If you’re not finding any recent timelines to compare with, it might be worth checking posts or updates from lawyers or law firms. If they’re still actively marketing MN1/s.3(1) registration for children of 4L parents, then it’s a good sign that nothing has changed and the Home Office is likely just working through a backlog.

My niece and nephew went through the same process, but no further information was requested, and they were approved in under six months. That said, they were registered over a year ago, so their case/timeline isn’t really a good indication of what’s happening now.

If you were successfully registered under Section 4L then there shouldn't be any issue with registering your children under Section 3(1) providing they are under 18 when the applications are submitted. The recent push back by the Home Office for those who applied to be registered under Section 4L but have been assessed instead under Section 4C should not be a factor. It may will be that you're unlucky with your caseworker and they're not familiar with this particular route given it's both relatively new and fairly obscure.

I’m curious, does this mean that the application has already been assessed? And that they are waiting for the biometrics to confirm the applicant’s identity? This seems so efficient…

I ask this having received my request for biometrics two weeks after my ARD application was received in Liverpool, and I’m gobsmacked…

That used to be the case but from recent anecdotal reports that doesn’t appear to be necessarily true anymore.

I agree, and I’m aware it’s mentioned in the Home Office staff guidance that the child would normally be registered, or something along those lines. However, when this registration route first came up, Sable told us that it was a concession and a Home Office policy that could be limited or withdrawn in the future. They mentioned this in their marketing emails and even in the client care letter. It may simply have been something they said, but that was the explanation we were given.

That is a shame… I had my hopes up. The biometric enrolment letter says “Thank you for your application. All supporting evidence you have supplied has been uploaded to our case working system. Please do not return supporting evidence unless instructed by UKVI.” I wonder if it has been assessed for completeness in some fashion...?

This not being effectively approved brings up another question. I’ve been reading people’s posts about being asked for both grandfathers’ birth certificates to confirm there wasn’t a route to UK citizenship through them. If there’s a risk of that, I should start working on this now. Both my grandfathers were born before civil birth registration existed. They both have unique names, which helps.

For my paternal grandfather, I have:
Baptismal record scan from 1906 in New Mexico
Census records from 1910 up to 1950 (not sure how much is too much here) The earlier records show both him and his parents as US born.
Marriage record scan (shows his wife’s name)
Flight passenger manifest list with his and his wife’s names, passport numbers and confirming US citizenship including official looking immigration stamps from September 1947 (flight from Spain to Washington DC)
He had a university degree in “foreign commerce”, later on worked for the US Small Business Administration and he spoke Spanish fluently due to Mexican ancestry and his childhood in New Mexico. They didn’t take their children then aged 11 and 13 with them; not sure if this was a work trip or a personal holiday.

I could request a search for a delayed birth certificate search which may prove fruitful but is not guaranteed and takes many weeks. These became available in the 1930s, and he may have needed to request this in order to apply for a US passport. I could do a FOIA request for his passport application assuming his application was just before his 1947 trip. This also takes many weeks.

For my maternal grandfather, I could provide my UKM refusal letter. He was British, but born in British India to a British father in crown service. He never lived in the UK, and in 1949 became a BWSC. Can the caseworker access this file from 2023?

I posted about the request for documents for both my grandfather’s place of birth. It might have just been my caseworker that wanted this information. They did not require it to be a Birth Certificate, but it was the only example they listed. I also have their death certificates that show the country they were born in. I would have used their death certificates if I did not have access to their birth certificates. It was much easier to request copies of death certificates.


This was the caseworkers request from their email.

Thank you. This is very helpful.

That is technically true as it is policy rather than legislation but then so is any application made under Section 3(1) as all such applications are at the discretion of the Home Secretary.

These documents are likely to be prove to be an issue if you are trying to prove a positive but less so if you're trying to prove a negative.

Tell me more about this. Was your maternal grandfather's father was born in the UK?

No, he was not. He was one in a long line of men who served in British Army in India.

Great great great grandfather born 1799 London
Great great grandfather born 1840 British India
Great grandfather born 1863 British India
Grandfather born 1895 British India
Mother born 1928 US
Me born 1964 US
My family lived in the UK in the 1970s and received ILR in 1977

The first three men in the above list were in the British Army (in Crown Service) at the time of the births of their sons. They went to boarding school in England, attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and generally kept close ties with Britain. Except for the being born in the UK part.

My great grandfather retired as a major and moved to the United States around 1900-1901, the home of his wife. (As an aside, she had a London born mother but records of her birth are non-existent due to the blitz.)

Great grandfather then went to medical school and became a baby doctor. His son, my grandfather, never lived in the UK, but he and his father traveled to the UK at the very beginning of WWI, and I wonder if it was to volunteer to join the military. They came back to the US, and my grandfather enlisted in the US army and served in the US Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico (1916–1917). He was later deployed to France in the cavalry once the US entered WWI. Upon returning to the US, he married, had children, and when the depression hit decided to pursue a career in acting, since he “might as well be an out of work actor than an out of work furniture salesman”.

Good news! I just received my son's Registration Certificate under Section 3(1). My daughter's is somehow held up and I think they assigned her a different case worker. I am going to send an email tomorrow with his certificate attached to ask again about her application. Does 3(1) convey Citizenship Otherwise by Descent?

That is great news. I have been approved under 4L and currently waiting to be contacted for my ceremony date. Then I will be working on my under 18 childrens 3(1) applications. If you don't mine it would be great if you could share the process you followed for their application.

I submitted their application using MN1 Form. Born outside the UK, other- apply at discretion of home secretary.
I said "yes" to adding further details and added this paragraph: "Mom was American at birth and received British Citizenship Otherwise by Descent under Section 4L of the British Nationality Act of 1981. (Child Name) is applying for Registration under Section 3(1) Discretionary Request. His great-grandmother was British and could not pass her citizenship to her daughter (maternal grandmother) born in 1947 due to historical unfairness, as women could not pass citizenship on to their children.(Child Name) hopes for future opportunities in the UK)."
Forms and documents, all submitted electronically after biometrics:
Both my passports and my birth certificate
My British Citizenship Certificate
My husband's bc and US passport
Our Marriage Certificate
Consent of both parents to apply for child
Their BC and US passport
Referee Form
PDF of Application and. Checklist

Submitted and paid Application in May, biometrics end of June, approval was mid November but didn't receive Certificate until this week. I am still waiting on my daughter's, which had identical content.

It depends on the circumstances, but in your children's case, they will become British citizens by descent.