Add child to approved Spouse Visa / Descent?

[Usmaan786]

Hi Everyone,

We applied for my wife's spouse visa earlier this year and due to a significant delay with proccessing times (covid) her visa took much much longer than expected to get approved.

The plan was to have the child be born in the UK however due to the delay he was born in Spain. I would have thought this is not an issue however reading online I'm not sure if my child get's a passport by descent.

I was born in Pakistan and came over after birth as a British citizen. My dad was born in the UK and is a british citizen. As I was not born here and got citizenship via my dad I'm suprised to find my child does not get citinzenship by descent as I was born in Pakistan not the UK. I would have thought being a British citizen means my child gets it regardless to the fact I was born in Pakistan.

Am I understanding this correctly?

What are my options in terms of getting my child here, as the spouse visa was done with no dependents as at the time we had none?

Any ideas if you can apply for an arrival extension for a spouse visa?

Thanks

[TODMATT]

Hi Everyone,

We applied for my wife's spouse visa earlier this year and due to a significant delay with proccessing times (covid) her visa took much much longer than expected to get approved.

The plan was to have the child be born in the UK however due to the delay he was born in Spain. I would have thought this is not an issue however reading online I'm not sure if my child get's a passport by descent.

I was born in Pakistan and came over after birth as a British citizen. My dad was born in the UK and is a british citizen. As I was not born here and got citizenship via my dad I'm suprised to find my child does not get citinzenship by descent as I was born in Pakistan not the UK. I would have thought being a British citizen means my child gets it regardless to the fact I was born in Pakistan.

Am I understanding this correctly?

What are my options in terms of getting my child here, as the spouse visa was done with no dependents as at the time we had none?

Any ideas if you can apply for an arrival extension for a spouse visa?

Thanks

You are currently British by descent which means your child does not get a British citizen automatically but it is possible to register the child if the father has lived in the UK continuously for 3 years prior before the child was born and this is referencing to section 3(2) of British Nationality Act.

[secret.simon]

I would have thought being a British citizen means my child gets it regardless to the fact I was born in Pakistan.

British nationality law makes a distinction between those who are citizens by descent (who can't pass on their British citizenship to their children born abroad automatically) and those who are citizens otherwise than by descent (who can). I reflected on some possible reasons for this .

You have two options.

As @TODMATT suggests above, you can have the child registered as a British citizen under Section 3(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 if certain conditions as regards your own residence and your British parent's citizenship are met. Note that such registration will also make the child themselves a British citizen by descent and they will not be able to pass on their British citizenship to their children born abroad either.

Alternatively, you could apply for the same visa for the child as the mother. Then, once the child has lived in the UK for three continuous years, they can be registered as a British citizen under Section 3(5) of the BNA 1981, which would make the child a British citizen otherwise than by descent, capable of passing British citizenship to one generation born abroad (but which would cost more money in the short term, as you would have to pay for two visas and two IHSs for the child).