British Citizenship and Child Status Query

[ram89*]

Hello Gurus,

Thanks to this wonderful forum and helping a lot of us.

Need some help and advise on my personal situation :

Me and my wife have the UK ILR Status through tier 2 general visa. Recently my wife travelled to India and she is currently struck there due to covid. She is also pregnant and cannot travel back immediately even if the borders are open.

Need some advise on travel back options for our expecting child

a. As I am due to apply for my British Citizenship in mid July 2020 (ILR Naturalization route), if i get my BC in next few months, can my Child is eligible to apply directly for BC from India ? Please also note we are expecting child in the month of Sep 2020, so this might fall during the application process and not necessarily after the BC due to current lead time of 6 months on the process.

b. Since my wife currently in India does it affect anything related to child application process mentioned in above process because she is the favourable parent to the child?

c. Is only the Indefinite leave to Enter (ILE) is the favorable option in my child's case ?

Please advise, many thanks.

Best Regards,
Ram

[secret.simon]

a. As I am due to apply for my British Citizenship in mid July 2020 (ILR Naturalization route), if i get my BC in next few months, can my Child is eligible to apply directly for BC from India ? Please also note we are expecting child in the month of Sep 2020, so this might fall during the application process and not necessarily after the BC due to current lead time of 6 months on the process.

If the date of the citizenship ceremony of one of the parents is before the child's birth, the child will be a British citizen by descent.

If the date of the citizenship ceremony is after the birth of the child, even the day after, then the child will have the same status as the less-privileged parent.

c. Is only the Indefinite leave to Enter (ILE) is the favorable option in my child's case ?

ILE is the most likely outcome as the less-privileged parent has ILR.

[ram89*]

Thank you Simon,

One more thought :

If I delay my BC application till the baby is born and submit my BC application after that, can I include my Child in the same application for BC as a dependent ? or this is not at all an option because the Child is born outside UK & needs to be here first to submit the inclusive application ? please advise.

[CR001]

If I delay my BC application till the baby is born and submit my BC application after that, can I include my Child in the same application for BC as a dependent ?

No.

or this is not at all an option because the Child is born outside UK ?

Yes.

[ram89*]

Thanks

We are aware that on the normal route, we need to apply for Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE) for our child to obtain permission to enter the UK if this was solely our personal circumstances once the child is Born.

But COVID restrictions have affected my wife's intention to return to the UK and to give birth to the child here. What are our obligations to submit an application for British Citizenship directly to our expecting Child instead of ILE of course once the baby is born since we both hold valid ILR ? Whether case worker could consider based on humanitarian grounds due to COVID restrictions were in place. Please advise.

[CR001]

But COVID restrictions have affected my wife's intention to return to the UK and to give birth to the child here.

This is irrelevant.

What are our obligations to submit an application for British Citizenship directly to our expecting Child instead of ILE of course once the baby is born since we both hold valid ILR ?

The application will fail if both parents only hold ilr. The child has no entitlement to register as British if born abroad.

Whether case worker could consider based on humanitarian grounds due to COVID restrictions were in place.

No, there is no such concept in British nationality laws. You are not making an immigration application when you apply for citizenship for an adult or a child. The requirements that must be met are law as laid out in legislature. It's not just an immigration rule that has some variables and discretion. Citizenship has no discretion when an applicant doesn't meet the requirements.

Your child simply doesn't qualify in any way for British citizenship if born abroad to parents who only hold ilr.