British through UKM but deceased

Hello all,

I have a query that l hope some of the more knowlegable members may be able to advise on:

My brother would have been able to register as a British citizen by descent through being born to.a British mother before 1983. That is established. He however died before he could make the UKM application.

Question 1: lf he had the right to apply and in all likelihood would have been granted the citizenship, can he be considered to be a British citizen when considering any future citizenship applications for his children?

If the answer is no, my second question is irrelevant. If the answer to the above is yes, then my second question is:

Question 2: In the case my brother is considered to be a British citizen, and (after his death) his minor kids along with his ex-wife(not British) have lived in the UK for 3 years would the kids be eligible to apply for registration as British citizens under sec 3(5) of the BNA 1981?

Any insights and opinions will be appreciated.

Q1. The answer is no. He would only have become British once he attended his ceremony and his becoming British would not have benefited children who were already born at that point.

Q2. He would have to be alive and British with evidence of living in the UK for 3 years for that to occur as far as I understand.

Thanks for the information. That is what l suspected.

British citizenship is only automatic at the time of birth.

If the conditions for acquiring British citizenship are not met at the time of birth, the only way to acquire British citizenshis is by registration or naturalisation.

One then only becomes a British citizen prospectively (not retrospectively) from the date of the registration certificate or naturalisation certificate.

So, even if your brother had applied to register as a British citizen and was approved, but passed away before his citizenship ceremony, he would not have become a British citizen.

NicholasA wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 21, 2021 7:39 pm

My brother would have been able to register as a British citizen by descent through being born to.a British mother before 1983.

This is the relevant bit. He could have acquired British citizenship, but, as a matter of fact, was never a British citizen at any point in time.

The rest then falls away based on that answer.

Have the minor children ever lived in the UK?

Thanks for the info Simon.

The kids currently live in the UK with their mum. They have pre-settled status as the mum is an EU citizen who arrived before the Dec 2020 deadline.

This is an outside chance and you could end up losing money (the registration fees) on this, but after the children complete 3 years of residence in the UK, you could apply for their registration under Section 3(1), at discretion, making the case that but for their father's death, they would have met the requirements for registration under Section 3(2).

Essentially, you would have to make an argument for registering the children as if their father had registered himself as a British citizen.

It is an application at discretion, and you will lose the registration fees if they decide against you. But it may be worth a try for you.

Alternatively, they can apply for registration at discretion after they and their mother have completed one year of residing in the UK with Settled Status and the mother is applying for British citizenship.

Thanks Simon.

I did think section 3(1) may be worth a go after receiving your and CRs input above.

It certainly is worth a try (l may do it on behalf of one child only initially because of the fees involved or maybe both if they do reduce the fees). I will go to an immigration solicitor with this one.

The other alternative is naturalisation in their own right after 6 years of residence (12 months after they obtain settled status) which is pretty much in line with the advice that you mentoned.

NicholasA wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:41 am

The other alternative is naturalisation in their own right after 6 years of residence (12 months after they obtain settled status) which is pretty much in line with the advice that you mentoned.

Assuming that they are still children at this time (i.e. before their 18th birthday), it will still be registration udner Section 3(1), but it would be the conventional and more expected route for such registration.

Naturalisation is only for adults and has a different set of rules and requirements.

They don't qualify for registration under section 3(1). The requirement for this is that the child holds settled status AND that one parent must already be British or applying at the same time as the children and the other parent must have settled status.

If the children are over the age of 12, they are expected to hold settled status and have at least two years residence.

There is no reduced fee for multiple child applications. Each child pays the same fee of £1012 each.

If the application is refused, you lose the fees. There is no appeal process for refused citizenship applications.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:02 am

They don't qualify for registration under section 3(1). The requirement for this is that the child holds settled status AND that one parent must already be British or applying at the same time as the children and the other parent must have settled status.

That is the main route for registration under Section 3(1), CR001.

But the Home Office's guidance does say that it would consider applications for children under this Section if one parent were to register under Form UKM or UKF, for instance.

I know I am stretching it, as the father had not registered under Form UKM and was only eligible to apply for that route, but if the OP can make a persuasive enough case, the children may have a chance.

But yes, there is a risk of losing ~£1000, which the OP must be aware of.

Thanks both and yes the possibilty of losing the fees is noted.

The fee reduction l am refering to is due to the recent court case regarding the high cost of registration. I will hold off for a bit to see if the HO does enact a fee reduction based on this court decision.

It will indeed hinge on whether we can make a persuasive enough case for registration under 3(1) and why l'd consider the services of an experienced immigration solicitor. The 3 year residence period will be achieved in a 1 more year so l'll test the water then. The eldest child will turn 18 only in 7 years time from now.

The court case you are referring to, which will be a long time before enacted etc, refers mainly to the cost of registering a child who was born in the UK and has an entitlement to register as British.

I agree with @CR001 on this point. The court case is about children with an entitlement to register as British citizens and whether they are being deprived of such entitlement with high registration fees.

Section 3(1) registrations are at discretion and most likely the court cases will not impact those fees at all.

I believe that the case has now gone to the UK Supreme Court, so I would not expect a major change to the fees anytime soon any way.

Thanks both for the clarification.