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Dear All,

I would be grateful for any advice.

I have British Citizenship by descent. I was born abroad to a British Mother and non British father.

I am now living in the U.K. with my wife (not UK citizen) and two children aged 7 and 5. We have been here for just over 3 years.

The MN1 guidance, and in my previous calls to Home Office, I had understood that I could apply for citizenship using MN1 form stating Section 3(5). The children are here as dependants under my wife’s work visa.

However, at the council document checking service, I was informed the children must be here for 3 years with indefinte leave to remain.

I can find no where in the guidance on MN1 that this is the case. The officer I spoke to when we first came to U.K. also said it did not matter how the children are here, as long as they are legally here for 3 years, it will meet the criteria for application.

Does anyone have any similar situations? Do the children need ILR first or can I apply for citizenship now that they have lived here with me for over 3 years?

Thank you

3(5) and 3(1) are both applicable in this case, the only problem is that if the registration is done under 3(1), the children will be classified as British by descent and will not be able to pass on citizenship to future generation, whiles with 3(5), they will be able to do so.

The individual who said otherwise, does not appear to know what he or she is doing.

Glosgrove wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 23, 2018 6:04 pm

I can find no where in the guidance on MN1 that this is the case. The officer I spoke to when we first came to U.K. also said it did not matter how the children are here, as long as they are legally here for 3 years, it will meet the criteria for application.

I agree.
I don't see any requirement in Section 3(5) for a child to also have ILR.

Moreover, if the children are under 10, then there is also no requirement for them to satisfy the Good Character requirements. Then they may also be in the UK illegally?

Thank you @Vinnie and @Obie, very glad to hear and will be submitting docs. Many thanks

Dear Vinnie and Obie,

Further to your comments, I have come across this advice document for Home Office staff: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 4.0ext.pdf

1) On page 30 it states that:

'Child’s immigration status (under Section 3(1))
As a general principle, the expectation is that there should be a staged approach to permanent residence and citizenship. This means that the child will first achieve one of the following before being considered for British citizenship:
• indefinite leave (IL)
• permanent residence under the European Economic Area (EEA) regulations'


2) Does this guideline therefore apply to Section 3(5) and therefore ILR is indeed required? Or is Section 3(1) a different route which does require ILR and Section 3(5) does not.

Page 12 states 'For children born outside the UK, you must first consider whether the person has an entitlement under section 3(5) of the British Nationality Act 1981, which gives British citizenship otherwise than by descent. You must then consider whether there is an entitlement under section 3(2). If no entitlement exists, you must consider the application under section 3(1).

Thank you

Or is Section 3(1) a different route which does require ILR and Section 3(5) does not.

Section 3(5) does NOT require ILR. Section 3(1) DOES.

Children who have an entitlement to British citizenship (i.e. cannot be refused if specific conditions are met) do not require ILR.

Section 3(5) confers an entitlement to British citizenship if the child has lived in the UK for three years with both parents, one of whom is a British citizen by descent. Therefore no ILR required.

Form MN1 is an all-inclusive form for most types of child registration, hence not all sections may be applicable in your case.

Even section 3(1) does not have ILR expectations for certain categories of applicant. I agree that the guidance for Section 3(1) provides list of expectations or criteria the Home Office expect an applicant to meet, but those expectations can be outweighed by other facts of the case.

I don't even know why the Home Office is refusing section 3(1) registration for children whose parents have British Citizenship but kids have no ILR.

There is not even an arguable case, that Section 3(5) requires ILR for the child, there is simply no room for such an argument.