Applying for British passport while on Ancestry Visa

[Megan Daniels]

Hello all, I would just like to find out some information please. Basically, we came from South Africa on ancestral visa (my side) We went through the agency xxxx in South Africa and they advised our best option would be doing ancestral visa instead of me applying for my british passport (My dad and grandparents were born in England) As we didn't have the large amount of savings or I didn't want to be separated from my baby and partner to come to England alone for 6 months to work.
Fast forward and we have been here 3 years in May.
We have decided to move to Ireland (If all in Brexit goes well ofcourse) I need to get my British passport so my Husband and son can travel with me to move there permanently. BUT how do I go about doing this while we are already on the visa. Is it not against the law... If I apply, it will be about 2 months before we leave. Am I supposed to let the home office know of my plans? I'm not sure what to do. Will they cancel the visa and send us packing once I apply for the BP... If that makes sense.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Thank you

[CR001]

Was you father married to your mother??

Applying for a passport won't cause any issues for you. It will likely affect the child's visa more if the child doesn't have Portuguese citizenship as your previous posts suggest your husband has a Portuguese passport, so unsure why you didn't simply come to the UK via the free EEA/EU route then.

ireland/visa-to-england-from-ireland-t2 ... l#p1725059

[Megan Daniels]

Sorry please ignore my previous post as that was on behalf of my sister in law. Oopsie

Yes my parents were married before I was born

[Megan Daniels]

My son, Husband and I all have South African passports.

[CR001]

The problem you have is that the minute you obtain a British passport, your visa becomes null and void as you cannot hold a British passport and a visa. This obviously affects your dependents who are on dependent ancestry visas and they would need to switch to FLR M spouse/child visa.

Nothing you need to inform HO about if you are leaving the UK though, so suggest plan accordingly and get your passport closer to intended date of departure.

Note also that your dependents will only have 90 days as visitors in Ireland.

You should post your Irish process questions in the Ireland sub forum to understand what is required to avoid them being without status in Ireland. Your husband won't be permitted to work until his residency is sorted out.

[Megan Daniels]

Thank you. That is our exact situation. I know about everything once we arrive in Ireland as we have family there who have done the same thing.
So are you saying I will NEED to do the switch or can I just stay as I am, then apply for the British passport just before we leave? I see it takes up to 6 weeks. So maybe if I apply 8 weeks before our intended day of departure?
Just worried if I apply, there will be some kind of issue.

Thanks

[CR001]

You are not "switching" yourself. You are applying for something you are entitled to.

Passports are currently taking aroun 2 to 3 weeks.

What kind of issue do you believe there will be??

If your visa is null and void, your dependents will be too and they will likely have their visas curtailed to 60 days.

[Megan Daniels]

Ooooh ok I see now that's making sense. I was worried their visas would be cancelled the moment I applied for BP and they would have to leave the UK then and there.
So will apply 6 weeks before we leave. I guess that's a good enough time frame.

Thank you so much for your help.