All Family British Besides Me - Advice Please

[ztoday]

Hi newbie looking for advice. My situation is as follows:
Born Zimbabwe 67 left 82 to SA. Became SA citizen and entered UK 2003 on ancestral visa (from my fathers father) and came with my wife on spouse of ancetral visa (Latvian Citizen).
Both my parents were born in Rhodesia and obtained their British Citizenship by descent (after my birth). Both my parents now live and work in the UK (my father entered a year before me).
Some general points: 1. Iam led to believe if my parents had applied for a passport for me before 18 I would now have British citizenship (they did not know this at the time)
2. Our ancestral visas expire next year and now the ILR period has increased from 4-5 years - do we now need to extended the ancestral visas..?
3. My wife being Latvian is an EU citizen - we have not really looked into the requirements for ILR and cistizenship from this side.

Any ideas on how to approach becoming British citizens with the above in mind will be appreciated - I have spoken to various departments here but as soon as you mention you are on an ancetral visa they take you down the path of new what that process is...

[JAJ]

Hi newbie looking for advice. My situation is as follows:
Born Zimbabwe 67 left 82 to SA. Became SA citizen and entered UK 2003 on ancestral visa (from my fathers father) and came with my wife on spouse of ancetral visa (Latvian Citizen).
Both my parents were born in Rhodesia and obtained their British Citizenship by descent (after my birth). Both my parents now live and work in the UK (my father entered a year before me).
Some general points: 1. Iam led to believe if my parents had applied for a passport for me before 18 I would now have British citizenship (they did not know this at the time)
2. Our ancestral visas expire next year and now the ILR period has increased from 4-5 years - do we now need to extended the ancestral visas..?
3. My wife being Latvian is an EU citizen - we have not really looked into the requirements for ILR and cistizenship from this side.

Any ideas on how to approach becoming British citizens with the above in mind will be appreciated - I have spoken to various departments here but as soon as you mention you are on an ancetral visa they take you down the path of new what that process is...

Paul or John may be able to add more, but:

1. If your parents were British citizens by descent (ie, not born or naturalised in the UK), then it's unlikely you were ever eligible for British citizenship.

2. You need to extend your ancestral visas and go for ILR after 5 years. Did your wife arrive in the UK at the same time as you?

3. If you start trying to use the EEA rules, you will probably reset the clock for permanent residence (ILR) to zero and have another 5 years to wait. So don't think about that option other than as a real last resort.

Once you have ILR, you can wait a further 12 months and apply for British citizenship by naturalisation at that point. If you want to keep your South African citizenship you will need permission from the SA government. This is not normally a problem to obtain but does require a fee and waiting time.

If you don't want to keep South African citizenship, then you don't need to do anything.

For your wife, she ought to check in writing with the Latvian authorities whether she will keep her Latvian citizenship upon naturalisation in the UK. Unless she doesn't mind losing it.

[ztoday]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

My wife came with me at the same time in 2003. [She has resided in the UK since 20 Jun 2000 (on a student visa for most of the time besides 10 months living in SA in 2003]

Guess we will have to extend the ancestral visas and go the ILR and naturalisation route.

Hopefully the goal post will remain in place on the ILR and not extend as it did recently. Also bemusing is upon turning 18 I lost the right to obtaining a British passport and my younger brother is will be getting his before me (which is gr8 though). So much for life being fair I guess.

Once again thanks for the advice which has made it clear that the option we are following is the best way forward..[/quote]

[JAJ]

Also bemusing is upon turning 18 I lost the right to obtaining a British passport and my younger brother is will be getting his before me (which is gr8 though). So much for life being fair I guess.

On what basis is your brother becoming a British citizen? Is he living in the UK with your parents? And if so, how old is he and for how long as he lived in the UK?

Based on the information you posted, there is no evidence that you were ever entitled to British citizenship.

[ztoday]

My brother came over to the UK before me and managed to get and ILR after 4 years just before they changed it ot 5 and thus he can now do the ceremony and obtain his passport...

[ppron747]

FWIW, I share JAJ's doubts that you were ever entitled to be registered as a British citizen.

The British Nationality Acts have, since 1948, contained provision whereby minor children could be registered as British, at the discretion of the Home Secretary, but the Home Office have always had reasonably well defined policies on the circumstances in which a child would qualify for registration, and I cannot see that a child, living in South Africa at the time, whose closest connection with the UK was a UK-born grandfather, would have met the normal requirements for registration. (Unless you happened to be a famous barefoot sprinter, of course....)

As I see it, you would have qualified for an application to be made - because the Act gives the Home Secretary very wide discretion to register, and an application can be submitted for anyone under the age of 18 - but it would almost certainly have failed, in the absence of close and continuing links with the UK which, in your case, didn't really start until you got here as an adult, in 2003. A grandparent, in the Home Office's book, would not have qualified as a close and continuing link.