British passports for children under Treaty Rights (EU2)

[nataliedelmar]

Hello, I've got a question about applying for a British passports for our children under Treaty Tights.

Both me and my husband are of Bulgarian nationality (EU) and arrived in the UK in November 2004 under Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (with no restrictions to live and work in the UK). We've been employed since beginning of 2005 (apart from my maternity leaves). In January 2007 we obtained Registration Certificates as Bulgaria joined the EU.

Both our children were born in the UK. Our first child was born on 7th February 2008 (i.e. only 3 years after we came to the UK and started full time employment), and our second child was born on 4th September 2013 (I know it should be all fine for her).

Could you please let me know if we're eligible to apply for British passports for our first child? What are the documents we'd need, if yes? I.e. how do we prove Treaty Rights before January 2007, would P60 forms be sufficient?

Thanks so much!

[noajthan]

Hello, I've got a question about applying for a British passports for our children under Treaty Tights.

Both me and my husband are of Bulgarian nationality (EU) and arrived in the UK in November 2004 under Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (with no restrictions to live and work in the UK). We've been employed since beginning of 2005 (apart from my maternity leaves). In January 2007 we obtained Registration Certificates as Bulgaria joined the EU.

Both our children were born in the UK. Our first child was born on 7th February 2008 (i.e. only 3 years after we came to the UK and started full time employment), and our second child was born on 4th September 2013 (I know it should be all fine for her).

Could you please let me know if we're eligible to apply for British passports for our first child? What are the documents we'd need, if yes? I.e. how do we prove Treaty Rights before January 2007, would P60 forms be sufficient?

Thanks so much!

Your time spent working in UK before the accession of Bulgaria into EU will count toward your PR clock.

This has been determined by the European Court of Justice in the joined cases of Ziolkowski v Land Berlin Case C-424/10 and Szeja v Land Berlin Case C-425/10.

The effect of the judgment is that lawful time spent in the UK immediately prior to accession can be counted towards the required period of 5 years' continuous legal residence, provided the person was carrying out activities that would constitute the exercise of treaty rights under Directive 2004/38/EC, article 7;
ie they were working, self employed, studying or self sufficient.

So by working in UK, continuously, from 2005 you could/should have acquired PR automatically sometime in 2010.

This assumes:
1) any absences from UK are within prescribed limits;
&
2) you either had any necessary A2 accession worker card (AWC) or you were exempt from holding an accession worker authorisation document;

By virtue of at least one parent acquiring PR you should now be able to register your first child as a UK citizen.
After successful registration you could apply for their first British passport.

To apply for confirmation of PR you will have to prove residency in UK & exercise of treaty rights.
Passports or letters from employers can help prove residency.
Tax documents from HMRC (eg annual P60s) can help prove employment;
ie qualified person status as a worker.

Your second child will be automatically British (& so will not need to be registered as a citizen) as s/he was born after you (should have) acquired PR.
You should be able to apply for their British passport directly.

[nataliedelmar]

Thank you! Really helpful information!