British citizenship for minor born abroad with consent letter

[Rud]

Dear Advisors,

We were unable to make progress on our child’s
Indian passport renewal application with the Indian embassy because I obtained British citizenship after the was born in India. I was advised by a solicitor in UK on a option for UK citizenship for children , with consent letter from both parents? One of parent is still on a spouse visa. Would you able to provide a guidance on this option ?

The child is living in uk more than 5 years now.

[alterhase58]

There's nothing special about this "consent letter" for children - every child applying under MN1 has to have parents' consent to apply because they are minors, cannot sign anything. It's not a special route or procedure.

However, the status of children is governed by the parent with the least privileged immigration status, in this case your wife's, she is expected to hold ILR and the child needs ILR to be able to apply.

[Ticktack]

Dear Advisors,

We were unable to make progress on our child’s
Indian passport renewal application with the Indian embassy because I obtained British citizenship after the was born in India. I was advised by a solicitor in UK on a option for UK citizenship for children , with consent letter from both parents? One of parent is still on a spouse visa. Would you able to provide a guidance on this option ?

The child is living in uk more than 5 years now.

You can apply to register your child as British if one of their parents is British or applying to become British. Your child's other parent must either be British or settled in the UK. If their other parent has an immigration status that will lead to settlement, your child's application "might" still be successful.

You can apply to register your child as British if you meet all the Home Office’s criteria. They’ll consider things like:

if you and your child plan to live in the UK - if you or your child plan to live abroad their application might be refused

how long your child has lived in the UK - if they’re over 13 years old, they usually need to have lived in the UK for 2 years before you apply

your child’s immigration status - they’ll usually be refused if they don’t have indefinite leave or permanent residence

the immigration status and nationality of you and your child’s other parent

[Rud]

Thank you for response.

The child’s other parent is in spouse visa , the risk we are facing is the child’s Indian passport to expire and can’t be renewed due to recent changes to Indian citizen regulations. She is living in uk for more than 5 years now , still have to wait for few more years to qualify for ILR as other parent also qualifies for ILR Sametime , I understand the request for nationalisation for child might get refused as other parent holding a spouse visa but considering the current situation of child left without any passport, can we expect a consideration on the basis of best interests and well being for child ?

[Ticktack]

Thank you for response.

The child’s other parent is in spouse visa , the risk we are facing is the child’s Indian passport to expire and can’t be renewed due to recent changes to Indian citizen regulations. She is living in uk for more than 5 years now , still have to wait for few more years to qualify for ILR as other parent also qualifies for ILR Sametime , I understand the request for nationalisation for child might get refused as other parent holding a spouse visa but considering the current situation of child left without any passport, can we expect a consideration on the basis of best interests and well being for child ?

You can't expect anything. It's not clearly defined as it's not the norm. The child is Indian, so the problem is an Indian problem. Just putting it bluntly.

You can try, but what happens happens. It's a gamble and it's not 50/50.

[zimba]

Thank you for response.

The child’s other parent is in spouse visa , the risk we are facing is the child’s Indian passport to expire and can’t be renewed due to recent changes to Indian citizen regulations. She is living in uk for more than 5 years now , still have to wait for few more years to qualify for ILR as other parent also qualifies for ILR Sametime , I understand the request for nationalisation for child might get refused as other parent holding a spouse visa but considering the current situation of child left without any passport, can we expect a consideration on the basis of best interests and well being for child ?

I am curious to know why a child with Indian nationality suddenly cannot get their passport renewed ?

[contorted_svy]

There has been some newly introduced legislation in India that removes citizenship from children whose parents have acquired another nationality.

[secret.simon]

I am curious to know why a child with Indian nationality suddenly cannot get their passport renewed ?

There has been some newly introduced legislation in India that removes citizenship from children whose parents have acquired another nationality.

It is not so much new legislation as a stricter interpretation of pre-existing Indian citizenship law.

Section 8(2) always used to state that minor children of people who "renounce" their Indian citizenship lose their Indian citizenship as well. Section 9, where Indian citizenship is terminated automatically by acquisition of a foreign nationality, does not have any such provision.

The twist is that, in order to apply for Overseas Citizenship of India (essentially a lifelong Indian visa) or any other Indian visa, a former Indian citizen whose Indian citizenship was terminated automatically by Section 9 would still need to fill in and submit a form for "Renunciation of Indian citizenship", thus triggering a loss of Indian citizenship for their minor children under Section 8(2).

There have been some court judgments in India overturning this interpretation, as reported by @BashirB , but their effects will take a while to percolate through the bureaucratic processes and systems.

For what it is worth, this is my advice for a similar case.

I am also tempted to advise any adult Indians planning to naturalise to postpone their naturalisations (they can remain on ILR) till the whole nuclear family (spouse and children) meet the requirements for both naturalisation and registration and then apply in one go. That should at least avoid this issue.

This is obviously not going to benefit those adults who have already naturalised and whose children have subsequently lost their Indian citizenship, at least under the current Indian government interpretation of the law.