Wife & Daughter Stuck Abroad

[akhan47]

I got married in Pakistan, my wife's spouse visa application was rejected, we have an appeal date coming up. My wife also gave birth to our child in Pakistan earlier this year. We plan to apply for a British passport for the baby next week.

My question is, if my wife's appeal is successful, can we apply for emergency travel documents for the baby and fly over to England? FCO website says it takes at least 6 months for a new British passport overseas and my wife will have 28 days to travel if appeal is successful...

[vinny]

See also Get an emergency travel document.

[Phase7]

An Emergency travel document is issued by your country of origin's embassy to return to your home country in the case of a lost passport.

It is valid for one way travel in the majority of cases and the immigration authorities in the landing country will not let you enter unless you can prove you're a national of that country.

Without acquiring British citizenship/passport first your child will not be eligible to be issued an Emergency travel document by the British High Commission Islamabad to land in the UK.

[akhan47]

An Emergency travel document is issued by your country of origin's embassy to return to your home country in the case of a lost passport.

It is valid for one way travel in the majority of cases and the immigration authorities in the landing country will not let you enter unless you can prove you're a national of that country.

Without acquiring British citizenship/passport first your child will not be eligible to be issued an Emergency travel document by the British High Commission Islamabad to land in the UK.

My child is a British Citizen. She has British citizenship by descent. We have applied for a UK style birth certificate.

[Phase7]

This you didn't mention in your original post.
Its called a British Consular Birth Certificate not UK style birth certificate.
In that case an Emergency Travel Document can be issued, but you need to prove an emergency to the consulate otherwise they'd require you to apply for passport.
I would suggest you ring Home Office and enquire.

[akhan47]

This you didn't mention in your original post.
Its called a British Consular Birth Certificate not UK style birth certificate.
In that case an Emergency Travel Document can be issued, but you need to prove an emergency to the consulate otherwise they'd require you to apply for passport.
I would suggest you ring Home Office and enquire.

Sorry, should have mentioned that. Thanks for your advice, will give them a ring.

[bobbylad]

I think a big mistake has been made, the advertised time for a C2 application, (first child passport) is 6 weeks not 6 months. I made exactly the same application for my daughter, British citizen by descent and it arrived in China 3 weeks later.

[akhan47]

I think a big mistake has been made, the advertised time for a C2 application, (first child passport) is 6 weeks not 6 months. I made exactly the same application for my daughter, British citizen by descent and it arrived in China 3 weeks later.

It's definitely 6 months for Pakistan, it's different for each country.

China is 6 weeks: https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y ... ying/child

Pakistan is 6 months: https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports/y ... ying/child

[thunderb0lt]

Hello akhan67

Did you call the FCO/BHC to find out what you options are. Have you made an application, if so what option did you go for Passport, Ceritificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode or Emergency Travel Document (if applicable)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks

[akhan47]

Hello akhan67

Did you call the FCO/BHC to find out what you options are. Have you made an application, if so what option did you go for Passport, Ceritificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode or Emergency Travel Document (if applicable)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks

Hi, I didn't ring them but I ended up getting all the documents together and going to Pakistan for a week just to submit an application for a British passport for my daughter. Application was successfully submitted on 20th May. The deadline for my wife's spouse visa appeal date was June 4th but we still haven't heart anything.

If you plan to go the British embassy in Islamabad to apply for a British passport, please ensure you have ALL of the requested documents. ALL originals and also a photocopy of each document. I took my wife and daughter with me. Security is extremely high and it was very frustrating especially in the heat. Most people I spoke to there were also applying for child passports and all of them were telling me how is was their 3rd or 4th time they were trying to apply. Every other time they were sent back because they were missing essential documents.

Please take everything you can.

[thunderb0lt]

Hello akhan47

Thanks for your reply and information.

I am writing on behlaf of my brother whose wife is in Bangaldesh. We are waiting to hear back about her spouse visa and considering the options for their baby girl.

May I ask why you decided to go for the British Passport application in the end. 6 months is a long wait, they might even need you to go back for an interview. It seems like the reason for long processing time for Bangladesh and Pakistan is due to the high levels of attempted fraud!

The application for Certificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode does seem relatively straight forward.

May I ask on what grounds your wife's application was refused. Did you appeal using solicitor.

All the best

[akhan47]

Hello akhan47

Thanks for your reply and information.

I am writing on behlaf of my brother whose wife is in Bangaldesh. We are waiting to hear back about her spouse visa and considering the options for their baby girl.

May I ask why you decided to go for the British Passport application in the end. 6 months is a long wait, they might even need you to go back for an interview. It seems like the reason for long processing time for Bangladesh and Pakistan is due to the high levels of attempted fraud!

The application for Certificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode does seem relatively straight forward.

May I ask on what grounds your wife's application was refused. Did you appeal using solicitor.

All the best

Hi sorry, I didn't get an email notification for your reply.

I went for the British passport so it would be over and done with once it was issued inshaAllah. Then my daughter can come over and stay as long as she needs without needing to worry about anything else. 6 months is long, but she won't be coming over yet because of my wife's visa appeal situation anyway so it just made sense.

My wife was refused because she didn't do the English test. We rushed the application when we found out the financial requirements were going to change and only just got it in before the change. We managed to apply by saying she had a BA degree certificate. However, we haven't got a letter from Naric yet. I am not confident that certificate will be validated by Naric.

After the refusal, my wife took the required City & Guilds english tests. We have those certificates now. We have also received an appeal date of Oct 4th. (4 months away! )

Any advice on best way to proceed? I am not very optimistic as my solicitor is telling me that the BA Degree is not good enough and to think about reapplying because the English certificates are 'new evidence' so the appeal will be instantly rejected.