JAJ wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:30 am
Similar question came up recently.
british-citizenship/can-i-acquire-citiz ... 41156.html
If you are going to get British citizenship yourself then your son should consider taking out comprehensive sickness insurance, unless he holds a valid Portuguese European Health Insurance Card. The reason for this, as I understand- is that if you become a British citizen your son is no longer dependent on you under the EEA Regulations and in order to be resident in the U.K. in his own right as a student or self-supported person, he would require comprehensive sickness insurance. Some discussion here:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolic ... residency/
The other option would be for him to switch to a child settlement visa under the Immigration Rules. As you have PR-then as I understand it, you can sponsor under the domestic Immigration Rules if you wish. As he is currently under the EEA rules, it might be simpler for him to apply for a settlement visa at the relevant British mission in Portugal as opposed to applying in country- you'd need a solicitor familiar with both approaches to decide on which would be better.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... ly-members
Well this turned out to be way more complicated than I initially thought. He only has a UK issued EHIC card. As I see it, I have 3 options:
1. See what the gov't comes up with regarding the procedures for EEA citizens to stay in the UK, follow them and let him deal with naturalization as an adult.
2. Apply for my son to settle like every other non-EEA based on my permanent residence certificate that I currently hold. I didn't know this was an option for EEA citizens given that they already have all the rights (at this moment). The fee is quite high (around 2300GBP) and he would again, have to deal with naturalization in the future. On the other hand if granted, it would pretty much guarantee "home" university fees. Unlike the post you mentioned, he doesn't have a second non-EEA nationality.
3. Register as a British citizen under section 3(1). The fee is around a grand and I can afford to lose that. He doesn't hold PR but does have 2 years of residence (would probably apply when it's closer to 3). I may put together a new topic asking for advice specifically what my chances are under 3(1) but here it is briefly, all his details I think are relevant to the case:
- Settled father (me) for more than 10yrs,
- His mother and me are separated. Our son retains contact with her and were both his full custodial parents (no court involvement) but he is living and is dependent on me. His mother will give consent to the application.
- 2 yrs continuous residence but as I said, we would probably apply closer to 3 yrs. Less than 40 days outside the UK during his continuous residence, 15 of which were to Portugal
- First entry in 2007, spent around 60-90 days a year in the UK with additional 1 almost full year including a year of primary school
- Full time student with passed GCSEs (inc English 1st Language), 1 AS Level & is doing 3 A Levels with ongoing university application
- He's been working part time with payslips to support that (including paying NI)
When we briefly spoke about the issue, he said he most likely would be able to get letters of recommendation of sorts from his tutor, head of Sixth Form & other teachers as he has good relationships with them. Please do let me know what else is required for the application to be successful.
How do you think that looks? Any chance of pulling that off? I really don't care about the passport - he can travel wherever he wants on his existing one - it's just about his rights here as he made a home for himself and really does want to live here.
I don't know if we can make political statements here but I am doubtful of how well the current government is handling the situation. I don't want him to worry about stupid visas and passports and continue his education.
