Child Citizenship-JAJ, Kayalami, Paul etc. please help

[Smit]

Gurus,

I was wondering whether a child is eligible to be registered as a British Citizen in the following circumstances:

• Child born in 1992 in Kenya to BOC father and Kenyan mother;
  Child not eligible for BOC so his name put on mother's Kenyan passport;
  Mother gets ILE in 1997 with child's name still on her passport;
  father registers as BC in 2004;
  mother and child come to UK in 2005 and child gets his own Kenyan passport from Kenyan High Commission and is issued with ILR.

My question: can the child be registered as a BC immediately or does he need 5 years UK residence? Please give reasons if possible and quote any forms that need to be filled in. (The child is going back to Kenya in a few days).

Thank you very much.

Smit

[John]

The child was born in 1992 and here we are in 2006 which must mean that the child is now 13 or 14 years old. So it appears to me that the child cannot be registered as British immediately, but can after living in the UK for at least two years .... as long as that application is made prior to their 18th birthday.

But Smit you say "The child is going back to Kenya in a few days". Just for a holiday ... to return to the UK later? Or to live permanently in Kenya?

[Smit]

Thanks for your response John.
You are correct, the child is 13 years old, he is going back to Kenya but will return to the UK later on. So I take it that the child can only be registered before his 18th b-day and provided that he has at least 2 years UK residency?

Thanks John.

[John]

Smit, yes, that is my understanding, IND will not register the child as British until there has been two years residence in the UK. And to be registered, on the basis of parent's BC, the application must be made before the 18th birthday.

Had the child not yet attained their 13th birthday ... if they were 12 or less now .... it would have been possible to register as British now.

[Smit]

Thanks for the information John. It's a pity that the child passed his 13th bday just a few months ago and cannot now register as a BC without meeting the residency requirements.

[JAJ]

Thanks for the information John. It's a pity that the child passed his 13th bday just a few months ago and cannot now register as a BC without meeting the residency requirements.

Residence requirement or not, for this type of registration under s3(1) the Home Office normally expect to see evidence that the child's future lies in the UK.

Is the child returning to Kenya for a holiday - or something more long term?

[Smit]

JAJ,

Thanks for your input. I believe that the child is returning to Kenya to complete his O Levels and is expected to thereafter return to the UK for good at age 16 years (with frequent trips to the UK between now and then).

S

[fpoptani]

Hi there, iwanted to know how did ur husband register froma boc to a brit cit. And how do you go about getting letters from kenya and india that you are stateless. Many thanks.

[ppron747]

I'm not sure why you posted this question here, where it doesn't seem to have any connection with previous posts in the thread....

It seems from paras 2.6 & 2.7 of IND's Nationality Instructions - here - that they are fully aware that neither India nor Kenya tolerates the holding of the citizenship of another country by adults, so you may be able to submit a section 4B application without evidence from these countries.

There is a fly in the ointment, though - they may still need confirmation that you haven't applied for Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) which - oddly - IND recognises as a citizenship, despite the fact that it is evidenced only by a sticker in another country's passport...

It seems to me that, provided that the only countries that you're connected with are India and Kenya, and there's no reason at all to suspect that you could have the citizenship of a third country, you might be able to persuade IND that you needn't ask the Indian Government for confirmation that you're not an OCI-holder, because they can see that the OCI sticker isn't in your BOC passport, and you haven't got any other passport that it could be stuck in.

But this is only my view, I'm afraid - you can't tell which way it will go without submitting an application.