Right of abode renewal

[Bukka2013]

Hi All,

I am applying for right of abode renewal for my 5 year old son and wish to ask if I need to send my original British passport ( or a photocopy would do?)

Can I send my original naturalisation certificate instead which is proof of my british citizenship. This just allows me to travel if needed, which wont happen if I submit my passport with the application.

Also please let me know what the waiting times are currently for the whole process?


Thanks All
Bukka

[vinny]

A British passport doesn’t confer British citizenship. However, a naturalisation certificate does. So, they would want to see the naturalisation certificate rather than a British passport.

Unfortunately, if the applicant holds a valid British passport, then they won’t issue a CoE-RoA.

[Bukka2013]

Thanks Vinny.

The application is for son who carries Indian nationality athough born when I was already a British citizen. We plan to keep it like this for sometime.

Please let me know of processing times

Best wishes

[vinny]

6 months!

See also members’ experences.

[Bukka2013]

Thanks a lot.

I made the payment electronically and sent the form next day- 2/10/2018.

I haven't had any communication from the ROA office informing of the receipt of the form. I understand it can take 6 months but how do I know the form has not been lost in transit?

Please advise

Kind Regards

[sunburn]

An interesting situation. I have a cousin who has RoA too, but as a commonwealth citizen born prior to 1983, and retains Indian citizenship legitimately.

In this case, the child appears to have acknowledged British citizenship through the RoA, correct, since those born since 1983 can only have RoA if they are British citizens ? Thus it would make the Indian citizenship void.

This is a tricky position to be in. My cousin explicitly carries a print out of gov.uk RoA details indicating that they are indeed Indians and that RoA in their case does not amount to acknowledging British citizenship.

However for those born later than 1983, a RoA does mean you are British, and this may run foul of any Indian authorities at a PoE who are familiar with the matter.

[Bukka2013]

Possible. Not entirely sure though but no trouble so far.

Do you have a link to what print out your cousin carries?

Also I wonder if there is a contact number or email id for ROA so we can message them to atleast acknowledge receipt of documents.

[sunburn]

Your son is five years old and was thus born after 1983. If he has RoA, it means he's an acknowledged British citizen, who simply happens to have chosen not to apply for a British passport.

There's no printout you can carry to prove otherwise to the Indian authorities - his Indian passport is void because he is not an Indian citizen. It only takes one Indian PoE officer who knows this for things to fall apart really quickly, and hence my caution; holding and using an invalid passport for 5 years might imply a significant fine.

My cousin's circumstances are different, gained through a UK born mother, and themselves born before 1983. They are a small subgroup of people capable of holding a commonwealth citizenship *and* a RoA without being British citizens. This does not apply to your son.

The British authorities are familiar with Indian immigration law with regard to proscription against dual citizenship. Remember that your RoA application requires a valid passport. Having already acknowledged British citizenship through a prior RoA application, that Indian passport of your son is invalid. It is possible that upon RoA renewal application, they will send your son's passport to the Indian High Commission in UK that a person with acknowledged British citizenship is attempting to renew RoA on an Indian passport that's technically void, and let the Indian authorities handle the matter. There's prior precedent of this happening.

I have no idea on RoA renewal timelines, but first time applicants take 4-6 weeks from India.

[CR001]

Thanks Vinny.

The application is for son who carries Indian nationality athough born when I was already a British citizen. We plan to keep it like this for sometime.

Please let me know of processing times

Best wishes

What is the nationality of the other parent at the time of birth and now?

[Bukka2013]

Thanks dude.

I await replies from moderators please

Kind Regards

[vinny]

An interesting situation. I have a cousin who has RoA too, but as a commonwealth citizen born prior to 1983, and retains Indian citizenship legitimately.

In this case, the child appears to have acknowledged British citizenship through the RoA, correct, since those born since 1983 can only have RoA if they are British citizens ? Thus it would make the Indian citizenship void.

This is a tricky position to be in. My cousin explicitly carries a print out of gov.uk RoA details indicating that they are indeed Indians and that RoA in their case does not amount to acknowledging British citizenship.

However for those born later than 1983, a RoA does mean you are British, and this may run foul of any Indian authorities at a PoE who are familiar with the matter.

See also Are you a minor, Indian by descent and also foreign citizen?

[sunburn]

See also Are you a minor, Indian by descent and also foreign citizen?

That's a very interesting corner case. It allows the minor who has foreign citizenship by birth and Indian citizenship by descent through registration, to retain Indian citizenship until age of majority, upon which they're compelled to decide, provided they do not acquire a foreign passport beforehand.

The Indian legal statement basically assumes the only form of acknowledgement of foreign citizenship is a passport from that country. It doesn't address cases like UK that enables a RoA sticker as acknowledgement of the same, or others like I think NZ that endorses foreign passports to indicate the person is also an NZ citizen. That's not such a bad thing, since the endorsement is for entry to one country, and not a general travel document.

I'm not sure what purpose is served by retaining an Indian passport for a minor vs OCI, though. Until they're adults, they can't vote or own property, so it's not clear what full citizenship affords a child that an OCI does not. The cheaper cost of an Indian passport ? Well the RoA is 5x more expensive than a UK passport, and about 2x more expensive than an OCI. And if the goal is to retain Indian citizenship long term, then at 18 the child would choose Indian citizenship and renounce British citizenship, essentially invalidating the RoA.

[Bukka2013]

Hi,

Recd my son’s ROA in less than 2 months. Thanks once again for all your help and guidance

BW
Bukka

[rags2012]

Hi Bukka2013,

I just came across your post while looking for re-issue of RoA in new passport. I have sent off my daughter's passport on 13-July-2019 after filling the form online and paying the fee online as well. I haven't received any confirmation to say the passport has been received or asking for biometric details.

Obviously yours was almost a year ago, but I was wondering if you remember if you were sent a letter asking to register biometric details again for your son. Obviously these were collected as part of the original RoA application 5years ago.

Kind regards,
Raghuram

[Bukka2013]

Hi Raghuram,

It’s been a while so can’t be sure but I don’t recall if any confirmations were sent of them having received Passport/ payment from our end. I also don’t think I took my son for any biometrics. The only way I felt ‘ a bit’ reassured was when my account had been debited

Not sure if this helps. Good luck.

[rags2012]

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately this time, because the application was online, they took the payment online as well at the same time. I only sent the documents by post, the next day and I haven't heard anything back since.
Anyways, thanks for your response. It seems (from other posts too) that they may not require Biometrics the second time. But we will wait and see.

british-citizenship/right-of-abode-with ... 547-80.htm

Will post here if I hear anything.
Cheers

[rags2012]

Hi,
We received our little ones passport back in exactly 4 months, on 12-Nov-2019, with the certificate of ent of RoA. Surprisingly, we have not been asked for biometrics again.

[Jimjams1919]

Hi All,

I am applying for a RoA for my son for the second time as he now has a new passport. The application will be based on my ILR.

I think the requirements have changed since the last application, in that only the passport containing the ILR will be required instead of the current valid passport as well? I seem to recall the current valid passport of the parent was required as well the last time. Can anyone who has gone through the recent process confirm?

Also, if I now also have a BRP card does this need to be included in the application as well? I only recently obtained the card, so would have thought it is not not suitable as evidence of settlement when my son was born.

TIA for your advice, and if there is a more appropriate thread on this topic please let me know.

JimJams

[rags2012]

Hi Jimjams1919,

The original documents I sent were my daughter's expired passport showing RoA, her new passport and birth certificate. I only sent copies of the rest of the documents. Like you, I had renewed my passport since she was issued RoA the first time. So I sent copies of my old passport, new passport, and my BRP showing its validity at the time of her birth.

As far as I know parents current circumstance is not an important criteria. What's more important is parents status at the time of the child's birth. Someone else can correct me, but this has been my recent experience.

Hope this helps. All the best.