Rights to Citizenship

[Sley2001]

I am 17 years old, my father is a British citizen and so are all 3 of my siblings, I came to the UK with my mother to join my father and I was a dependent, when we applied for my British passport we came across an issue in which my parents marriage certificate says that they were married in 1999 but registered their marriage in 2002 as it was not compulsory to register it in 1999, I was born in 2001 and I am being refused citizenship from my father based on this. I was born in Pakistan and currently still have a limited leave to remain visa. I am also due to start University soon and I am being classed as an international student despite being through the UK education system and in the UK for 13 years.
Why am I still being refused citizenship if my parents marriage certificate outlines that they were married in 1999, Islamic marriages are considered legitimate and children born within these Islamic marriages are considered legitimate. It therefore does not matter that it was registered in 2002 as the ceremony and everything was conducted in 1999. I need desperate help, I can't afford 22k tuition fees for courses that are free for home students because they are funded by the NHS. I have also been exploring article 8 and 14 in the EU human rights. Anyone know how I can ease my situation ? Thank you.

[zimba]

Unfortunately for the children born before 1 July 2006 this archaic law of legitimacy seems to apply but as in your casse your parents were legally married in Pakistan where your father was domiciled, so the British nationality law should assume you a 'legitimate child'. The relevant guide says:

For children born before 1 July 2006, you may need to consider whether a child was ‘legitimate’.
Legitimacy depends on where the father was domiciled at the time of the child’s birth. If the laws of the country where the father is domiciled recognise the child as legitimate, then the child will be regarded as legitimate for the purposes of the British nationality law.

This means that the following can be regarded as ‘legitimate’:
• a child whose parents were married at the time of the birth
• a child whose parents were not married at the time of the birth, but married at a later date – if that meant that the child was treated as having been legitimated by the marriage, according to the laws of the place where the father was domiciled
• a child who was treated as legitimate by the laws of the country where the father was domiciled at the time of the birth, irrespective of whether the parents were married or not

[secret.simon]

A marriage is generally dated from the date of the marriage certificate.

Children born before 2006 could only inherit British citizenship from their father if their father was married to their mother at the time of the birth of the child. There was a provision for children born before the marriage to be legitimised by the subsequent marriage of their parents, if the place where they married allows for such legitimisation. Apparently, Pakistani law does not (See Page 18 of the Legitimisation and Domicile document).

However, as your father is a British citizen, you can register as a British citizen on Form UKF. The fees are £80, that too only if you are over 18 years when the application is decided.

EDIT: to Zimba, as the domicile of an illegitimate child follows the mother, it may be Pakistani law that would apply in this case, not English or Scottish law, as the case may be.

[zimba]

Thanks for clarifying Simon, surely I am not the only one who finds this whole 'legitimacy business' ridiculous

[Sley2001]

I have applied several times for a British citizenship under my British father however it was refused since they were not married at the time of me being born, well they were however the home office did not see them as married, going along from this I only recently found the UKF form and the change in law stating that I can get a British citizenship now, I am very annoyed that the passport office did not even mention this to us at all even after recently writing to them. I am turning 18 in two months and want to send off the UKF form however since I am on limited leave to remain I have had to send my visa off for renewal and it has been gone since October 3rd 2018 and I have still not had anything back about it so all my documents are with the home office including my Pakistani passport which is required for the UKF, I am wondering whether I will still be able to use the UKF form even after I am 18 and apply to my citizenship after I am 18 ? Or can I just apply now and send photocopies and ask them to have a look at the home office records for my passport as it is currently with them. Someone please reply I'm very stressed as I have been applying to university and being classed as an international student by them and asked to pay 22k in tuition fees.

[CR001]

There is no cut off age limit for form UKF, you can apply at any time.

[Sley2001]

There is no cut off age limit for form UKF, you can apply at any time.

Thank you so much that reply was really fast, I am also very amazed that my immigration lawyer has never mentioned this form to me even though I fit within the requirements. I am also very concerned as to why my leave to remain visa renewal is taking so long

[CR001]

When did you apply for your visa extension? What visa is it?

[Sley2001]

When did you apply for your visa extension? What visa is it?

It is a limited leave to remain visa to stay with family in the UK, me and my mum both have the same visa and we applied for an extension/ renewal from the 3rd of October and have done my biometric fingerprint and picture however nothing else has come after that, I am scared because my mum claimed carers allowance for a few months as we did not know it was not allowed to us, as soon as we found out we stopped it and offered to pay the money back but the carers allowance people said no it's fine. I have lived in the UK from 2006 and came to join my British father however we had a lot of legal troubles, we were denied Indefinite leave to remain after 2.5 years back in 2009 because me and my mum lived with my grandmother, she was terminally ill and my father would sleep at a different house but would stay over the whole day. My parents were not "married" when I was born so the passport office initially refused me a British passport. Sorry I explained everything there. My mother and i are currently on a 10 year long residence route That started in 2012 however recently finding this change in the law may mean I can be a British citizen before 2022.

[Sley2001]

Hello, I sent my UKF form to the home office around two weeks ago, I live in the UK currently, however I have no recieved any email or letter or anything to say whether it was received. Does anyone know the timeline ? Also I sent my limited leave to remain visa off for renewal in October 2018 and i still have not received any response I'm worried.

[Sley2001]

hello,i was born in April 2001, in 2012 and 2015 i submitted applications to the passport office, this was to receive a British citizenship through decent because my father is a British citizen however my request was denied based on the idea that they believed my parents were not married at the time of my birth. I have recently discovered the UKF form and it shocked me that the law had changed in 2015 to allow children born to British fathers outside of marriage before 2006 to gain a British nationality which contradicted what the passport office had denied my citizenship request for in the first place. I live in the UK with both my parents and have been since 2006. On the 4th of march 2019 i sent my filled in UKF form to the home office in Liverpool. I have since not heard anything about the form, not even a notification from the home office to detail that they had received the form. I am very worried because i need to prove to universities that i am a home student and need a tuition fee loan. Furthermore, my BRP expired in October 2018 and i sent it for renewal 3 weeks before it expired. I have since had my biometricts done at the post office however i have not received any further news about my BRP renewal. I am very worried about both and the local MP has written to the home office and passport office without any avail. Please help

[CR001]

All topics merged!! (Click)

[Sley2001]

A marriage is generally dated from the date of the marriage certificate.

Children born before 2006 could only inherit British citizenship from their father if their father was married to their mother at the time of the birth of the child. There was a provision for children born before the marriage to be legitimised by the subsequent marriage of their parents, if the place where they married allows for such legitimisation. Apparently, Pakistani law does not (See Page 18 of the Legitimisation and Domicile document).

However, as your father is a British citizen, you can register as a British citizen on Form UKF. The fees are £80, that too only if you are over 18 years when the application is decided.

EDIT: to Zimba, as the domicile of an illegitimate child follows the mother, it may be Pakistani law that would apply in this case, not English or Scottish law, as the case may be.

Hi Simon, I have submitted the UKF form thank you so much for the help, I was just wondering if you can read my thread and let me know anything else please

[CR001]

You simply need to wait to hear back from HO. It can take a few weeks.

[Sley2001]

You simply need to wait to hear back from HO. It can take a few weeks.

Okay thank you so much, I am ever so greatfull and if everything goes okay I will make sure to spread word of this forum because it has helped me so much

[Sley2001]

Hi, I just wanted to ask a simple question with a bit of a back story.

Question: Does the home office and or passport office have any legal right to tell me if I am eligible for British citizenship in a different way due to another law change ?

I came to the UK in 2006 with my father being a British born citizen of the UK, my father was able to obtain a British passport for my sister through decent however for me it was claimed that I was an illegitimate child born outside or marriage and that they could not issue me a British passport. After many reviews of evidence we sent including DNA tests and documents they could not agree upon it. (my parents were married at the time of birth and the ceremony for their marriage was done two years before I was born however government registration did not apply in the small town that they were married in until 2002 which was after my birth and this is when they registered it with the government or council of the town) anyways based on this I was denied, with the home office rejecting my mum's application for ILR we were put into the 10 year spouse route again in like 2012. The last passport office review of my case was done late 2015. Fast forward to 2018/9 I'm applying to uni and I was told about needing to prove my life in the UK and stuff to be able to receive student funding however the home office annoying were holding my documents for 6 months in my visa renewal process which occurs every 30 months. Anyways I was very sad and depressed time was running out to do student finance and unis were asking for evidence that I could not yet provide so I was classed as international having to pay 22k or rejected outright. Whilst going through this depressed phase I stumbled upon something that in my eyes changed my life, law change to the visa and immigration act which allows children of British father's who's parents were not married to gain British citizen, I rushed to download form UKF ( Very well hidden) and filled it in sent it off with a very detailed letter addressing what laws had changed and my rights to Citizenship and the fact that my documents were already with the home office plus a threat that I'd take legal action against them.

I waited 2 months and finally that visa I had been waiting for for 6 months came I was happy but still waiting and then 2 days later a letter saying that my citizenship application through Form UKF was successful and that I could register as a British citizen. My eyes grew up with joy and I was able to quickly sort out university status and student finance with the letter and the visa. (citizenship ceremony July 2nd) I'm not annoyed at the home office and passport office, this law change occured between 2014 and 2015 and at the end of 2015 the passport office wrote me a letter saying this "we can not issue you a British passport because you were born outside of marriage and therefore have no legal claim to a British passport" and the home office all this time has been charging me £2000 NHS fees and £2000 application fees when both sister organisations knew I had the right since 2015 to be a British citizen, worse of all is that my solicitor (who I had a great row with) was "unaware" however I blame this more on being money hungry. So this is how my question arrises, do I have basis to take legal action against the home office and passport office and is there any way for me to recover the most recent £2000 NHS fee ?.

I'm 17 and I think that I'd like now to get into law instead of optometry I feel like I need to help others robbed of rights by the home office.