Our situation
My wife and I are US citizens. We immigrated to the UK in May 2014 with our eldest child (Child 1), who was born in the USA. We have had two children born in the UK since immigrating (Child 2 and Child 3); they have UK birth certificates and US passports.
My BRP/Tier 2 (General) visa is valid through June 2019. My wife, Child 1, and Child 2 have BRPs as PBS Dependents that are also valid through June. Child 3, born in September 2018 does not have a visa/BRP.
We hope to remain in the UK long term and acquire citizenship when possible.
2019 Plans
We plan to apply for ILR/settlement for me, my wife, and Child 1 as soon as we qualify this spring. We would then plan to apply for citizenship when possible in 2020.
In reading further today, it seems that Child 2 and Child 3 may actually qualify for citizenship this year (under section 1(3) of the British Nationality Act), as soon as my wife or I receive ILR/become settled residents. If correct, this would eliminate the need to spend c. £3,000 each for ILR/settlement and accelerate their citizenship.
In light of our situation, we have three questions to shape our immigration-related plans for the year:
- Are we correct in understanding that there is no need for Child 2 and Child 3 to apply for ILR/settlement? Instead, we could submit their MN1 application form as soon as my wife or I receives ILR?
- If we are correct regarding the right to citizenship, is there a reason why we may actually want to pursue ILR/settlement rather than direct citizenship for Child 2 and Child 3 (given that we plan to pursue citizenship for the whole family ASAP in any case)?
- We do not plan to travel abroad with Child 3 until we complete the process for either citizenship or ILR/settlement. Given this, do we need to apply for a PBS Dependent visa for the period between now and when we submit the application for ILR or citizenship? The language describing this on gov.uk would suggest that this visa is not required unless we plan to “travel in and out of the UK with [our] child,” but is far from clear on the topic.
