Ladymetis

I can't seem to get a straight answer from Home Office on this.... Another "subject to discretion" situation, it would seem?
Does anyone know if myself and my children need to currently be in the U.K. already to apply for citizenship for my children?
We're all currently in the USA (not in crown service), and trying to relocate to the UK permanently as soon as humanly and legally and paperwork-ly possible!


Important details:
1. I am the child of 2 British-born UK citizens, and all genealogy as far back as we can trace is also British

2. I was born early in the USA while my parents were on holiday many years ago, and am therefore "British by Descent" and unable to automatically pass on my citizenship, even though I grew up in the UK

3. All 3 of my children were born in the USA (the eldest lived in Scotland with me from age 2-3, but the other 2 have only ever visited)

4. We have plenty of money, although we do prefer to use it wisely.

5. My husband and I are now trying to relocate from the USA to Scotland PERMANENTLY, and I need to return to Scotland ASAP to help ailing/aging family members, and would love to register my 2 toddlers so that they can come with me sans visa, while I leave our eldest here in the states to help his dad finish the moving/packing details.

It seems, from the research I've done, exceedingly complicated to apply for visas for the 2 youngest, then apply for visas for my husband and eldest at a later date (we specifically MUST wait to apply for my eldest son's visa - or citizenship registration if I CAN apply while he is in the states - because we are in the middle of a step-parent adoption that likely won't be resolved for another 3-6 months and his name will change once it is finalized, and will subsequently have to wait on his new birth certificate and passport before we can even apply for a visa or registration).
I would very much rather go the citizenship route if at all possible, as it seems faster, easier to get approved, and of course, cheaper in the long run.

Any help, advice or wisdom is greatly appreciated!

BritInParis

I am correct in understanding that your husband is the biological father of your two younger children and not the eldest but he will soon be adopting the eldest? What is the situation with the eldest child's birth father? How old are your children? How many consecutive years did you live in the UK before your children were born? Is your husband a US citizen? Does he hold any other passports? Does he have any recent British, Irish or other European ancestry of his own? How about your eldest child's birth father?

Ladymetis

Yes, that is correct, but once the adoption is completed, my husband will be listed as my eldest son's father on his birth certificate.
The birth father is also an American citizen, and has never been a part of my son's life, and is relinquishing all rights to my son as part of the adoption.
The children are 2, 4, and 13.
I lived in the UK for the first 12 years of my life.
My husband is a US citizen and holds no other passports.
We were told my husband does have British ancestry, but we've found it impossible to locate formal legal records. It all seems to be word of mouth.
The birth father was adopted himself in a closed adoption and we know nothing about his ancestry and he refuses to allow us to dig into it.

BritInParis

Thank you. You mentioned your eldest son lived with you in Scotland? How long was that for? Presumably this was done without the birth father's involvement. What was your son's immigration status at this time?

Ladymetis

This was back in 2006, and we were there right around 6 months (I am hoping it was less than 6 months).
At that time, I was unaware of my status as a Citizen By Descent, I only just found out 2 months ago when my children's British Passport applications were denied on the basis that my citizenship didn't apply to them. All 4 of my siblings and their children never had any problems (obviously because my siblings weren't accidentally born abroad!), so in my naivete, I just assumed there were no limitations to my citizenship and I never did any research.
The birth father wasn't listed on my son's birth certificate during that time, so we did not require any permission from him to move or travel. He's still not on the birth certificate, the father section is simply blank. Immigration back then never even blinked at my British passport and my son's American one, they just flagged us through.

I should mention, we also returned to the UK for 4 months earlier this year, and there was no problem with immigration then, either, so I'm assuming we stayed less than 6 months last time, or surely my son's return may have raised a flag or two.

BritInParis

So all of your children can be registered as British citizens now, based on the fact that you spent more than three consecutive years living in the UK before their births. This is known as Section 3(2) registration. This would be the cheapest and simplest method as all three would then simply require British passports in order to be able to move to the UK. However this would only give them British citizenship by descent and they would not be able to repeat the same trick for their own children if they were born outside the UK.

A more expensive and time consuming route would be for you to apply for child settlement visas for them at the same time you apply for your husband's visa. After three years living in the UK together as a family they would then be eligible to be registered under Section 3(5). This would give them British citizenship otherwise than by descent and therefore any children of their own who were born outside the UK would automatically be British citizens at birth.

In either scenario they would need to be registered by the age of 18 but as your eldest is only 13 then you have a sufficiently large window for either route to succeed. Personally I would go for the latter, particularly if your children have US citizenship and family members as they may decide to return to the US when they are older.