Immigration Forum / Australia and NZ / October 2005

Correct.   However as many people don't understand the fact that
children born to PRs in Australia are citizens, you are advised to
document this by getting a citizenship certificate for the child:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/119.pdf

Unless it's changed recently, the fee is AUD55.

The child will also need an Australian passport but having a citizenship
cert as well will prevent a delay in replacement should the passport
ever be lost (especially if this happens later in life).

The birth cert proves nothing about citizenship.

The baby will be a British citizen (by descent) automatically if:

- the mother is born or naturalised in the UK; OR
- provided parents are married, the father is born or naturalised
 in the UK.

Just get a British passport to prove this.  Do that sooner rather than
later, for the reason below.

If both parents are British by descent themselves, only one parent is
British by descent, or the father is not married to the mother (and the
mother isn't British born/naturalised) then you may have to apply for
the child to be registered as a British citizen.

There are time limits for doing this.

Hence it's important to be assured your child really is British
automatically by getting a British passport immediately.    Lots of
parents get a nasty surprise when they *think* their child has a
particular citizenship and only discover later on that it doesn't.
Often it's too late at that stage to fix the problem.

http://bhc.britaus.net is the website of the British High Commission in
Australia.  They can issue British passports and accept citizenship
applications.

Jeremy