Children's MN1 Registration (Section 3(1)) – One parent British, one parent recently granted ILR

[waltercho]

Hi everyone,

I’m seeking advice on the best timing and route for my children's citizenship. Our family situation has recently changed, and I want to ensure I’m following the most efficient path.

The Background:
○ Father: Recently naturalised as a British Citizen (Passport recently issued).
○ Mother: Has lived in the UK for 5+ years and has just had her Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) approved.
○ Children: All born abroad. They have lived in the UK for over 5 years as dependants. Their current visas are still valid for several months.

The Plan:
Instead of applying for ILR for the children, we are considering skipping that stage and applying directly for British Citizenship Registration under Section 3(1) using Form MN1.

My Questions for the experts:
The MN1 guidance often refers to the expectation that “the child is settled in the UK”, but Section 3(1) itself is discretionary. I am interested in practitioners’ experience with cases where:
○ the family is clearly permanently settled,
○ both parents are now either British or settled, and
○ the children have several years’ lawful residence in the UK.

Has anyone successfully registered children in similar circumstances without first obtaining ILR for the child, or is the Home Office currently insisting on the child being settled before exercising discretion?

Any guidance on whether this 'shortcut' directly to MN1 is advisable would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

[CR001]

How old are the children?

How long (years) have they lived in the UK?

Children born abroad need to have ILR before they can be registered as British. There is no shortcut for them.

[waltercho]

Children were born abroad, living in the UK since 2020 (6 years). Their age is 9 and 15.

[CR001]

Your children need ILR and you should have included them with your wife's ILR application.

At least 3 Members I am aware of have recently had refusals because they thought they could skip ILR for the born abroad children, an expensive mistake.

[yfaheem]

Hi everyone,

I’m seeking advice on the best timing and route for my children's citizenship. Our family situation has recently changed, and I want to ensure I’m following the most efficient path.

The Background:
○ Father: Recently naturalised as a British Citizen (Passport recently issued).
○ Mother: Has lived in the UK for 5+ years and has just had her Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) approved.
○ Children: All born abroad. They have lived in the UK for over 5 years as dependants. Their current visas are still valid for several months.

The Plan:
Instead of applying for ILR for the children, we are considering skipping that stage and applying directly for British Citizenship Registration under Section 3(1) using Form MN1.

My Questions for the experts:
The MN1 guidance often refers to the expectation that “the child is settled in the UK”, but Section 3(1) itself is discretionary. I am interested in practitioners’ experience with cases where:
○ the family is clearly permanently settled,
○ both parents are now either British or settled, and
○ the children have several years’ lawful residence in the UK.

Has anyone successfully registered children in similar circumstances without first obtaining ILR for the child, or is the Home Office currently insisting on the child being settled before exercising discretion?

Any guidance on whether this 'shortcut' directly to MN1 is advisable would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

It depends on the evidence you present for any mitigating circumstances you think support your children for discretion under section 3(1) by HS. However, it would be a risk given that the HO seems tightening ropes more on the immigrants from past few years. I believe, the guidance needed more clarity for discretion which is why people keep going in circles on this forum.

I have been through a similar situation when my children MN1 appl was refused unfortunately making me to apply ILR for them. I never wanna lose time to challenge HO decision impacting my children present and future in the UK. So have to flow with the tide.

[waltercho]

Your children need ILR and you should have included them with your wife's ILR application.

Hi, thanks for your valuable responses.

The reason why we postponed the children’s ILR application was because of their trips abroad.

I am now in the process of completing ILR applications for my children (dependants). Could you please confirm whether my understanding is correct that a separate ILR application should be submitted for each child, rather than adding them as additional applicants within the same form?

When I try to add another child as an additional applicant, the system asks for the relationship to the main applicant and only provides options such as “Son” or “Daughter,” which would incorrectly imply a parent-child relationship between siblings. This seems to create a logical inconsistency in the application structure.

Has anyone encountered this issue before, and is the recommended approach to submit individual SET(O) applications for each child, even though they are part of the same family unit?

Many thanks in advance for your guidance.

[secret.simon]

Also see this recent (October 2025) refusal of British citizenship for children born outside the UK who did not have ILR, even though both parents had successfully naturalised as British citizens.

Keep in mind that your expense is the Home Office's income. You'd need to have a damned good reason for them to give up that income.

Section 3(1) itself is discretionary.

Discretion does not mean that there are no rules. It means that the rules and expectations are such as the Secretary of State lays out, and those rules are not subject to parliamentary scrutiny (hence, they are at the SSHD's discretion). And the SSHD has laid out their expectations in the guidance that are publicly available.

Of course, feel free to test the theory out by making an application. You have only £1000 per application to lose (there is no refund for refused applications) and let us know if you succeed. Because if you do, the floodgates of such applications will open, migrants with children born abroad will save a fortune and the Home Office could lose a substantial revenue stream.

But, as mentioned above, there has been at least one refusal when the children didn't have ILR and both parents were already naturalised.

EDIT: Thank you, @yfaheem, for intervening in this thread. I referenced your thread above without realising that you had already commented in this thread.