ILR / Right Of Abode / British passport

[ramanathan.pl]

Dear Members,

I am in a confused situation right now. I know you can help me to find the apt way.
My situation is this:
I am a Tier 1 (General) visa holder (valid until Sep 2016). Myself along with my family are about to apply for ILR this March.

We obtained Indian Passport and Tier 1 dependent visa for and our younger son born in the UK in 2013 and travelled to India last year for a short trip.
Due to this trip, we had to apply for his Tier 1 as we were not eligible for ILR then.

This year we are planning to apply ILR for him as well. We need to go to India this July which we can't postpone or miss.
My questions are:
1. I know by the fact that children born in the UK, by virtue have the ILR status.
Can I apply ILR for my younger one to maintain same visa status within my family, so that no questions asked at airport?
Since we have Tier 1 until Sep 2016, can he travel in Tier 1 visa and we travel in ILR status?
2. Has anyone applied for Right Of Abode on Indian passport? If so, what is the procedure and duration of getting one?
3. If we do not apply ILR for him and apply for his British passport after our ILR, could you let me know the procedure and duration?
4. If I go with option of applying British passport for my son, how long (per your recent experience at Indian High Commission) would it take to surrender Indian passport and getting OCI card?
5. If getting OCI card takes more time, how long would it take to get an Indian visa?

Your answers to the above are quite vital for me as well for many in the same situation.
Please let me know as I am nowhere near to a decision as yet.

Many Thanks,
Raam

[Obie]

You cannot obtain a right of Abode without registering the child first as British.

The above can only happen following a successful ILR application.

[ramanathan.pl]

Hi,
Many thanks for the reply.
Since we have Tier 1 until Sep 2016, can he travel in Tier 1 visa and we travel in ILR status during July this year?
Will there be any questions asked in airport as why we are travelling in ILR status and our younger son is still PBS Dependent?

Regards,
Raam

[zeusmagnanimous]

Dear Members,
...............
1. I know by the fact that children born in the UK, by virtue have the ILR status.
...............

Where did you conceive this idea???

The dependant visa will still be valid and in theory your son should be able to travel on it but I would not recommend it. The immigration officer will probably ask you for an explanation and you will have to satisfy him ...... basically you will be asking for trouble for no reason.

The easiest option would be to include your child in your ILR application - but it will cost you more money.
The second option is to leave him out of ILR application and apply for registration using MN1 as soon as you get ILR. In this case it will take around 1 month for MN1 approval and around another 2-3 weeks to apply and get a passport.

Since India does not allow dual nationality, you will have 3 months from the date of MN1 approval to surrender the indian passport, during this time your son can still use indian passport.

Hope this helps, I am still curious why you thought that children born in the UK have ILR status.

[ramanathan.pl]

Hi there,

Many thanks for your reply.

I was indeed referring to http://www.immigrationboards.com/indefi ... 79378.html -> "Q30 - My UK-born child has never applied for leave. Can I skip including him in the settlement application?"
I also read it in one of the links from UKBA and to sum that up - a non travelling British born child doesn't need a visa whilst staying in the UK.

My only worry is the duration of getting naturalisation for my baby. Can a GP sign as a professional referee in MN1 form or should that only be a health visitor?

Regards,
Raam

[zeusmagnanimous]

Hi there,

Many thanks for your reply.

I was indeed referring to http://www.immigrationboards.com/indefi ... 79378.html -> "Q30 - My UK-born child has never applied for leave. Can I skip including him in the settlement application?"
I also read it in one of the links from UKBA and to sum that up - a non travelling British born child doesn't need a visa whilst staying in the UK.

My only worry is the duration of getting naturalisation for my baby. Can a GP sign as a professional referee in MN1 form or should that only be a health visitor?

Regards,
Raam

I think I understand the confusion now. To clarify Q30 does not say anywhere that children born in the UK have "ILR status", all it says is that the children are not considered illegal entrants (for example when applying for a visa) because they did not enter illegally provided they have have never applied for a visa before. Since they have not applied for a visa they have no coditions imposed on their stay. Not requiring a visa to stay is not the same as having ILR - they are completely different things.
In any case Q30 will not apply to your child anyway because you have applied a dependant visa for him in the past and now he is under immigration control and has conditions imposed on his stay in the UK. Now he must have a valid visa to stay in the UK. If his visa expires and he does not apply for a new visa he will be considered an overstayer.

To answer your questions, MN1 applications especially for young children normally dont take very long. For my son it took around 3 weeks to get the certificate and around 2 weeks to get the passport so overall a little over a month for the whole process.
GPs are not on the list of approved professions anymore, health visitor is ok, nurses and teachers are ok too.
Your current visa is valid for a long time, why dont you postpone ILR until you get back after July...

[ramanathan.pl]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.
I went in person to get Health Visitor to sign for my baby. Unfortunately the health visitor who was in charge of him had resigned and no one came forward to sign. Instead they asked me to check with my GP. When I went to my GP clinic, they even turned down to sign. I checked with them if my GP friend is fine to sign, would there be any problem. They said it should be fine.

Has anyone else got the same situation of Health Visitor or your registered GP refusing to sign, but you managed to get it from your GP friend and your application was successful?

Regards,
Raam