deemed to have similar rights and status as that of someone who was born in the UK.
For now we will forego discussing issues regarding the UK Spouse Visa , UK Fiancee Visa or UK Visit Visa and deliberate on how to align the Philippine passport without traveling to the adoptees home country, in this case, the Philippines.
EVIDENCE TO SHOW THE IMPACT OF ALIGNING ADOPTEE'S NAME IN THEIR PHILIPPINES PASSPORT
Let us give you an example.
A Filipina minor (let’s call her Lorane) and her Filipina mother (whom we shall call Margaret) are both presently living in the UK on a Child Dependent Visa and Spouse Visa respectively. Their British sponsor (whom we shall call Claire) who is the same-sex partner of Margaret successfully adopted Lorane thus making the latter a British citizen instantly after the adoption decree is issued.
A few days later, still feeling ecstatic about the newly issued adoption decree, the family decides to file for the first British passport of Lorane. Since she is now a British citizen, they are very hopeful and excited that everything will be effortless and trouble-free since it is quite simple and straightforward for a minor-aged British to apply for a first British passport. The whole process can even be done online and the passport will be issued in three (3) weeks.
However, they are in for a surprise. Now comes the tricky part.
Since all civil registry documents of the adoptee were registered in the Philippines when she was born, and bears her previous life vital statistics or civil registry information, like her former last name (when she was not yet adopted) and name of father, among others, these details or information must all be amended and aligned with her new identity.
This means that all the identity documents issued by the Philippine government when the applicant was still a baby in the Philippines must be amended and modified to harmonize and match her new identity.
Under the conventional way, if the rule is to be strictly adhered and followed, the only steps to take for the documents to be amended is for the child to go back to the Philippines and file for a Judicial Recognition of the Foreign Adoption in order for the adoption issued by the UK courts to be considered valid and accepted in the Philippines. Since the child is still a minor, the parents must of course likewise travel to the Philippines.
If the child, however, attends school in the UK and it would be very difficult to travel back to the Philippines, the parents can do the tasks for her and the child can stay in the UK to continue with her studies. But still, this is a tedious process for the parents, who, most definitely, are working in the UK.
Worthy to note is that all legal documents issued by the UK court pertaining to the adoption, including the Certificate of Finality should be apostilled or authenticated by the Legislation Office of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), otherwise it will not be accepted by the Philippine government as valid. Based on the Gov.UK website, it costs £45 per document to apostille a paper-based document.
Once the family is in the Philippines, a Judicial Recognition of Foreign Adoption should be filed with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) having jurisdiction over the case. Hearings for this type of Special Proceeding normally take around 12 to 24 months.
The child, or the parents must attend around two to three hearings which the court will schedule in advance in order to accommodate their availability, so they can fly to the Philippines every time they are required to attend the hearings. In the end, a Certificate of Finality is issued by the court which will then be forwarded to the Local Civil Registry where the adoptee was born, for the certificate's annotation and registration.
Based on records of the Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO), registration of a court decision of a Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Adoption to the LCRO and eventual recording to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) normally takes around one (1) to three (3) months.
After the PSA annotates the fact of foreign adoption in the child’s birth certificate, this is the time the application for a new Philippine Passport may be filed by the child under her new legal name.
In total, the whole process may take a maximum of around two and a half years. The child may also be required to travel to the Philippines for three to four times (depending on the circumstances). Some families may consider to carry out this taxing and nerve-wracking.
But all these procedure can be avoided done away with so that the family need not go to back to the Philippines and carry out these stressful tasks.
In order for all the previous details in the adoptees former documents to be aligned with her new details and not travel to the Philippines, all she has to do is show Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) that adoptee is struggling with the name change and it will be very hard for her to go back to the Philippines and work on the aligning of the documents.
Thus, the adoptee will be asked to submit official evidence, documents of the difficulty in the process because she has to return to the Philippines and it will take a considerable amount of time (which she does not have because she attends) and that any other person (like her parents) cannot carry out the process of alignment on her behalf, because they too are busy with their respective employment in the UK.
For more information on how to align the details of your Philippine passport for purposes of filing a British passport after adoption in the UK, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Our next article: As a consequence of being adopted in the UK, the adoptee is granted the right to pass his or her British citizenship to any future children born outside the UK.
ABANGAN!!!
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