MN1 Child Residency Requirement?

[Stewart]

My wife and I are both dual US/UK. We are both British under section 4 (C) of the BNA which came into law into 2003.

Our children were born in 2000 and 2001 before we were both registered in 2005.

We are moving back to the UK next month and have already obtained ILE for our US Born children.

Our children are not British because we are both British by descent under s 4 (C), born to British mothers after 1961 before 1983.

We are not eligible to register them under either s 3(2), three years prior residency when I was young, or s 3(5), three years residency when we move over, because our children were born before we were registered and the law was not even in place for us to become British at their birth. I confirmed that with the British Embassy in Washington shortly after we were both registered in 2005.

It appears that discretionary registration under s 3 (1) is our only option. My questions are as follows:

1.) The "caseworking instructions" Chapter 9 seem to indicate that there is no residency requirement under the age of 13. Since we are both British, it would seem that we can apply for their citizenship as soon as we get settled in our new home. Does anyone have any comments or experience as I would like to get this taken care of so the whole family can travel together on British passports.

2.) Form MN1, does not specifically state that the childs referees need to be British Citizens. It would be difficult to get referees for them that are British Citizens (that are their doctor,teacher or tutor) and have known them for three years. Our children however have had two teachers/tutors in the US that are EU citizens who are willing to sign the form and act as referees. I can easily get this taken care of before we leave the US.

3.) Can you use the Nationality Checking Service so we would not need to part with passports? If no, can a solicitor certify copies? Would the solicitor need to certify copies of all passport pages or just the data page and ILE?

[JAJ]

It appears that discretionary registration under s 3 (1) is our only option. My questions are as follows:

1.) The "caseworking instructions" Chapter 9 seem to indicate that there is no residency requirement under the age of 13. Since we are both British, it would seem that we can apply for their citizenship as soon as we get settled in our new home. Does anyone have any comments or experience as I would like to get this taken care of so the whole family can travel together on British passports.

That's what the instructions say. As soon as you can show you are settled in the United Kingdom and that the children's future lies in the UK, then if under 13, there is no specific residence requirement for s3(1) registration.

Also bear in mind that a child acquiring British citizenship under s3(1) is British otherwise than by descent if neither parent was British when they were born.

2.) Form MN1, does not specifically state that the childs referees need to be British Citizens. It would be difficult to get referees for them that are British Citizens (that are their doctor,teacher or tutor) and have known them for three years. Our children however have had two teachers/tutors in the US that are EU citizens who are willing to sign the form and act as referees. I can easily get this taken care of before we leave the US.

The Home Office are expected to revise form MN1 in the near future as they made a mess of the reference instructions as far as children are concerned. Children aged under 10 may not need references at all, and certainly not those who have known them for 3 years.

3.) Can you use the Nationality Checking Service so we would not need to part with passports? If no, can a solicitor certify copies? Would the solicitor need to certify copies of all passport pages or just the data page and ILE?

I'm not sure if NCS is able to handle "stand-alone" registration applications. You would need to ask them directly. Bear in mind they generally do naturalisation so a registration form may confuse them completely.

Normally the Home Office would accept solicitor certified copies of a passport (unless things have changed recently). I see no reason why they would need more than the ID page + ILE as there isn't a residence requirement, but to be on the safe side you should get all pages copied.