British passport - child born in UK from EU parent

[empr]

Hi,
I would like to ask for some advice about my daughter’s passport application. My daughter was born in the UK on Oct 2018. She is Bulgarian and Filipino by descent (from my husband and me). My husband has been living and exercising his treaty rights from Aug 2013. He started out as a student then moved on to employment. We were initially informed that our daughter was eligible to get a passport since she was born after my husband reached 5 years in the UK. So we applied for her passport but this was then denied due to my husband not having Comprehensive sickness insurance during his first year in the UK (1st year student). We were told that “students need to have comprehensive sickness insurance to show they are exercising treaty rights”. This was extremely frustrating as this was not a fact that was originally disclosed to my husband by any official institutions (I.e. his university or any agency that assisted his move or any governing body) during his whole time here in the UK.

When the EU settlement scheme launched, we all applied and received our settled status. I was then informed that my daughter can receive her passport through the MN1 route (which costs £1000+). My question is, is there any other route or method that my daughter could receive her passport without going through the MN1 route? It is really frustrating that my daughter is not able to exercise her right to receive a passport due to the passport office’s technicality (and ridiculousness!).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I just want to ensure that I have explored all possible routes and that the MN1 route is our last and only option.

Thank you very much.

[secret.simon]

It is really frustrating that my daughter is not able to exercise her right to receive a passport due to the passport office’s technicality (and ridiculousness!).

That is not a ridiculous technicality, that is the requirement of the law. Your daughter can land in much hotter waters if she is issued a passport that she is not entitled to and it is revoked later in life (as she is not a British citizen).

Your husband must have covered five continuous years in the UK in any combination of
a) a worker
b) jobseeker
c) student with Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI), aka private health insurance
d) self-sufficient person with Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, as above,

before the birth of your daughter

for your daughter to be a British citizen at birth and be able to apply for a British passport directly.

If your husband did not meet the requirements above, your daughter is not a British citizen and MN1 registration is the only way forward.

Did your husband have either
a) a Bulgarian EHIC card, or
b) a letter from the Bulgarian health authorities stating that they are responsible for his health costs in the UK?

If he has either of the above, you can reapply with that in place of Comprehensive Sickness Insurance. The items above must cover all the time your husband spent in the UK that he was not a worker or seeking work.

[empr]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. The reason I find this ridiculous is, if it is a requirement of the law then why did they not enforce this at all or even provide this important information? I.e. make it a requirement and if you don’t have it, to be unable to continue at university. Not having CSI did not have an impact or hinder my husband during his studies and all the while he had believed he was duly exercising his treaty rights. Our issue is that my husband would have taken comprehensive sickness insurance if he was informed at that time and not years later which has a knock on effect to our daughter.

I understand your point about potential problems and ending up having the passport revoked. It’s better safe than sorry.

My husband was informed that when he moved to UK from Bulgaria, his health costs would stop in Bulgaria and therefore his EHIC was also stopped. It seems we were provided with incorrect information as well as the issue with lack of information/enforcement of the comprehensive sickness insurance law.

Thanks for clarifying that MN1 is our only potential route.