Visas and British Passports for Children

The answer to this question depends on whether your stepdaughter’s other parent is playing a role in her life. The Immigration Rules only allow a child from a previous relationship to come to the UK if the child’s other parent is dead or if your partner has ‘sole responsibility’ for the child. If the child’s other parent plays no role in the child’s life, then you should be able to bring your stepdaughter to the UK. If the other parent has any kind of role, even a limited one, it can be difficult to meet this requirement.

Sole responsibility cases are complex and you should get expert legal advice on whether the ‘sole responsibility’ test is met at the earliest stage possible in your planning.

This depends on several factors such as what visa you will have in the UK or whether you are a British national. The details of the guardianship that you have been granted are important, as is the length of the time that you have been caring for the child. The Immigration Rules have very strict criteria that need to be met and it is important to seek advice at an early stage to identify the application that will give you the highest prospects of success.

Our team have had considerable experience in advising families on navigating the Immigration rules in these circumstances and can help ensure that your child’s application has the highest prospects of success.

Possibly. This depends on whether you can satisfy the Home Office decision-maker that you have ‘sole responsibility’ for your child. You say the child’s father has had no involvement in their life and you will have to establish that, although your mother had physical care of your child, you have been the one making all the decisions in respect of the important aspects of their life. Relevant decisions include, but are not limited to, their education, health care and religious upbringing. You will also have to show that you can provide adequate accommodation and maintenance for the child, in line with the requirements set by the Home Office.

These types of cases are complex, and the risk of a visa refusal is high, particularly if you submit this application without the benefit of legal advice.

Our team is very experienced in these types of cases and can support you to make the best possible application to maximise the chances of visa success first time.

A child adopted overseas will not be British unless their British parent is habitually resident in the UK at the time of the adoption. In most of these types of cases, the adoptive parent will not satisfy the habitual residence rules and therefore the child will not have British citizen conferred on them at the point of the adoption.

An application can, however, be made for the child to be registered as a British citizen. If the child was adopted in a country whose adoptions are recognised by UK law then, subject to qualifying criteria, an application for registration can be made. If the child was adopted in a country whose adoption laws are not recognised by the UK, registration is only possible if there are exceptional, compelling or compassionate circumstances justifying a grant of British citizenship.

Discretionary applications involving adopted children are very fact-sensitive and require careful preparation and skill in order to maximise the chances of success. Our team have had considerable success in making applications of this type, including cases where children have been adopted in countries whose adoption laws are not recognised by the UK.

A child born in the UK before one of their parent’s secured settlement is not born automatically British. However, Immigration Law gives the child, born in the UK, an automatic entitlement to register as a British citizen after one of their parents has secured settled status, also known as indefinite leave to remain.

For the purposes of UK immigration law, a person is no longer considered a child when they reach the age of 18. For the purposes of a visa application, the requirement is that your child is under the age of 18 at the date of application. If you child turns 18 while the application is being processed, the fact that the child has turned 18 will not adversely impact the application. If your child is 17, it is very important that you obtain legal advice in respect of any visa application to ensure that you maximise the chances of success. You may only have one chance to get it right, as a fresh application may not be an option if your child has turned 18.

No. The visa and nationality process is now fully digital, with documents uploaded to the digital platforms used by the Home Office. You will not need to send any original documents to the Home Office.

We can handle all this aspect of the application for you. Our team deal with this technology daily and can upload all the necessary documents for you, ensuring a smooth process. We will make sure that your application and documents are uploaded correctly and in line with Home Office requirements, and will collate everything in an application package.