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As an aside, be aware that even if your child moves to the UK, they will not be eligible to register as a British citizen because a child is expected to have lived in the UK for at least two years before their 18th birthday to register as a British citizen. They will likely have to naturalise as an adult after five years in the UK (i.e. they will need to meet the same requirements for naturalisation as you).Appendix Children caseworker guidance wrote:Sole parental responsibility
Sole parental responsibility means that one parent is unknown or has abdicated or abandoned parental responsibility, and the other parent is exercising sole control in setting and providing the day-to-day direction and care for the child’s welfare.
In assessing whether the applicant has sole parental responsibility for a child, you must consider any evidence provided to show that:
decisions have been taken and actions performed in relation to the upbringing of the child under the sole direction of one parent
only one parent is responsible for the child’s welfare and for what happens to them in key areas of the child’s life, and the other parent does not share this responsibility for the child
one parent has sole responsibility for:
making decisions regarding the child’s education, health and medical treatment, religion, residence, holidays and recreation
protecting the child and providing them with appropriate direction and guidance
If this evidence is not provided with the application, you can contact the applicant to request it.
Note that:
sole responsibility is not the same as sole legal custody - a parent may have sole legal custody for a child where the other parent is still involved in the child’s life
making significant or even sole financial provision for a child does not in itself demonstrate sole parental responsibility
where both parents are involved in the child’s upbringing, it will be rare for one parent to establish sole parental responsibility
sole parental responsibility can be recent or long-standing – any recent change of arrangements should be scrutinised to make sure you are satisfied this is genuine – if you think it necessary, you should contact both the applicant’s parents for more information
It is unrealistic for a child to have contact with no other adult other than the parent exercising sole parental responsibility. The child is likely to have contact with other adults, including relatives, and they may provide some element of care for the child, either generally or specifically such as taking the child to school. Actions of this kind that include looking after the child’s welfare may be shared with others who are not parents, for example, relatives or friends, who are available in a practical sense, providing the parent has sole overall responsibility for the welfare of the child.
You are not considering whether the child’s parent (or anyone else) has day-to-day responsibility for the child, but whether the parent has continuing sole control and direction of the child’s upbringing, including making all the important decisions in the child’s life. If not, then they do not have sole parental responsibility for the child. You must carefully consider each application on a case-by-case basis. The burden of proof is on the applicant to provide satisfactory evidence that a parent has sole parental responsibility.
For entry clearance cases, it may be necessary to use local intelligence relating to the applicant’s home country or location to advise on what evidence you should expect to see, or what is likely to be available that you could reasonably ask for, as well as how much weight to give to particular types of evidence. Country-specific information can be found in the country of origin information or via the relevant UK embassy or high commission staff.
If you are not satisfied that one of the child’s parents has sole responsibility, you should consider whether there are serious and compelling reasons to grant the child’s application.
I think I would ask the question the other way around. Why in your opinion would your son meet this requirement?
Does he have a diagnosed mental health condition? I presume it is more than the usual emotional stress of being a teenager, which all of us have been through. Is he getting medical assistance for that in his current country of residence? And what arrangements have you made for him/will you make for his mental health condition if he were to come to the UK?
Don't dig up older topics and tag onto them. Please continue in your own topic you already have where you have already been given advice!!!UkLondon123 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 29, 2025 5:19 pmwas your child born in UK or abroad? cos I am in similar situation(my son was born in uk and moved out in couple of month)
thanks for your time
