UK citizenship for child when one parent lives abroad

[Peony]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I've been searching through the archives but I haven't found another thread that addresses this topic...

I'm preparing to apply for citizenship for myself and my daughter. We're both US citizens and have had ILR since 2012, so we've been eligible for citizenship for a while now. My daughter's father still lives in the US.

According to the guidance for application MN1 (children's citizenship application):

"Children in this category [children who aren't entitled to UK citizenship by birth or adoption] will be considered at the Home Secretary’s discretion and will usually be registered only if both the parents are granted or already hold British citizenship, or if one parent holds British citizenship and the other is settled in the UK."

It goes on to say that the Home Secretary will consider applications depending on certain criteria:

Where the child’s future is likely to lie.
The parents’ nationality and immigration status – we expect either both parents
to be British citizens or one parent a British citizen and the other parent settled
in the UK.

With my daughter's father living outside of the UK she doesn't meet this criteria. However, she's lived here almost all of her life, so perhaps we could approach the "where her future is likely to lie" angle?

Basically what I'm asking is, has anyone here been successful applying for UK citizenship for a child when the other parent still lives in the home country? If so, did you have to write a letter making a case for the child's citizenship?

Alternately, has anyone applied for their child but been refused? I hate to think that my child might not become fully British when this is the only home she's really known!

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

[noajthan]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I've been searching through the archives but I haven't found another thread that addresses this topic...

I'm preparing to apply for citizenship for myself and my daughter. We're both US citizens and have had ILR since 2012, so we've been eligible for citizenship for a while now. My daughter's father still lives in the US.

According to the guidance for application MN1 (children's citizenship application):

...

With my daughter's father living outside of the UK she doesn't meet this criteria. However, she's lived here almost all of her life, so perhaps we could approach the "where her future is likely to lie" angle?

Basically what I'm asking is, has anyone here been successful applying for UK citizenship for a child when the other parent still lives in the home country? If so, did you have to write a letter making a case for the child's citizenship?

Alternately, has anyone applied for their child but been refused? I hate to think that my child might not become fully British when this is the only home she's really known!

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

I have successfully done this in my family's case under same section 3(1) of BNA ie registration at HS's discretion.

Some personal questions.
You may see where this is leading & may not wish to answer in public forum, if so it's well understood.

What is father's status?
Is the 'separation' permanent or temporary?
Does father have contact with daughter?
Does father support family/daughter?
Who has parental responsibility for daughter? (one or both biological parents &/or others?)
Who has custody (sole custody)?
What approximate age is daughter & how many years in UK?
Does daughter have any particular ambitions that tie her to UK (eg to join Services)?

A cover letter is not mandatory but may help.
In my case I utilised a parent's cover letter & a minor's cover letter.

Good luck.

[Peony]

Thanks for your response! So glad to hear you were able to do this. Were there any unusual circumstances that made your application successful? To answer your questions:

What is father's status? Immigration status, or...? He's a US citizen.
Is the 'separation' permanent or temporary? Permanent.
Does father have contact with daughter? Yes, they Skype at least twice a week, and he comes to visit for 4-5 weeks once or twice a year, plus she visits him at least once a year.
Does father support family/daughter? Financially? Yes, he pays child support. He also supports her application for citizenship.
Who has parental responsibility for daughter? (one or both biological parents &/or others?) I do.
Who has custody (sole custody)? I do.
What approximate age is daughter & how many years in UK? 10 years/over 6 years in the UK.
Does daughter have any particular ambitions that tie her to UK (eg to join Services)? No... but she's very adamant that she doesn't want to move back. I plan on staying in the UK permanently.

A cover letter is not mandatory but may help.
In my case I utilised a parent's cover letter & a minor's cover letter.

Good luck.

Thanks again. Given your own experience, does this sound like an application that would be considered or refused?

[noajthan]

...

Thanks again. Given your own experience, does this sound like an application that would be considered or refused?

From your stated facts and above answers you appear to be a lone parent with complete custody.
I can't speak for the collective mind of HO (and have only done this once) but at face value you appear to have a good case.

You will need clear & comprehensive evidence to support the above.
Especially in the areas of custody, parental responsibility (pr), contact, consent.

Sidebar:
In my case I had to embark on a road trip in a 3rd world country to gather vital supporting evidence with the help of a law student as my fixer, a Dickensian-style old country lawyer and an amazing woman Notary Public.
I was skyping back to a UK lawyer when I could.
There were no divorce or custody or pr papers in existence or to be found.
We did it all twice, (tracking witnesses and gathering affidavits, legal documents from family members etc) because I misunderstood some of the local law;
first time round I gathered some invalid evidence that could not be notarised.
How we laugh about it now.

In your case you may have US or UK court documents of some sort of other - so hopefully you have clearcut documentary evidence to submit.

Suggest read the questions about custody/contact/consent carefully (you sound a careful person) and answer with as much info as possible.

A cover letter (or paragraphs in the 'additional info' section) of the form will help.

Explain why father does not have pr and does not need to give consent (if that is the position).
Ofcourse if he can & does give permission (if you want him too) then that helps too.

Your child is young so I don't know how a letter from her would be weighed up by a caseworker but you could include one, for the human angle.
Or you may prefer her to shield her from the whole process, it's up to you.

Note there may or may not be a step-father in the equation.
However they would not have pr by default & so do not figure in this process.
(For example. I did not appear in the MN1 application form at all).
By parents the form means biological parents and full details of both are required.

This HO guidance will give you insights into what HO require & how they will assess your application, see:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 150402.pdf
- this is gold & helped me make our case as it elaborates on the guidance notes.

Hope it makes sense, good luck.

[Casa]

@noajthan I may have missed this in your posts, but wouldn't it strengthen the daughter's BC application if her mother applied for and was granted BC first?

[noajthan]

@noajthan I may have missed this in your posts, but wouldn't it strengthen the daughter's BC application if her mother applied for and was granted BC first?

I didn't mention it as OP says this:

I'm preparing to apply for citizenship for myself ...

In my comparable case mother & daughter applied together;
my strategy was to emphasis the joint 'family unit' nature of the application.

For us, this was because HO previously rejected the mother-child relationship & denied a visa in a prior visa application.
(From HO: "No violation of HR they can always use Skype" - you may be familiar with that type of rejection letter).
Family was separated & it took an 8 months battle to overturn; HO threw in the towel & a visa arrived in the post just days before the court date.
I knew that case would pop up when caseworker reviewed the citizenship applications so wanted to emphasise the family ties.

(The option to consider the child's registration application in isolation if mother's naturalisation was refused was also ticked).

Result: no follow up queries whatsoever from HO - both were granted together.

Aside
Council then invited minor daughter to participate in oath-taking ceremony too (council didn't have to do that)
- which she did & it was very emotional & touching for us all, after the previous struggles we had faced..

[Casa]

Thanks for clarifying noajthan

[noajthan]

Thanks for clarifying noajthan

If mother is risk-averse I suppose no harm in applying to naturalise first; (only 1 fee at risk).
once approved then, as a BC, register her daughter.
I'm aware some people take that sequential approach.

In my thinking it seemed to make a stronger case when applying as a mother-daughter family unit to reinforce the coupling & dependency between the two.
And it worked

[Peony]

From your stated facts and above answers you appear to be a lone parent with complete custody.
I can't speak for the collective mind of HO (and have only done this once) but at face value you appear to have a good case.

You will need clear & comprehensive evidence to support the above.
Especially in the areas of custody, parental responsibility (pr), contact, consent.

In your case you may have US or UK court documents of some sort of other - so hopefully you have clearcut documentary evidence to submit.

Suggest read the questions about custody/contact/consent carefully (you sound a careful person) and answer with as much info as possible.

A cover letter (or paragraphs in the 'additional info' section) of the form will help.

Explain why father does not have pr and does not need to give consent (if that is the position).
Ofcourse if he can & does give permission (if you want him too) then that helps too.

This HO guidance will give you insights into what HO require & how they will assess your application, see:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 150402.pdf
- this is gold & helped me make our case as it elaborates on the guidance notes.

Hope it makes sense, good luck.

Thank you so much for that last link – it *is* gold! I won't be able to read it fully until I get off work, but does it fully explain the requirements regarding contact? That's the only area where I'm unclear – is it better for our case for our daughter to have more contact with her father, or less (perhaps because less means he's out of the picture and thus her future is more likely to reside in the UK)?

Her father fully supports her application for citizenship, and I can have him write a letter to that effect.

Your case with the mother and daughter sounds like it must have been heartbreaking. I can't imagine how painful it would be to be separated from my child.

[noajthan]

Thank you so much for that last link – it *is* gold! I won't be able to read it fully until I get off work, but does it fully explain the requirements regarding contact? That's the only area where I'm unclear – is it better for our case for our daughter to have more contact with her father, or less (perhaps because less means he's out of the picture and thus her future is more likely to reside in the UK)?

Her father fully supports her application for citizenship, and I can have him write a letter to that effect.

Your case with the mother and daughter sounds like it must have been heartbreaking. I can't imagine how painful it would be to be separated from my child.

Yes the document covers all aspects surrounding contact & consent.
It gives a much better insight than the regular MN1 guidance booklet.
It can be used to help 'spoonfed' the caseworker & simplify their job by giving them what they require.

Suggest start at section 9.17 of the doc (after reading the introduction).
The planet will take a hit but a printout of the guidance & a highlighter pen will probably help.

Pay attention to 9.17.10,
also 9.17.13 & 9.18

Evidence is covered in 9.17.32 - you can see school reports & similar may be significant as well as the expected court papers.

See 9.18 & draw your conclusions on the degree of other parent's contact & the impact on your application.
I think the direction of your question kind of answered it.

9.18.13 covers whether other parent's views are to be considered or not.

Suggest printing a few copies of application form & filling in a draft or 2 to see how it shapes up.

Yes, in my experience dealing with HO & immigration law can be stressful & draining (emotionally & financially) to the nth degree.
It is the tension caused by an impersonal & indifferent bureaucracy that is dealing with matters so very close to your own heart;
matters that have the power to change your family's future for better or worse.

I've found you just have to work through it methodically; discover the letter of the law and work to meet it, line by line.
After all that is what the caseworker is using for each case in front of them.

[Peony]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it!