appointment time for CoE-RoA in pakistan

[aishaabbas_87]

Hi,
I am writing to seek guidance on our personal circumstances which have led us stranded in Pakistan in an uncertain and unexpected situation. In February 2023, our previous UK visas were expiring for which we reapplied for an extension duly from Scotland. My children (age 8 and 4) were eligible to apply for their naturalization, which we applied for back in October 2022, as we anticipated a trip to Pakistan during the Easter holidays this year to attend my brother’s wedding. I applied for my biometric renewal in January, a month before its expiration to avoid any unpleasant situations. I received my biometrics in time, which led me to start communicating with the authorities for my children’s certificates in March which were confirmed to me via e-mails back in January, as our travel date was arriving and we still did not know the whereabouts of their certificates.
After a couple of weeks of communication through the local MP, we received the certificates at our home address in Scotland (which were issued back in January, but did not reach us until mid-march). At the time, I was aware of the fact that children’s UK passports will be applied for after the certificates, but I did not know their certificates are not valid as travel documents. Due to a very tight timeline for applying for their UK passports (which included having to book another appointment to be attended in person), I googled to explore my options at the time and gov.uk stated British citizens can re-enter UK with their certificates of entitlements (I made a human error where I mistook the ‘certificates of citizenship’ to be same as the ‘certificates of entitlement’) and was completely oblivious to actuality until last morning (14th May 2023) when we were at the Islamabad airport to board our flights back to UK after a 5 weeks trip. No authorities flagged me while I was travelling to Pakistan last month, showing them the certificates at the immigration counter, otherwise, I would have taken the necessary steps to ensure our smooth return back or rescheduled my trip, to begin with.
I take responsibility for this misjudgement on my part, which has caused my family severe emotional and financial distress. We missed our flight, and are now apparently stranded as the minimum process time to apply for UK passports from Pakistan is 31 weeks. The timeline is not practical because we live in the UK and happened to be visiting family in Pakistan, at the airport I was asked to bring in an authorized letter to return back to the UK. My children were due to return to school on Monday (15th May 2023), but now the situation seems quite uncertain with extremely long processing times.
What should be the most viable course of action for us to return back to the UK asap?

[meself2]

Your best course of action would have been to either use children's BRP given to them after extension to facilitate the travel (since you mentioned you applied for extension in time) or, when certificates were received, apply for your children's fast track British passports from the UK (which would supposedly take a week), if there was a good enough time gap.

Have you considered a CoE-RoA? It's a sticker in a foreign (Pakistani, in your case) passport affirming child's entitlement to British citizenship and should take less time to get than a passport. Otherwise, other members may advise further about authorization letter and whether it's possible.

[Ticktack]

Hi,
I am writing to seek guidance on our personal circumstances which have led us stranded in Pakistan in an uncertain and unexpected situation. In February 2023, our previous UK visas were expiring for which we reapplied for an extension duly from Scotland. My children (age 8 and 4) were eligible to apply for their naturalization, which we applied for back in October 2022, as we anticipated a trip to Pakistan during the Easter holidays this year to attend my brother’s wedding. I applied for my biometric renewal in January, a month before its expiration to avoid any unpleasant situations. I received my biometrics in time, which led me to start communicating with the authorities for my children’s certificates in March which were confirmed to me via e-mails back in January, as our travel date was arriving and we still did not know the whereabouts of their certificates.
After a couple of weeks of communication through the local MP, we received the certificates at our home address in Scotland (which were issued back in January, but did not reach us until mid-march). At the time, I was aware of the fact that children’s UK passports will be applied for after the certificates, but I did not know their certificates are not valid as travel documents. Due to a very tight timeline for applying for their UK passports (which included having to book another appointment to be attended in person), I googled to explore my options at the time and gov.uk stated British citizens can re-enter UK with their certificates of entitlements (I made a human error where I mistook the ‘certificates of citizenship’ to be same as the ‘certificates of entitlement’) and was completely oblivious to actuality until last morning (14th May 2023) when we were at the Islamabad airport to board our flights back to UK after a 5 weeks trip. No authorities flagged me while I was travelling to Pakistan last month, showing them the certificates at the immigration counter, otherwise, I would have taken the necessary steps to ensure our smooth return back or rescheduled my trip, to begin with.
I take responsibility for this misjudgement on my part, which has caused my family severe emotional and financial distress. We missed our flight, and are now apparently stranded as the minimum process time to apply for UK passports from Pakistan is 31 weeks. The timeline is not practical because we live in the UK and happened to be visiting family in Pakistan, at the airport I was asked to bring in an authorized letter to return back to the UK. My children were due to return to school on Monday (15th May 2023), but now the situation seems quite uncertain with extremely long processing times.
What should be the most viable course of action for us to return back to the UK asap?

Regardless of what options you take, the kids might be stuck out there for a few months. The rule is never to leave the UK without applying and obtaining your first passport.
As advised CofE might be the way to go. Except you still have their (unexpired) BRP.

FYI, you wouldn't be flagged when travelling to Pakistan because you didn't need a British Passport to fly there. You had the correct travel document (Pakistani Passport). Going out is never the problem, it's always coming back in.

[aishaabbas_87]

it is rather unfortunate situation. Can you still apply for a uk passport after you have gotten the right to abode certificate?

[vinny]

Yes, but they will probably cancel the CoE-RoA.

[aishaabbas_87]

what is the average timeframe to secure an appointment for submitting biometrics for CoE-RoA in pakistan? can you choose a date as early as you want after online application submission?

[Ticktack]

what is the average timeframe to secure an appointment for submitting biometrics for CoE-RoA in pakistan? can you choose a date as early as you want after online application submission?

I guess that's something that you'd have to find out yourself.