Advice for having children here

Not had kids myself. Thats next year. However from the amount of families ive taken care of there kids mostly its just finding a good crèche. I work a lot with expat parents and non of the kids have gone to a English speaking crèche they seems to be a demand for one though. Its always been more about finding one that isnt over crowed and the staff are good and will pay attention to your needs for your child. I will either run my own crèche or have my children go to a flemish one.

Of course i live in flanders not brussels etc so things may be different there.

Yes I think there's quite a range of creches available. Some have a very good guardian to child ratio and do different activities with them throughout the day, like a nicely set out schedule for the day, and some other places do much less - pretty much moving them between a play pen and cot.

We're in Liege so we don't expect an English speaking creche (nor would we want to put them to one), so French will be their first language. Ah merde, ce n'est pas bien pour moi!

But the first thing I realised was how difficult it was to secure a place somewhere - it seems there is definitely room for more creches - so good luck with your plans! Is it a two-year course that you have to do before being able to run one? I forget where I heard that.

We need to make a choice on what passport they will have - either french or british or both. It might be a choice between healthcare and education systems or if we see ourselves living in a different country later.

We play to give them both a Belgium and Britsh passport. As I wanted them to have to Britishness for things such as Australia for instance. I will be speaking English to the children so I think they will likely get there English as a first language and if they ended up going to a Flemish crèche then Dutch. Although I want to try and keep them with me as much as I can but that's a personal preference.   As for my plans there are a few ways I can do it. I can run my own small scale though my health care I have a good enough reputation and references to do so.

Drew, you don't get to have a choice of passports.

Either you are born with a nationality, or you acquire it later, or you renounce a nationality that you have.

A child with a British (other than by descent) parent who is born in Belgium is automatically British.

A child with a Belgian parent who is born in Belgium is automatically Belgian.

There is NO OBLIGATION to ever buy a British passport. A Belgian child MUST buy a Belgian identity card at 12 years old, most children under 12 also now have them too. There is no obligation for a Belgian to ever buy a passport.

Yeah but you can have duel nationality when im married I will apply for the same allowing you to have both english and Belgium passport. I was sooo happy when i found this out because originally u had to be British and not have duel but now its changed

Hannah, did you just read what I wrote?
There is no English passport either.
Belgium and the UK have ALWAYS allowed DUAL nationality, I really haven't a clue what you are talking about.

Well my friend who is british and flemmish has a UK Passport like i have from uk what you buy allows you to travel to us etc and a belgium one and then a id card

Im actually talking about i will physically buy both passports because i want them for my children.

I also have a friend who is half british half dutch and was told that she wasnt allowed to have duel nationality she had to pick one of the other same for a friend whos half sweedish and british. So I guess they were ill advised. Not that its really that important.

Flemmish is not a nationality, it's Flemish and it's a description for those living in Flanders or connected with Flanders. I'm sorry but I really have a hard time understanding your English.

I shall repeat, both Belgium and the UK have always allowed dual nationality and have also always allowed their nationals to buy both passports and for Belgium it's obligatory to have a national ID card over the age of 12 years old. A passport / national ID card does not bestow nationality on anyone, it represents their identity and nationality, you do not become without nationality because you do not possess a passport.

You cannot be half anything when it comes to nationality.

Please think before writing and think about the advice you give as so often is is full of inaccuracies.

Oh and Netherlands and Sweden allow dual nationality too. Nearly all EU countries do, one notable exception is Denmark.

Actually there is no English Passport. There is a British passport.

I am British and my wife is French (I also did not mention Belgian - I mentioned French).

Also you said:
"A child with a Belgian parent who is born in Belgium is automatically British."

- really?

Thanks for you help.
Drew

DrewTheBear wrote:

Actually there is no English Passport. There is a British passport.

I am British and my wife is French (I also did not mention Belgian - I mentioned French).

Also you said:
"A child with a Belgian parent who is born in Belgium is automatically British."

- really?

Thanks for you help.
Drew

Oops well spotted Drew, that should read BELGIAN!!!!!

Well im telling you my experince i know 2 people who havent been allowed both a British passport and another for there country. Also it wasnt advice i was saying what i as a person intend to do. But yes apparently you are the expert on everyone's experiences. I have never claimed what i say on here to be correct they are simply my experiences and what i have done and gone through from my time of moving here.

Couldn't help you on French nationality when born abroad... hope it's less complicated than British nationality. I work in this sector and I often have to think hard on who is British and who is not. I'd be confident a child born of a French parent but not in France would be French by jus sanguinis, unlike the case for some British citizens who become parents abroad.

As for documenting the nationality, for sure it will be cheaper for a French national ID than a British child passport at £101.36 for those living in Belgium.

Well both the girl who has a perants from nederlands and uk had to give up one of her nationalities (as in she had to choose one) and so did the guy who has a Swedish mother and English father. So i dont like i said i never claimed to know just what had happened with these people. That at the time they had to pick one and i originally thought i would have to choose for my children. Not sure there was need to attack me about the fact there is no british passports when I was talking about the obtaining the british passport that you buy like i have? Yes I got my nationallities countries mixed up a little and didnt word it the best im dyslexic and have issues with this sort of thing so shoot me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_na … itizenshiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_nati … itizenshiphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_n … itizenship

tervurener wrote:

Oh and Netherlands and Sweden allow dual nationality too. Nearly all EU countries do, one notable exception is Denmark.

Germany doesn't allow dual nationality either, and I believe the same applies to Austria. It often depends on whether it is acquired through birth or naturalization, and the order in which the citizenship is acquired.

Being a dual citizen isn't just about having two passports though. There are all kinds of potentially thorny issues surrounding military service, taxation, voting etc to take into consideration.

"originally you had to be British and not dual" that is what you wrote and when stating such inaccuracies, they should in fact be corrected.

You know what thats not what im saying at all and i dont wish to read it im talking about things that were up to 10 to 15 years ago ago. Im still of the non constructive cristsim here. You know forums like this are meant for help and support and to talk about experiences not belittling people and not respecting what someone else has to say. Drew good luck with everything. Also i would appeachate it if the admin team would deleate my account or inbox me on how to do so and I will just continue to fallow one of the other groups and forums who are less hostile

They should be corrected in a construstive and friendly way. Not basically your all wrong and everything you say is wrong ask for calcification perhaps

I never said you had to be british now duel i said they werent allowed duel they had to choose and they both choose british. I had meant that it was appently the bristish system that didnt allow you to have 2. That you were eaither british or the other country

Did you mention.... this is what might have been the case 15 years ago? Even if it were the case, why would you be talking about 15 years ago? Laws which were changed 15 years ago are not relevant for children who are not yet born.

Sorry but again that is untrue, British law has always allowed dual nationality in your lifetime, the law was regularised in 1948.I have no idea where on earth you get this wrong information from.

Becouse i was informed that they were recently changed. If you read what i wrote it was in a coversional manner stateing how it used to be that and i was glad to hear it was no longer that way i wasnt claiming it was the law sorry are we not allowed to have a conversion  now just it just have to be facts

Well im telling you what happend to to of my friends so clearly something changed somewere. It was even a friend who told me he wished he had waited a few years and then he could of have duel cos the law changed. I dont get why your making a big deal and being quite hostile about a comment a made that i said im glad its not the way i was told. Like your basically tring to make out like i said that was still the law. Not to mentin completelly attacking me for saying English not British.

Hannah you are stating things as facts, when it's hearsay and incorrect hearsay and you print it in public as your statement, it becomes something you state as true. But it's not true, it hasn't been true that a British citizen cannot have another nationality for the past 65 years. A little research on your part before stating things as fact when in fact it is untrue might help.

Well i had intended it as facts and the way you attack people on this forum sometimes is a little unneeded. Like something i saw you reply to a post were you bluntly put google it. Yes those things might be solved by googleing but perhaps the person has difficulties using google. Anyway dosnt matter ive contacted the admin team to remove my account and i wont be back on here I will just continue with the more friendly forums

It might be blunt to google something for someone, however when someone asks a question which can be found by copying their question into google, one wonders why they ask here? I cannot understand how anyone can have difficulties typing words into google however.

Hi, well, thanks for all your input.

Tervurener, I did perform a google search prior to posting here, and I contacted the British Embassy in Brussels before posting here. And frankly your tone is not very good for a constructive forum. But more to the point you misunderstood the question.

My question is not about the possibility, but about the choice.

Your very first sentence is wrong:
"Drew, you don't get to have a choice of passports."

My wife is French, I am British and we are having children in Belgium. Therefore they will can automatically have dual nationality. If they have dual nationality, then they (we) can choose to apply for one passport, both passports or no passport.

In the very same post, you then say:
"A child with a British (other than by descent) parent who is born in Belgium is automatically British... A child with a Belgian parent who is born in Belgium is automatically Belgian."

This has missed the point. Yes, both statements are individually correct, but here we are refering to the combination of the two and the choice that is entailed within it. 

And again, with your very next statement: "There is NO OBLIGATION to ever buy a British passport."
Yes, also perfectly aware of this because I am Bitish, so what is your point? You have contradicted your first sentence.

I'm unsurprised that other forum users have taken exception to your responses. You are trying to give accurate details which is appreciated and you are refering to fact which is appreciated, but again your tone seems silly for the sake of this type of forum and will never be well recieved, and that is why I'm bothering to respond (are you aware for instance that uppercase words imply shouting?)

Looking forward to the next installment of this riviting read.

Regards to all,
Drew

there is no contradiction in what I said, this is how you end up with dual nationality by birth, there is no choice with automatic acquisition of nationality and you don't apply for it. The only way out is renunciation of a nationality. Buying a passport or national ID card is a different matter. Many people think not buying a passport means you don't have a nationality, I'm sure Drew you've understood this is not the case but many people do not, also buying a passport does not make someone a nationality either.

I couldnt agree more drew. Basically were facts are good I have always felt that it is good for others to tell there stories. Like for instance a good one for me is when i imported my car. I know people have very different experinces with importing there cars but I still like to tell my experince. As of yet I have no looked into duel  passports duel nationaly in terms of full facts. I dont have children yet another few months until we try. I have however put a lot of thought into what i want to look deeper into what i wish to do as I said to you in some earlyer posts. I just find it very upsetting to be told things such as did you even read what i wrote. Yes i read what you wrote but I am having a sightly different convo from a slightly different point of view. Sadly such posts dampen the mood of forums and stop users useing them and there is already so few regular users of the Belgium forum. Anyway drew I wish you the best of luck and I hope that you can maybe share your experience of what happened when you eventally make your choice. I certainlly will be looking into getting my children both a Belgium passport as well as a Brtish one. I also need to speak to an accountant as they are appenly other things such as your child support comes from uk. Im not sure is this is fact yet as I have not spoken to people further than just hearing about it from fellow gent ex pats. But i would be very intrested in hearing what you will do shortly. My new Belgium adventure as you can call it is to get married and go for duel nationality myself????

I would rather not post the exact advice I received from the British Embassy in order to help anyone else who might read this, because it could be out-dated information; even if I was to copy and paste the contents of the emails I have received, it may change by the time you read this or it might be slightly different for your own situation.

The outline of it however is that you *can* register the birth. You *should* certify (and translate) the Belgian birth certificate if you intend using it in the UK for official purposes. And *if* your child meets the criteria for British nationality when applying for a passport or registering their birth, then that would confirm their citizenship. They can also have dual nationality. This advice is only for 'at the time of writing' and ignoring the possible Scottish independence?! :-) Disclaimer over.

Good to know I hope whatever u decide it works out ok.