danthemanwhocant

Good afternoon,

First of all, thank you for taking the time out of your evening to read what will likely be a lengthy, convoluted question/issue.

Here goes...

So, I have lived in the US for a while and whilst there, I got married to a lovely American woman, whom had a child from a previous partner. Together we have 3 children, two of whom are mine biologically. After a visit here, we decided that it was better for us all to move to the UK. I gained employment, a (rented) house, etc. and my wife and children went back to US, as advised to by people I spoke to on both immigration numbers (ones applying from England and ones applying from abroad) and began the family visa process (at no point was I advised or was it even mentioned that they, my two biological children could qualify for a British Passport (thus saving me and my family a lot of time and money)).

I received an email yesterday advising me that the two children's visa request has been deffered pending a decision I need to make about how we proceed. Do I withdraw the application and go down the passport route, or do I go down the route of getting them a letter of entitlement.

After looking and reading through the information as best I can, my wife and I decided that the passport seemed the quicker route - 6 weeks versus months. I have called the passport agency and the two telephone numbers mentioned above and have not been able to get any form of clarity over what happens if I choose one of the options above.

I am worried that, as i was told December 10th 2018 was the 60-day cut off point, that my wife and stepson might get the visa approval and my two biological children will be stuck in limbo waiting for their passports, while my wife and stepsons 30-day window counts down and then we either have to re-apply (I cannot afford another 4k) or file a vignette.

Does anybody have any experience with an issue similar, or know what they might do with my wife and stepsons application?

Thank you very much for you time.

Dan

BritInParis

Assuming you were born in the UK then your biological children are British citizens and are not entitled to settlement visas. By lodging settlement visa applications for them you have, unfortunately, wasted a lot of money unnecessarily. Any visa application you have made for them should be refused (or you can choose to withdraw). They are only eligible for British passports or a Certificate of Entitlement to the Right of Abode in their US passports. In your circumstances British passports are the only option you should consider. Your children's passport applications are likely to take no longer than two weeks.


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