Can the mother of my daughter live with us in England

[AaronMcLeish]

Hello everyone,

My name is Aaron. I currently live in New Zealand with my ex-partner and our daughter who is at high school. Both my daughter and myself are British Citizens and now lockdowns are over we want to return to England. My ex-partner / mother of my daughter is an EU citizen. We spoken at great length about the situation and have decided that it's in our daughters best interests if we live together in England, but we are not sure if this is possible. Can anyone offer advice on the best way for us to do this, so that my ex-partner and mother of our daughter can remain in England and obtain residency ?

My ex-partner also used to live in England with us, but never applied for settled status. She currently holds pre-settled status, but we have been in New Zealand for more than two years.

Thanks in advance.
Aaron

[alterhase58]

If ex was on EU pre-settled and away for over 2 years that is a problem, status is normally lost.
Refer to this useful resource: https://the3million.org.uk/absence-calculator
The3million works for EU citizens' rights post-brexit.
Can't comment on whether status can somehow be recovered - normally it would lead to full residency status after 5 years.

Alternatively partner may have to consider going through UK Immigration visa routes: https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa
You won't be able to enter the UK all together. You will be aware that the government is ramping up the minimum earnings level for sponsors of spouse/partners.

Of course your ex could go back to her EU home country without hindrance.
You'd still face the financial demands of the future UK visa regime - but she'll be much closer to the UK.

[AaronMcLeish]

Thank you for your message. I appreciate it. However, I was more thinking along the lines of a direct route to residency for being the mother of a British citizen under the age of 18. Is this not a human rights issue ?

[alterhase58]

Thank you for your message. I appreciate it. However, I was more thinking along the lines of a direct route to residency for being the mother of a British citizen under the age of 18. Is this not a human rights issue ?

There's no automatic entitlement that a parent (or child) gets automatic entry/residency on the basis of being the parent or child - human rights applications aren't simple. Also understand there are many absent parents from families residing in the UK, due to the financial rules the Home Office controls. And being a British citizen doesn't give you any additional privileges over foreign citizens with settled status (ILR).
Regarding human rights aspects someone else here will comment I'm sure. There are many British citizens feeling gutted over the increase in the minimum earnings being announced last week.

[meself2]

Is this not a human rights issue ?

This article on freemovement touches on the issue, mentioning human rights - https://freemovement.org.uk/article-8-r ... in-the-uk/ .
Essentially, the family can live together, but not necessarily in the UK.

[secret.simon]

Human rights are not absolute, but are weighed in conjunction with other rights and imperatives, such as the ability of a state through its government to control immigration.

If you come back to the UK with the daughter, the expectation will be that you as one of the parents will be able to take care of the child. Therefore your ex-partner would find it harder to make an argument based on the dependency of the child on a parent.

Because your ex-partner has resided outside the UK for a continuous period of more than two years, any leave to remain that she would have had, including Indefinite Leave to Remain (the UK's equivalent of permanent residency), would have been extinguished automatically.

Even under Appendix EU and the Withdrawal Agreement, any continuous absence from the UK for more than 12 months breaks continuity of residence for pre-settled status.

Most of UK immigration (and other legal provisions, such as student finance, etc) focus on residing in the UK and looks askance at long spells of residence outside the UK.

[Frontier Mole]

The usual route to the parent of a British Citizen child starts at a point where the parent is already in the U.K. under a spouse or partner visa or as a dependent on another route.
The circumstances you are outlining ie travelling into the U.K. to claim parent of a child status is not usual and I am not familiar with any such cases.
I suggest you seek professional legal advice as no doubt if it is allowed there will be many legal issues that will have to be resolved.
If you and your ex-partner actually share a residence in NZ - it might sound like madness but you be able to avail yourselves of the unmarried partner route