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Dear Everyone

I have been granted a 5-year route Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), but my wife does not have settlement status but got a seperate visa via T4 route. None of us is UK citizen. My daughter is currently in China, although she was born in the UK before I got my ILR. My question is whether I can apply for a tourist visa for her to come to the UK and subsequently apply for citizenship, or if I should apply for an ILR dependent visa for her instead?

"Entitlement to registration as a British citizen Children born in the UK – Section 1(3) and 1(3A) application

Section 1(3) - A child born in the UK whose parents are not British citizens and were not settled in the UK will have an entitlement to register when one of their parents become settled in the UK or become British citizens."

Many Thanks,

Lestou

anyone got some ideas?

I'm not sure if you can do either of these.

Regarding visitor visa - how.will you prove that your daughter will return back to China (which is expected for a visitor visa) if this is not what you're planning?

Regarding ILR dependent visa, children are following the status of least privileged parent, which is your wife, in this case.

Can your daughter come on a visa related to your wife's status?

Thank you for your response. My wife is on a Graduate Route visa, which unfortunately does not allow for dependents to accompany her. Therefore, our options are limited to either obtaining a dependent visa for her to join me, or she can apply for a tourist visa.

If my daughter were to come to the UK on a tourist visa, would she be eligible for citizenship?

meself2 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 21, 2024 1:13 pm

Regarding ILR dependent visa, children are following the status of least privileged parent, which is your wife, in this case.

That is true of children born outside the UK. In this case, the child was born in the UK, so it may (I am not absolutely certain) be able to follow the path of the most-privileged parent.

In any case, I think the form for either is the same. It will be the caseworker who decides whether to issue an ILE in line with the ILR parent or a limited visa in line with the graduate visa parent.

LESTOU wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 21, 2024 3:20 pm

If my daughter were to come to the UK on a tourist visa, would she be eligible for citizenship?

Yes. Because the child is born in the UK, she is entitled to register as a British citizen if all the requirements (birth in the UK, less than 18 years of age and one parent has got ILR) are met. She can even register as a British citizen while in China. The process and the later process of getting a British passport will just take longer.

Keep in mind that acquiring a British passport may have implications on her residence in China.

Thank you for your answer. That's really helpful

However, when I search online about switch from a visitor visa to other visa, it seems that you can not switch it in the UK.

"No. Unfortunately, you cannot switch from a Visitor Visa to any other visa in the UK. The Visitor Visa is intentioned as a way of coming to the UK in order to visit and not for permanent stay in the UK. The UK offers many alternative visa routes for this possibility but the Visitor Visa is not one of them"

In my child's case, can she switch from a visitor visa to a citizenship when she come to the UK with a visitor visa?

Many thanks in advance

In addition, I found this one from governement website: check if you can become a British Citizenship:
https://www.gov.uk/british-citizenship

If you’ve applied for citizenship, you’ll need permission to stay in the UK until you’re granted citizenship. Your permission needs to last until you have had your citizenship ceremony.
If you have indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, this counts as permission to stay.

What does it mean "you will need permission to stay in the UK until you're granted citizenship"

LESTOU wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 21, 2024 9:45 pm

Thank you for your answer. That's really helpful

However, when I search online about switch from a visitor visa to other visa, it seems that you can not switch it in the UK.

"No. Unfortunately, you cannot switch from a Visitor Visa to any other visa in the UK. The Visitor Visa is intentioned as a way of coming to the UK in order to visit and not for permanent stay in the UK. The UK offers many alternative visa routes for this possibility but the Visitor Visa is not one of them"

In my child's case, can she switch from a visitor visa to a citizenship when she come to the UK with a visitor visa?

Many thanks in advance

This is NOT relevant to nationality applications
There is no switch when applying under nationality applications. Switching means changing visas

LESTOU wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 21, 2024 10:00 pm

In addition, I found this one from governement website: check if you can become a British Citizenship:
https://www.gov.uk/british-citizenship

If you’ve applied for citizenship, you’ll need permission to stay in the UK until you’re granted citizenship. Your permission needs to last until you have had your citizenship ceremony.
If you have indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, this counts as permission to stay.

What does it mean "you will need permission to stay in the UK until you're granted citizenship"

It means that if it took 6 months for a nationality application to be decided, then you need to have a visa for at least 6 months to avoid becoming an overstayer. BUT children born in the UK to settled parent(s) who have an entitlement to British citizenship will NOT be affected by any overstaying.

You can either register the child while the child is in China OR bring the child here using ANY visa and then register. Your choice

Thank you so much for your explanation, Zimba. That's really helpful.

One last question, once our child come to the UK with a visit visa meanwhile waiting for the descision of the citizenship application. Can she go to the primary school for studying, like, in Sep.?

This question is best placed in the General Immigration subforum. The answer is no anyway.