Child BC if parents are divorced&live in different count

There is a political asylum seeker father from Russia who got naturalised in the UK and got BC recently.

He has an 8 year old son in Moscow who is living with his mum. The parents divorced just after this boy was born. The now-Brit father has a new family etc in the UK but wants to have his son visit him in the UK. The child applied for a tourist visa and will be visiting his dad if the visa is granted.

The question is, the father would want the son to have the education in the UK in the future and may consider having the kid live with him. Is there any way the boy could get BC?

1) The boy was born outside the UK;
2) At the time no parent was a British Citizen;
3) Recently the father became naturalised and lives in London;

What are the options please? The father is more or less loaded if that would make any difference


thank you

I'd guess that child student would be the best option. Sole repsonsibility would cause a real problem if the boy's living with his mother.

PS - I'm puzzled!

Here you say you are here on the EEA route, you agreed I was right when I asked, "Just to check - your husband is a non-UK EEA national, exercising treaty rights in the UK, and you are his wife, is that right?"

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ht=#419091

Back in March you said:

Hi, I applied for ILR last week, my husb is Brit. National. Provided the following docs:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ht=#355368

Now you're a Russian asylum- seeker!

in this post i never claimed i was in the situation myself, just described the scenario of a friend in general terms, otherwise you would have seen personal pronouns throughout the post which would have indicated my personal involvement.

secondly, i use the same profile to query not only my problems but also those of my friends, therefore the stories will differ depending on their particular situation. don't see any point in creating separate profiles for each of them.

finally, what kind of twisted busy body are you? hahaha i'd never care enough to go through someone else's posts history?! weird, keep guessing which one i truly am- roman abramovich's hench or someone else )

anyway, thanks for the advice and if you could elaborate more on the student route it'd be helpful.

any ideas would be greatly appreciated

avjones wrote:PS - I'm puzzled!

Here you say you are here on the EEA route, you agreed I was right when I asked, "Just to check - your husband is a non-UK EEA national, exercising treaty rights in the UK, and you are his wife, is that right?"

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ht=#419091

Back in March you said:

Hi, I applied for ILR last week, my husb is Brit. National. Provided the following docs:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ht=#355368

Now you're a Russian asylum- seeker!

avjones wrote:I'd guess that child student would be the best option. Sole responsibility would cause a real problem if the boy's living with his mother.

I share your concern about proving sole responsibility, but don't think that a student visa is appropriate at all.

mcovet, the visa to apply for is a Child Settlement visa. But before the person makes any effort to make such an application they really do need to ensure that the sole responsibility issue is sorted, otherwise applying for a Child Settlement visa would just be a total waste of money.

Sole responsibility? It comes down to this. The UK Government (very sensibly in my opinion) does not want to be a party to child abduction, so needs to be sure that the person wanting to bring the child to the UK does in fact have the right to have the child with them.

The child? Given that you post "He has an 8 year old son in Moscow who is living with his mum.", unless a Russian court awards custody of the child to the father, it could prove impossible to make any progress in this matter.

Dear John, thank you very much for the reply. That is what I wanted to know.

So, the only way to get the Child Settlement is if the father agrees with the mother that the boy should live with him in the UK and there is proof of the mother's permission. The mother would have to divest the responsibility and the court order in Russia would help? Then the boy would be applying for Child Settlement and will move to the UK. That is not BC yet, is there any period of waiting before he can apply for BC?

What happens if the father wants the boy to study in the UK post Moscow school, before he attains the age of 18? Without considering the settlement yet? Will the kid have to go through the same process as any other overseas student if the fees are equally shared, and what is the best way for the boy to get the best out of the situation? It is clear that the father will want the British education for him so need to start thinking now.

Once again, thank you for replying in detail, this was helpful.

John wrote:

avjones wrote:I'd guess that child student would be the best option. Sole responsibility would cause a real problem if the boy's living with his mother.

I share your concern about proving sole responsibility, but don't think that a student visa is appropriate at all.

mcovet, the visa to apply for is a Child Settlement visa. But before the person makes any effort to make such an application they really do need to ensure that the sole responsibility issue is sorted, otherwise applying for a Child Settlement visa would just be a total waste of money.

Sole responsibility? It comes down to this. The UK Government (very sensibly in my opinion) does not want to be a party to child abduction, so needs to be sure that the person wanting to bring the child to the UK does in fact have the right to have the child with them.

The child? Given that you post "He has an 8 year old son in Moscow who is living with his mum.", unless a Russian court awards custody of the child to the father, it could prove impossible to make any progress in this matter.

mcovet, there are lots of posts on this board about sole responsibility. Please use the Search facility and gain from the experience of others that have gone before.

As regards "What happens if the father wants the boy to study in the UK post Moscow school, before he attains the age of 18? ", the same rules apply at any time the child is still a minor. but expect greater problems getting a Child Settlement visa shortly before the 18th birthday.

"That is not BC yet, is there any period of waiting before he can apply for BC? " For a child, already in the UK on a Child Settlement visa, if under 13 then there is no minimum length of time in the UK before applying to make the child a British Citizen. If 13 to 17 the child needs to have been in the UK for at least 2 years. Which means of course that if the child is 16 or 17 when they come to the UK, they will be an adult expire the 2 years expire, so will need to comply with the 5-year rule before applying for Naturalisation.

See also sole responsibility.

John and vinny, thank you both for your help, it is great to get such advice for free, god bless you.

@vinny, I followed your link and one of the requirements for sole responsibility was "substantial financial remittance". The father transferred 10,000 and 12,000 in the last 2 years. Although this doesn't mean the father is solely responsible, the mother is, as the kid lives with the mum and she pays the rest. Probably at the moment it can't be said that the father is solely responsible, at most he sees the boy 2 a year in France and just send money.

@John, I used the search facility prior to posting, but most cases relate to couples living together etc, so not striclty similar to this one where couples are separated and one lives abroad.

1) Is there a way of getting the boy to the UK in the shortest possible time, getting the BC and if necessary going back to Moscow. The mother wants to take the full advantage of the father who left them, so giving the boy British education and BC would be the best alimony

2) Also, could you explain that child student route please? What does it lead to and if the boy comes to the UK on this route, he would then be able to show that the father supports him and is solely responsible for him, which in turn could lead to the Child Settlement? Is this correct. Would he have to come on student visa first then? And will he pay overseas student fees?

Many thanks again guys for taking time to help out.

I'll pick up on this :-

Would he have to come on student visa first then? And will he pay overseas student fees?

Do appreciate that if he comes to the UK on a Tier 4 student visa then he cannot attend a state school. He would need to attend a private school which has been issued with a Sponsor Licence .... as per this list.

I mention this because such schools are not cheap. To put it bluntly, are we talking about a father who is overflowing with spare cash?

The father transferred 10,000 and 12,000 in the last 2 years.

What currency is that?

The currency is GBP, not roubles He is a former part of the Lukoil group which got haunted down by Putin & Co. He is not exactly overflowing with cash and the mother wouldn't want to ask for more than necessary as he's quite thrifty. That's why the cheapest and quickest route to BC would benefit both. Tier 4 would be expensive, but what other options does he have? If he does come on Tier 4, could he then apply for Child Settlement, as the sponsoring father would be solely responsible for the fees?

What options are there? Thanks again

John wrote:I'll pick up on this :-

Would he have to come on student visa first then? And will he pay overseas student fees?

Do appreciate that if he comes to the UK on a Tier 4 student visa then he cannot attend a state school. He would need to attend a private school which has been issued with a Sponsor Licence .... as per this list.

I mention this because such schools are not cheap. To put it bluntly, are we talking about a father who is overflowing with spare cash?

The father transferred 10,000 and 12,000 in the last 2 years.

What currency is that?

mcovet wrote:
finally, what kind of twisted busy body are you? hahaha i'd never care enough to go through someone else's posts history?! weird, keep guessing which one i truly am- roman abramovich's hench or someone else )

anyway, thanks for the advice and if you could elaborate more on the student route it'd be helpful.

any ideas would be greatly appreciated

I remembered seeing your name several times, on posts that didn't match to each other.

Under the circumstances, I think I'll keep my advice to myself, what with me being twisted etc.

Thanks and please do.

avjones wrote:

mcovet wrote:
finally, what kind of twisted busy body are you? hahaha i'd never care enough to go through someone else's posts history?! weird, keep guessing which one i truly am- roman abramovich's hench or someone else )

anyway, thanks for the advice and if you could elaborate more on the student route it'd be helpful.

any ideas would be greatly appreciated

I remembered seeing your name several times, on posts that didn't match to each other.

Under the circumstances, I think I'll keep my advice to myself, what with me being twisted etc.