Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

New member here looking for some sound advice/guidance on the above subject.

I'm a British born male of British parents but have lived in Canada for the past 21 yrs and have two children with my Canadian non-married partner of 18 yrs. They are both minors and as I understand it qualify as British through descent - would that be correct?

We're currently in the throes of applying for a Settlement Visa for her, and hope to travel over as a family assuming her application is successful.

My question is thus: Will they need British passports to enter and live with us in the UK or are they exempt at the time of entry as long as they apply for passports when they reach 18 years of age? (they have current Canadian passports)

Much appreciation for any assistance on this.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Providing you were born in the UK and you were married to the mother of your children at the time of their births then they are British citizens by descent. This status is conferred by operation of law at time of birth and is permanent.

If you plan to move back to the UK permanently as a family then you should apply for their British passports before you leave. Without them you have no evidence of their British citizenship and they may encounter problems at the UK border without them. Increasingly proof of citizenship/immigration status is required to carry out 'life' tasks in the UK and since consular birth registration is not available for those born in Canada their British passports will be the only evidence of their right to be in the UK.

In short, yes, you should obtain their British passports before you return. In fact I would recommend you obtain before you lodge the application for your wife's spouse visa application as you can quote the passport numbers to ensure they are not included in the financial requirements.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

If they were born before 1 July 2006 and you and the mother weren't married you'll need to use Form UKF;

https://www.gov.uk/register-british-...british-father

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Missed that, good catch, thanks.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

You cannot pass on your British Citizenship to your illegitimate children if they were born before 2006.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Thanks for the responses, well those from BiP & poida (wiggo on the other).

If I provide proof (whether that be in the application or at entry) of my own birth in the UK (certificate) plus proof that I am their father by birth/blood (ie I'm the stated parent on their birth certificates) then is there any reason why they simply can't enter with me/us, and then when we're in the UK we apply for a passport for them?

On your second point, BiP, where you suggest including their UK passport#s (should we have them); I assume because she is the applicant and includes or states that she has two dependents (which is true, although in reality they are our dependents) the Home Office will need to factor them into the financial calculations to ensure we meet the Savings threshold? (Whether the two dependents are included or not shouldn't be an issue fortunately).

Better to be safe than sorry, I guess. Problem for us is that we live a day's journey away by plane from one of the processing centres. The cost per person alone typically runs higher than all the combined fees my partner will need to submit, including a priority processing fee. If we lived in the south it wouldn't be such an issue. You can probably understand why things like getting passports for the kids (mainly certified photos) is fraught with additional stress, that if at all can be avoided we'd take it.

Still, I appreciate the advice/suggestions and it's something I need to explore more.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Were your children born before 2006?

This info is important to determine which route you can go.

You certainly can't just apply for a passport for them based on your circumstances.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

poida makes a highly relevant point. If your children were born before 1 July 2006 then they wouldn't be British citizens automatically and therefore would have no right to move to the UK until you registered them as British citizens. As such you would need to either register them as British citizens and obtain their British passports or apply for settlement visas for them and include them in the financial requirements for your wife's spouse visa.

In short, what are your children's dates of birth?

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Sorry; they were born in 2007 and 2010.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Just apply for the children's British passports using the link below -

https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

Another point for the OP - get Canadian citizenship before returning to the UK if you qualify for it and not apply already.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Thanks for the link but if I can avoid doing that (until we get to the UK), then we'll wait. It's not a simple process, or rather it's not a cheap and simple process because of where we live. For example, to get passport photos for them we would have to fly them (with one of us) to our Territorial capital at a minimum cost of ~$3500CAD.

I'm deferring to those with a better understanding of the realities on the ground for advice, ie. I'm exploring as many possibilities as I can in the hope than we can save ourselves significant time and resources.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

If you live in such a remote area then you can perhaps delay obtaining your children's passport photos until your wife needs to travel to submit her biometrics for her spouse visa but I certainly wouldn't want to be approaching the UK border after such a long journey with the intention to settle as a family without every member having either a valid British passport or settlement visa.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Thanks BiP; it's sound advice. We may wait until we're all assembled in the south, and then work it all from there.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

I think you will find this interesting, and hopefully useful - for British passports it is now perfectly possible to take your own passport photos and print them from home, or using an on-line printing service.

Read the details and requirements very carefully - including background, posing, and size requirements, and if you are having the photos printed and mailed to you, I would recommend requesting several photos in slightly different sizes to allow for size variations when printed.

Re: Children - Will they Need UK Passports?
 

Thanks, Pulaski; I've tried to do something similar before, for Canadian Passports but the general headache was the shadows. Still, when at first ...