citizenship for my Canadian children and husband

[J.Bagshaw]

Hi there,
I'm a British citizen by descent I was born and raised in Canada but i have UK passport that say "British citizen" on it I have been married for over 7 years and i have 4 and 2 years old kids, we want to move to the UK to live there permanently. I know they cant get the citizenship automatically from me like I did from my mum
my question is how to go about it for my kids and my husband and is it better to apply from within the UK or from out side what is the time frame for the application?
will my husband have to get 2 year visa first or he'll get ILR right away since we have been married for over 7 years?
Thanks

[Casa]

From the UKBA website regarding your children:
If you were born outside the United Kingdom or qualifying territory and your parents were British citizens by descent, you are not a British citizen. However, you may be able to apply to register as a British citizen (see registration of a child).

Your husband will first have to apply for a Spouse settlement visa. At present as you have been married for more than 4 years and living outside of the UK during this time, he would be able to apply for ILE (KOL required). Unless he is able to take the Knowledge of Life in the UK (KOL) test on a visit to the UK before he applies (in which case he would be issued with a permanent visa), he will have to pass this once you settle here. Once this condition has been met he could then apply immediately for ILR instead of completing the standard 2 year period. After 3 years in the UK he would be eligible to apply for British Citizenship. However, the Government are proposing the withdrawal of the 4 year marriage concession and also intend to extend the initial 2 year period for a spouse to 5 years before permanent residence (ILR) can be applied for. This will make the route to Citizenship a longer process.
You should be able to apply for your children's BC from Canada.

[Lucapooka]

You should be able to apply for your children's BC from Canada.

I'm not sure that is possible. The guidance, referring to section 3(2) and 3(5), seems to indicate the requirement for registration is that the parents are living in the UK now or have lived in the UK in the past (for three years in both cases).

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... shcitizen/

Unless there is further discretion that is not implicitly stated in the guidance, I think you will have to apply for settlement visas for all of your family before you travel to the UK.

[Casa]

Thanks Lucapooka. Having read through the conditions again, I agree.

"the parent who is British by descent lived in the United Kingdom at any time before the child's birth for a continuous period of three years*;"

Unfortunately the visa fees for both your husband and children will be considerable. In order for the visa applications to succeed, you will also have to submit evidence that you will be able to support yourselves financially without claiming Public Funds and that you have adequate accommodation available on your arrival in the UK.