Child citizenship/ moving to the UK/ Visa Question/ MN1 form

Hi, I did a search on this forum and I am posting this as nothing matched what I was looking for.

I am a British citizen living in the US / on a green card, I was born in and lived in the UK 24 years before moving to the US.
I have a 2 year old child born in the US / US citizen
The childs mother is US citizen
Child is illegitimate / we have not been married and are not getting married

I wish to move myself with the child soon to the UK. The mother will not be coming to live in the UK.

I want to register the child as a British citizen using the MN1 form. Can I move the child to the UK first and file the MN1 in the UK, meaning the child entering as a US citizen with a US passport.(As opposed to doing it through the UK consulate in the US) I have all the proper paperwork for the MN1 as far as I can tell, US birth cert etc.

Will I need a UK visa for the child? Or could I just enter with her as a visitor?

I have read through all the relevant government websites but it seems a bit complicated.

Thank you.

Just making a post so I subscribe to this thread.

niteowl2012 wrote:Hi, I did a search on this forum and I am posting this as nothing matched what I was looking for.

I am a British citizen living in the US / on a green card, I was born in and lived in the UK 24 years before moving to the US.
I have a 2 year old child born in the US / US citizen
The childs mother is US citizen
Child is illegitimate / we have not been married and are not getting married

I wish to move myself with the child soon to the UK. The mother will not be coming to live in the UK.

- Have you got the legal right to remove the child from the United States (this is needed even if she is a British citizen); and

- Have you thought through the consequences of abandoning your green card. If you have an American child, you should strongly consider becoming naturalised American yourself first.

I want to register the child as a British citizen using the MN1 form. Can I move the child to the UK first and file the MN1 in the UK, meaning the child entering as a US citizen with a US passport.(As opposed to doing it through the UK consulate in the US) I have all the proper paperwork for the MN1 as far as I can tell, US birth cert etc.

Will I need a UK visa for the child? Or could I just enter with her as a visitor?

If she's arriving to live, she would need a settlement visa in her U.S. passport.

Why not wait for the MN1 process to be completed? It's not normally very long - 1 to 3 months, usually.

Yeah, I would strongly suggest finding out about parental laws in the US. Normally a mother's right is strongest (as over here). I don't know your situation, but I'm betting the mother would have to sign some legal document that allows the child to leave the US.

As for you....as soon as you can naturalise, best to do so! It's never good to give up the chance of being a (US/dual) citizen; never know when it will come in handy!

You should register the child now - no need to wait until you've entered the UK, as it'll be a whole lot easier travelling (when all is said and done) and entering the UK without the fuss of a settlement visa (which is just more money, isn't it?).