angecro60

My son is 19, and British by descent, he holds a British passport and would like to live in Scotland for a few years. Will he need to register to be naturalized? Can he work before all this is done? Will he still be able to hold his US citizenship? Not sure if this is where I begin, did not see another thread starter.. Thank you

kimilseung

If he has got a passport, he has got a passport. That is is the proof. No need to "register to be naturalized" because he has the documentation that he needs.

"..... before all this is done" There is nothing to do, other than get on a plane.

"....still be able to hold his US citizenship" yes he can keep it, if he is only going to Scotland for a few years, he will need it when he comes back to the US.

Mummy in the foothills

Ditto!
My kids born in US both moved to UK, used their UK passports to enter, went to the jobcentre plus and applied for National insurance numbers and got jobs.
Both still have US passports for entering and leaving the US if they need to come and visit.

nun

Yes I agree.

If the OP's son holds a UK passport and is a UK citizen by descent he can live and work in the UK and other EU counties.....no need to do anything. He will qualify for all benefits and NHS as well as soon as he becomes resident. Remember that as a US citizen he will still have to file US taxes every year.

angecro60

Thank you for the replies. Now "as soon as he becomes a resident?". How can he show proof of when he first became a resident? Just say he decided to go to school, will he need to wait 3 years before he can apply for financial help?

nun

Your son can become UK resident as soon as he steps of the plane if he intends to stay in the UK, has an address etc. Unfortunately he will not be treated as a resident by Universities and schools until he has lived in the UK for sometime....I think it might be 2 or 3 years.

Mummy in the foothills

if he's going to go to college then his acceptance letter shows residence. But holding a UK passport and opening a UK bank account (they send stuff to your house in UK), renting a flat all these things show residence.

angecro60

My son just moved to Scotland from the U.S to stay with family. His British passport is stll being processed. He has nothing right now to show residency. He is not there to go to school, but may pursue after 3 yrs. do you know if he can open a bank acct. once he is able to show his British passport? Right now they require that he knows a professional for 2 years, ie a doctor, lawyer, well he only has family and they do not count, plus he needs 2 legal type letters to show residency. Thanks for all the help

Mummy in the foothills

Thats a lot of proof maybe he could try one of the banks that the relatives he is near use.
My son had his UK passport and his grandmother with him and opened on at her bank. Maybe once his passport comes he could try that.
Second son went in with my older son and opened his account. Had to wait for his letter from the college though to get a student account.

dunroving

Yes, typically 3 years, anything else is the exception rather than the rule.

And being in the UK for the primary purpose of education does not count towards the residency rule. So, if an expat child is sent back to attend school for 3 years before going to university, and the parents stay overseas, this does not usually satisfy the 3-year prior residency rule, because the child was in the UK primarily for education purposes - anything else is an exception, rather than the rule.

Spacecake799

Hi, My son returned to UK when he was 19. It was March and he got his MI mumber and looked for work but also signed on.
As he was on job seekers allowance when he applied to 6th form college he got it for free, his allowance just stopped.

dunroving

I think the rules for 6th form may be slightly different than higher education ... could be wrong, though.

formula

I didn't even know tht 19 year olds can go to 6th form college as that is usually for 16 and 17 years olds?

Job seekers have to look for work and as he decided to go to 6th form, he isn't available for work.

formula

I didn't know that. I guess that stops those who send their child to live with grandma/auntie, to try to get around the 3 year home fees/no fees, rule?

dunroving

Yes. I started a thread on here about 2 years ago this time about a new MPhil student who had been paying international fees for 6 years (or rather, her father was). She was born in Singapore of Scottish and Malaysian parents (her dad was an alumnus of my university). Her prior 6 years, residence could not be counted, as she was here primarily for education purposes (her family still lived in Singapore).

However, she had an extensive record of staying here over the summers, working, renting non-university property, that we used to establish evidence of potential intent to stay in the UK. In these situations, many people don't know for sure, but it seemed a bit excessive that if she'd stayed for her PhD she would have paid 10 years of international fees (4 of which would have been entirely free if she'd been counted as a Scottish resident).

After a long, frustrating series of attempts, the university agreed to let her pay home fees (postgraduate). Strictly speaking, they could have refused, but eventually we won the case. Sometimes it is worth challenging the home fees decision, but you usually have to have some reason other than "It's not fair".