Immigration for adopted Son

Hello, i will appreciate if someone can help me on the best way to go about visa application for my adopted son. i am a british citizen and the child was adopted from nigeria. the child in question was previously my wife late sister son and the mother passed away in 2012 and since then i have been responsible for his upkeep, school fees and all sorts as he's currently staying with my wife elderly parent. the father has never been responsible and we took him to court with the court granting me his adoption. i have all the necessary adoption papers ready but my questions are 1.) which application form to submit i.e. FLM-R or which one. 2.) do i need to submit the application from here or from nigeria. i will appreciate any help regarding this. many thanks

Have you investigated if the adoption is recognised in the UK?

Yes, Nigeria is part of the county listed on the below link in which UK recognized its local adoption.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... option.pdf

If the adoption is certified has having been undertaken in accordance with the Hague convention on intercountry adoption, then the child will be British.

If not, you may apply for settlement under 289 Of the Immigration rules, or register the child under Section 3(1) of the Nationality Act 1981.

hello Obie,

thanks for your help thus far. just to be clear, are you saying i can apply for settlement / register him under section 3(1) of the Nationality Act 1981 straightaway bearing in mind he is still in nigeria or does he need to go through any qualifying period i.e. using flm-r? I will appreciate all your the helps i can gather.

hello,
i'm still awaiting any help or advice regarding my comment please

I am a British Citizen and my wife is currently under FLR-M and due for ILR soon. We are trying to bring our adopted son to UK from Nigeria. We have already completed the adoption process in Nigeria over a year ago and it was during the process of looking through the right entry application form that we knew Nigeria is not party to Hague convention. We have started new UK adoption process here and have been told we will be issued with a certificate of eligibility after completing the process here and also that adoption order will only be granted here by the court after his arrival and reside with us for specific length of time.

However, my question is which entry clearance application form can we use after completing necessary process. Is it going to be MN1 or apply for passport straightaway? any help regarding this will be greatly appreciated.

Register him as a British citizen from Nigeria, apply for British Passport, then he can enter UK.

Londoner007 wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:37 am

Register him as a British citizen from Nigeria, apply for British Passport, then he can enter UK.

Register him on what legal basis?

In my view HO won't acknowledge any foreign adoption blindly unless such adoption has been legally performed in relevant country. And unless having legally custody/guardianship from such country no claim will ever be recognized in UK.

On basis of formally adopting the child via the new processes that the adoptive parent is currently undertaking in UK. When successful and the adoption is recognised, then registration will be possible.

The case will be extremely complex, costly & time consuming.

Hello Obie, Londoner007 and Seagul, and thank you all for your help. I am really grateful. The adoption was legally undertaken in Nigeria through children services/Magistrate court that coordinates adoption process in Nigeria and adoption order has been granted to us in that regards from Nigeria. so, we are not worry if HO want to do all necessary verification/checks.
We started UK adoption process because Nigeria is not under Hague convention and the council/social worker coordinating the process here were aware we have already completed the process in Nigeria. we started the UK process over a year ago and we have been approved by the panel/decision maker just few days ago and they are planning to submit necessary paper work to the government office for certificate of eligibility. now i have the following question as i'm looking for the best way forward with regards to entry clearance for him to join us.

1. if we apply using form MN1 section 3(1), can we use this to bring here from Nigeria or do we need to apply for additional entry clearance?

2. With regards to applying for British passport from Nigeria straightaway as suggested by Londoner007, can we really do that because we cannot have final adoption order from the UK court until he has reside with us for a specific length of time. we will only have certificate of eligibility and the social worker already confirmed our status will be foster parent until the child arrive here, leave with us for specific amount of time and the adoption order granted after which our status will change to adoptive parent.

3. also any help regarding other applicable route.

1 - Only MN1 legislation 3(1) is required for the registration, that alone will not give him entry to UK
2 - When registration as British Citizen is successful to enter UK you will need to apply for a passport, you can either apply for Right of Abode certificate and use nigerian passport with it to enter UK. Other option is to apply directly for British passport. Best to check with adoption agency, and british high commission in lagos / nigeria.