Can I apply for permanent residency solely for a child?

Hi all,

After several chats with the Home Office, it was suggested the best route for our 11 years old child, who has lived in the UK a weeks after being born in Denmark, was to apply for permanent residency not EU settlement given we will apply for UK citizenship straight after this.

However, my husband already has permanent residency, and I am a British Citizen (although not at the time of my child's birth), so we can't attach our child to ourselves since we already have been through the system years ago.

So the questions are:

Do we have to attach our child to us somehow?

And do we use the same permanent residency form the adults use?

It wasn't made clear to us on the call, the operator mentioned MN1 but that can't be the right form since our child can't jump straight to the citizenship route without having obtained permanent residency first.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks.

It is not very clear from your post how long the child has lived in the UK for and where s/he currebtly resides. Can you elaborate?

Hi Simon,

My child has lived here almost 12 years now (birthday coming up soon) arriving just weeks after being born.

Hope this clarifies it further.

Hi Simon,

My child has lived here almost 12 years now (birthday coming up soon) arriving just weeks after being born.

And still lives here; about to start secondary school.

Hope this clarifies it further.

As the child has lived continuously in the UK since just after birth, you can apply for Settled Status for them.

Then, after getting Settled Status, s/he can apply for registration as a British citizen based on one parent being British and the other being settled in the UK.

Unlike adults, children do not need one year on Settled Status before applying for registration.

Thanks, Simon.

I find it staggering that the home office operator pushed us along the permanent residency route based on the argument we didn’t have to wait, whereas the settled status meant we had to wait. Is it a case of there being misinformation internally or just lack of training; the person knew we were talking about a child.

Anyway, I guess we crack on with it

Thanks again.

I think I know why they are suggesting PR over settled:

Quote from a law firm's site:

On the other hand, however, the new settled status appears to be less advantageous than the current Permanent Residence. Currently EEA nationals who have resided in the UK for longer than five years are able to have their Permanent Residence backdated to the point at which they completed five years in the UK. This means that under certain circumstances, they may be eligible to apply to naturalise as British citizens immediately. The indication is that the new settled status will not be backdated, meaning that people who have lived in the UK for over six years and satisfy the other requirements, will still be required to wait a year before they can apply to naturalise as a British citizen.

Okay, so PR it is.

maple wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:02 am

On the other hand, however, the new settled status appears to be less advantageous than the current Permanent Residence. Currently EEA nationals who have resided in the UK for longer than five years are able to have their Permanent Residence backdated to the point at which they completed five years in the UK. This means that under certain circumstances, they may be eligible to apply to naturalise as British citizens immediately. The indication is that the new settled status will not be backdated, meaning that people who have lived in the UK for over six years and satisfy the other requirements, will still be required to wait a year before they can apply to naturalise as a British citizen.

That whole paragraph applies to naturalisation of adults. Children are registered and the requirements are different.

In any case, both PR and settled status will have the same effect. You can do whichever you feel would be best. There would be no difference in the end product.

Where they will differ will be in the proof that yo may be required to submit.

maple wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 25, 2019 10:55 am

I find it staggering that the home office operator pushed us along the permanent residency route based on the argument we didn’t have to wait, whereas the settled status meant we had to wait. Is it a case of there being misinformation internally or just lack of training;

The Home Office helpline is outsourced to a third party company and the person answering the phones would not be awarre of the nuances of settlement and EU law. They would have an overarching knowledge, but not a detailed knowledge. Their advice is always worth double-checking before being followed.

Hi Simon,

Thanks for this.

Sorry to bother you further but wondered if you have a link that mentions that children aren't subject to the one year wait. I've looked on gov.uk and it doesn't mention it on this link:

https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-ci ... ve-applied

I'm wanting to get this right since our family is literally split in half simply by having two of us as British and the other two as not.

Thanks.

Registration as a British citizen: children guidance

For children born abroad to non-British parents, read from Page 13 onwards.

Thanks, Simon, appreciate it.

Have a lovely day.