Naturalization a special child as a British citizen

[annabela1972]

Dear sir/madam,

I entered to the UK this time with my three children in 2011 on a spouse dependent visa. My younger two children were born in the UK. The older child who is now 17 and a half has stayed in the Uk altogether 9 years but not in one go. He has continuously stayed in the UK since 2011.

My husband is a naturalized British citizen and he became British after all the three children were born.
We were due to get ILR in June 2012. However my husband started divorce proceedings and it affected our eligibility to remain in the country. My solicitor applied for ILR for me and my three children under human rights. Meantime I got the full custody of the three children and my ex husband did not support us in any way to get immigration status. Instead he did everything to chase us from the country and finally left the uk. Our immigration application for ILR was refused and we appealed. Then a solicitor advised that I could register the two younger kids who was born in the UK as British nationals for which I applied and days before the appeal they got registered as British and therefore the case was withdrawn by the Home Office.

Me and my older son got visa entering into a ten year rout to get settlement. My son who is now 17 has been studying in private schools on scholarships due to his academic excellence. I applied for him also to register as a British citizen explaining all these . I saw in the home office website that if the child’s future lie in this country the Home Secretary consider to register them. But they refused my son’s application saying that ‘’ the applicant is not settled in the UK and one of their parent’s not settled in the UK’’. I have rights to apply to reconsider. He is now in the process of applying for uni’s to study medicine but find it difficulty get a grant or student financial help due to his immigration status. Being a single mom I cannot afford his uni.
Please advise me what I should do?

Thank you.

A desperate mother

[noajthan]

Dear sir/madam,

I entered to the UK this time with my three children in 2011 on a spouse dependent visa. My younger two children were born in the UK. The older child who is now 17 and a half has stayed in the Uk altogether 9 years but not in one go. He has continuously stayed in the UK since 2011.

...

Me and my older son got visa entering into a ten year rout to get settlement. My son who is now 17 has been studying in private schools on scholarships due to his academic excellence. I applied for him also to register as a British citizen explaining all these . I saw in the home office website that if the child’s future lie in this country the Home Secretary consider to register them. But they refused my son’s application saying that ‘’ the applicant is not settled in the UK and one of their parent’s not settled in the UK’’. I have rights to apply to reconsider. He is now in the process of applying for uni’s to study medicine but find it difficulty get a grant or student financial help due to his immigration status. Being a single mom I cannot afford his uni.
Please advise me what I should do?

Thank you.

A desperate mother

Hello annabela,
to qualify for student finance as a 'home' student your son will need to be settled in UK, for example with ILR.
He does not have to be naturalised as a British citizento qualify as a home student, he can be in UK on ILR.

There are some other requirements too. You can find details here:
http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/International- ... -Education

Note it is apparently difficult to change a student's status once they start higher education, so he really needs to be a home student before he starts at college or university.

The other area to look would be bursaries and scholarships, whether offered by national or other organisations as well as bursaries offered by particular universities.

See this about scholarships:
http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/International- ... l-hardship

See this about bursaries:
https://www.gov.uk/extra-money-pay-university
http://university.which.co.uk/advice/ho ... -available

Very best of luck.

[geriatrix]

A child born abroad cannot apply for naturalisation without acquiring settled (ILR in this case) status.

[noajthan]

Annabela,
it's a litle unclear how close you or your son is to getting settled status in UK, (ILR).
You already mentioned you have a solicitor so I assume you are taking advice on that matter.

Regarding education options, can your son's current school or college also offer advice?

Are you also aware increasing number of UK-based students are now studying abroad, for example in Europe.
(That could also depend on visa status but may be worth looking into).

For example, see here:
http://www.savethestudent.org/study-abr ... rsity.html
&
http://www.nus.org.uk/en/advice/money-a ... can-i-get/
&:
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/st ... 32192.html
- notice mentions of studying medecine in E. Europe, Italy & Malta

- also for medecine:
http://astarfuture.co.uk/study_medicine_abroad.html

Good luck.

[noajthan]

Annabela,
How close are you to becoming settled?
If you were able to apply to naturalise too it would clearly help your son's position.

I've just been looking again at chapter 9 of the caseworker's guidance.
It is worth noting the law (BNA 1981) does not explicitly say the applicant has to have ILR (although, usually, the applicant is expected to be free of immigration restrictions).

9.1 The Law
9.1.1 Persons may be registered under s.3(1) if:
applications are made while they are minors;
and
(if aged 10 or over on the date of application, this being a date on or after 4 December 2006 the Secretary of State is satisfied that they are of good character (see AnnexD to Chapter 18);
and
the Secretary of State thinks fit to register them

9.1.2 These are the only statutory requirements.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 150402.pdf

9.17.10 If the parents have divorced or separated and the child does not have ongoing contact with the other parent (even if he or she shares parental responsibility for the child) we would normally expect that:
the parent having the day-to-day responsibility for the child is, or is about to become, a British citizen;
or
is settled here but not a British citizen and there are good reasons why registration would be appropriate, taking into account the examples given in 9.17.11 below

9.17.11 It will rarely be right to register a child neither of whose parents is or is about to become a British citizen.
However, each case should be considered on its merits, and there may be exceptional circumstances to justify registration in a particular case, such as for example:
older teenagers who have spent most of their life here,
or
minors who require British citizenship in order to follow a particular career (e.g. sport, Armed Forces, etc),

and
the minor's future can clearly be seen to lie in the United Kingdom,

and, in relevant cases only, the person making the application has day to day care and responsibility for the child's upbringing, and either is, or is about to become a British citizen

9.17.12 An application which falls outside these criteria should not normally be approved, even if there are British citizen siblings or siblings with entitlements to registration as a British citizen, unless we are satisfied that registration would be in the child's best interests

Note the father should not really be a factor in the HO decision anymore as you are now divorced & you mention he has no contact with the family and is not providing support.

So it's clearly all about demonstrating the strongest possible case, focusing on the applicant's best interests and showing their future (& future career) is clearly in UK, as well as stressing the time spent in the UK to date.
The Secretary of State will need to be convinced it is an exceptional case.

Sadly time is not on your side & HO have refused once already.
All registrations under 3(1) are ofcourse discretionary and a lot of hurdles (discretionary clauses) would have to be overcome if the decision is to be made in your son's favour.

If you do follow this route you surely need the best possible help in formulating the case to be made in your application & should seek that help.

That would include gathering supporting evidence; for example (I assume):

• references from your son's school to capture his scholarships & achievements based on academic merit;
  testimonials expressing his potential and career aims;
  examples of engagement with UK life & society so far (perhaps voluntary work or involvement in youth organisations, etc);
  any other demonstrations of commitment to life in UK (- with supporting evidence: references/testimonials, etc);

[annabela1972]

Thank you very much for all the suggestions.
Me and my son have 6 years before getting ILR.
I sent a lengthy letter to the Home Office with my son's registration certificate, explaining about his scholarships, voluntary work and various other evidence to show that his future lies in the UK. Still they refused it.
I am planning to send it for reconsidering. Can I have more suggestions about what should include in the letter please?

Annabela

[noajthan]

Thank you very much for all the suggestions.
Me and my son have 6 years before getting ILR.
I sent a lengthy letter to the Home Office with my son's registration certificate, explaining about his scholarships, voluntary work and various other evidence to show that his future lies in the UK. Still they refused it.
I am planning to send it for reconsidering. Can I have more suggestions about what should include in the letter please?

Annabela

Annabela,
as per the guidance you have to be able to make an exceptional case - so all testimonials, references, school reports, support from anyone in the community & school would help;
can you get a number of people to back you, (any community or religious leaders), if you can run a campaign in your local area;
you need to demonstrate staying in UK is in your son's best interests so you could also try to show why leaving UK would be detrimental;
a statement about the family situation & family life would give a wider picture ;
a personal letter or statement from your son (covering ambitions, aims, dreams, fears) might help too.

However you are still relying on winning over HO & Home Secretary at several layers of discretion.
It would really help if you can find someone who has assembled this type of application for reconsideration before.

If your ex-husband can be persuaded to help his son it would be a big plus because, as you mentioned, he (as one parent) is already a UK citizen.
If he will not help then you need to show HO there is no support & no contact anymore; that would show his view & consent (or lack of it) is not material to the case.
Either way another difficulty is you are not yet settled; you will have to persuade HO to exercise one level of discretion there.

Alternately, how about the ten-year 'long residence' visa route. Has that been fully investigated?
You said your son has been in UK for approx 9 years (with gaps).
What kind of absences has he had?
For ILR by long-term residency the absences would have to have been limited to 180 days at a time; (540 days in total).
Is that a possibility?

If the ten years can be completed in a few months or even a year its one way to achieve ILR which is all that is necessary to qualify for 'home' status student funding.

[noajthan]

To qualify for 'home' funding your son's status needs to be sorted out before he starts college or university so you may have to think about deferring university applications.

If deferring study is impractical there are the alternative options for studying in Europe to consider (as suggested above in previous post).
It seems as entry to medecine is so competitive more & more UK students are considering this route.

The BMA has this site on funding for medecine:
http://bma.org.uk/developing-your-caree ... l-students

Some students have turned to crowdfunding for their support;
it's still an unusual approach & a little controversial, or you could just say it's an imaginative & innovative way ahead:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/2 ... owdfunding

[noajthan]

...

Me and my older son got visa entering into a ten year rout to get settlement. My son who is now 17 has been studying in private schools on scholarships due to his academic excellence. I applied for him also to register as a British citizen explaining all these . I saw in the home office website that if the child’s future lie in this country the Home Secretary consider to register them. But they refused my son’s application saying that ‘’ the applicant is not settled in the UK and one of their parent’s not settled in the UK’’.

...

Annabela,
what is your visa status now?
By "10-year route" do you mean you are hoping for long-residence visa or is it another route?

Have you investigated the parent visa route to ILR as you are the parent & main carer of 2 UK children?
See https://www.gov.uk/settle-in-the-uk/y/y ... ur-partner

[noajthan]

See also http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/use ... _03_13.pdf

[noajthan]

annabela,
where did you get to with your case?

fyi - more information on possible student funding options here:
general-uk-immigration-forum/student-fi ... l#p1218930

[annabela1972]

Hi,
I met another solicitor after reading all the posts of the kind members. He said that he is 100% sure that if we send a JR to get registration of my son. I will let you all know what happens when I here from the Home Office. Thanks again for taking your time to read and answer my post.
Annabella

[noajthan]

Hi,
I met another solicitor after reading all the posts of the kind members. He said that he is 100% sure that if we send a JR to get registration of my son. I will let you all know what happens when I here from the Home Office. Thanks again for taking your time to read and answer my post.
Annabella

That's very promising news.
Wishing you & your gifted son best of luck with the case.