FLR(M) and children/dependents

I have started filling out my application and I want to make sure that I am understanding the sections pertaining to our children, as all this information wasn't required for my original visa.

We have 3 children total - we have 2 together (twins) and he has one from a previous marriage. All are British citizens (ours are dual and have US/UK passports). So I believe none are "counted" towards the financial requirement, so I only need to prove £18,600.

Section 4 - Dependent Children
4.1 Yes
4.2 No
4.3 Yes
4.4 I need to copy for the 3rd child to have enough spaces, right?
4.4b - No? (none of the children are applying with me)
4.4f - Do I list both nationalities American/UK or just one for the kids with dual?
4.4g-k - again do I put both sets of info for UK and US passports?
4.4r - for my step-son, do I put just my husband (he has custody) or my husband and his ex-wife
4.4s - it says "if your sponsor is not the other parent of this child, provide details of the other parent. Etc" well my sponsor IS the other parent...it doesn't say anything about me not being a parent. Do I fill in his mom's info anyway?

Here it also says "You must provide all necessary evidence listed in section 12" but I assume they mean section 13 Documents? Because Section 12 seems to all be pertaining to MY Passport, not childrens'?

Section 13 - Documents
For all 3 children, I need to send:
1. original full birth certificate (so 3 total)
2. Passports - so I only send UK ones for my dual kids? Or both? Because their birth certificates are US, should I send US and UK?
3. Official correspondence addressed to children (ummm...? NHS letters?) or a letter from their schools? Or??? (This is the bit I was worried about, as I didn't realize this part, and we can probably come up with something, but I wasn't expecting it.)

Is that it for my/our kids?

Thanks for the help!

So I believe none are "counted" towards the financial requirement, so I only need to prove £18,600.

Yes, that's correct.

Your answers to 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 look fine.

For 4.4, yes, it says:
"If you have more than 2 children, please give their details on a photocopy of this page and enclose it with this form"

4.4b - No is correct
4.4f - I would list both UK and US nationalities for the dual citizen children
4.4g-k - Yes, I would put both details

4.4r - just put what is true... if your husband is the only one responsible financially, put just him, but if his ex-wife also contributes, then put both of them

4.4s - No, this doesn't apply to you... it's asking about any children that are yours, but not his (i.e. children that need a visa to live in the UK)

Here it also says "You must provide all necessary evidence listed in section 12" but I assume they mean section 13 Documents? Because Section 12 seems to all be pertaining to MY Passport, not childrens'?

Yeah, that looks like a typo. They mean Section 13.

There's another form that mentions including evidence in 'Part 6', but there is no Part 6 on that form .

Section 13 - Documents
For all 3 children, I need to send:
1. original full birth certificate (so 3 total)
2. Passports - so I only send UK ones for my dual kids? Or both? Because their birth certificates are US, should I send US and UK?
3. Official correspondence addressed to children (ummm...? NHS letters?) or a letter from their schools? Or??? (This is the bit I was worried about, as I didn't realize this part, and we can probably come up with something, but I wasn't expecting it.)

Is that it for my/our kids?
[/quote]

No, you only need to send their birth certificates to prove they are your children. That's it.

The other documents are only required if they are ALSO applying for FLR(M) visas.

The paragraph just above the second box says:

If you are applying as the child of a person with limited leave as a partner of a settled person in the UK or person who is in the UK with refugee leave or humanitarian protection and you are under the age of 18 (or children who are over 18 and who have already been granted leave in this category) then you must provide the documents listed below, in addition to those already listed above:

No, you only need to send their birth certificates to prove they are your children. That's it.

The other documents are only required if they are ALSO applying for FLR(M) visas.

The paragraph just above the second box says:
If you are applying as the child of a person with limited leave as a partner of a settled person in the UK or person who is in the UK with refugee leave or humanitarian protection and you are under the age of 18 (or children who are over 18 and who have already been granted leave in this category) then you must provide the documents listed below, in addition to those already listed above:

Thank you so much for the quick response! I want to make sure I'm reading this all correctly...of course!

This paragraph that you've quoted above refers to children under 18 applying as a child of a person with limited leave, refugee leave, or humanitarian protection though right... and the following paragraph, therefore would apply to everyone (as children under 18 probably wouldn't also have dependents under 18?)

The paragraph just after that set of boxes says "If you have dependent children under the age of 18 in the UK...you must provide the documents listed below for each child, in addition to those already listed above, even if they are not included in the application." I would think this applies to everyone? Is that not correct? This is the bottom paragraph on page 64.

The paragraph just after that set of boxes says "If you have dependent children under the age of 18 in the UK...you must provide the documents listed below for each child, in addition to those already listed above, even if they are not included in the application." I would think this applies to everyone? Is that not correct? This is the bottom paragraph on page 64.

Hmm, that's interesting - apologies, I didn't read that far down.

This seems to be a new requirement on the form, because I haven't heard of anyone sending anything other than their UK-citizen childrens' birth certificates for FLR(M) applications before.

However, just looking back at the different versions of the FLR(M) form that I have on my laptop, the November 2016 version of FLR(M) only says:

Children’s birth certificates
An original full birth certificate i.e. one which shows the parents’ names for each of your children. This includes children applying for an extension of stay in the UK with you, as well as children not applying with you and those not subject to immigration control.

And there's nothing at all about needing any other documents for the children, not even passports.

But, the form was updated in December 2016, and again in April 2017, and both of those forms have the new section asking for all the other documents from the children too.

So, I guess it looks like you will have to include them after all.

But, the form was updated in December 2016, and again in April 2017, and both of those forms have the new section asking for all the other documents from the children too.

So, I guess it looks like you will have to include them after all.

Booooo...I say BOOOOO!  Anything that makes it more difficult to us and more paperwork for them, eh? I'm sure sending in the extra 2 documents per kid probably adds another 2 weeks' processing time too!

Ok, so do you think it means ALL passports eg: 3 UK kids, 2 US kids, mine, plus FULL COPY of DH's? Or should I just send DH's to make everything easier...obviously none of us are going anywhere for awhile once this is sent in!

Booooo...I say BOOOOO!  Anything that makes it more difficult to us and more paperwork for them, eh? I'm sure sending in the extra 2 documents per kid probably adds another 2 weeks' processing time too!

Why would it add anything to the processing time? It only takes 1-2 hours to decide an application. The rest of the processing time is your application sitting in a pile waiting to be picked up.

If you were to apply in-person, you'd walk out with a decision about 2-3 hours later, even with the childrens' documents too.

Ok, so do you think it means ALL passports eg: 3 UK kids, 2 US kids, mine, plus FULL COPY of DH's? Or should I just send DH's to make everything easier...obviously none of us are going anywhere for awhile once this is sent in!

I wouldn't send your DH's actual passport, because you are allowed to send a full copy of it instead... and he might need it while your application is processing.

For the children, I'm not sure, since this is a new requirement. I'm tempted to say just send their UK passports, since you are showing they have the right to live in the UK - but I can't say for definite.

Would you consider paying the extra to apply in-person, or is that not an option for you?

If you did, it would save 2+ months of waiting for a decision, you wouldn't have to send the passports anywhere, and you could bring a selection of documents for the children and just give them whichever ones they need.

Why would it add anything to the processing time? It only takes 1-2 hours to decide an application. The rest of the processing time is your application sitting in a pile waiting to be picked up.

If you were to apply in-person, you'd walk out with a decision about 2-3 hours later, even with the childrens' documents too.

I was just kidding about this...sorry if it didn't come across. It just seems like it takes so long already, so adding in 6 extra documents to look at, would "naturally" add more processing time!

I wouldn't send your DH's actual passport, because you are allowed to send a full copy of it instead... and he might need it while your application is processing.

For the children, I'm not sure, since this is a new requirement. I'm tempted to say just send their UK passports, since you are showing they have the right to live in the UK - but I can't say for definite.

Would you consider paying the extra to apply in-person, or is that not an option for you?

If you did, it would save 2+ months of waiting for a decision, you wouldn't have to send the passports anywhere, and you could bring a selection of documents for the children and just give them whichever ones they need.

I'd love to save the 2+ months of waiting, but honestly, the fee is already a stretch for us. My DH's whole work team was "made redundant" recently, and we should find out this week if he's been offered his job back (they made everyone redundant so they could change the T&Cs on the contracts - but it's the same job). But even if he gets it, he can't WFH anymore (one of the changes) so we'll have to factor in commuting to London into our budget, plus after school club, getting a 2nd car so I can get to work, etc...As much as I'd like to get a same day decision, I don't think we can swing the extra cost right now.

We are likely not going anywhere as it is during term time anyway...just not having passports in hand scares me! It does say "passports to confirm your child's citizenship status" so I would think the UK ones would be all they need?

I was just kidding about this...sorry if it didn't come across. It just seems like it takes so long already, so adding in 6 extra documents to look at, would "naturally" add more processing time!

Lol - no worries. Wasn't sure if you were serious or not, since someone else posted that they thought sending evidence of sole custody would cause a delay in the fiance/spousal visa processing time.

I'd love to save the 2+ months of waiting, but honestly, the fee is already a stretch for us. My DH's whole work team was "made redundant" recently, and we should find out this week if he's been offered his job back (they made everyone redundant so they could change the T&Cs on the contracts - but it's the same job). But even if he gets it, he can't WFH anymore (one of the changes) so we'll have to factor in commuting to London into our budget, plus after school club, getting a 2nd car so I can get to work, etc...As much as I'd like to get a same day decision, I don't think we can swing the extra cost right now.

Yeah, fair enough .

We are likely not going anywhere as it is during term time anyway...just not having passports in hand scares me! It does say "passports to confirm your child's citizenship status" so I would think the UK ones would be all they need?

That's my thought too - you're showing they don't need a visa and don't have to be included in the income calculation, and the UK passport shows this, while the US one doesn't.

Great, thanks! I will be back with more questions soon, I'm sure!

And, I printed out the app to start filling out as suggested, and already spelled my street name wrong! Haha. Goes to show how often I have to hand write anything!

I dont have much more to add other than to just say we sent our sons Uk passport in with my husbands FLR(M) because the form seemed to ask for it as you say (we didn't send his US one) - we are still waiting to hear a decision on it but we got my sons passport back from the home office within a couple days of them receiving the application with a letter stating they had taken a copy (even though we sent copies) and that we wouldn't need to resubmit it so you do (or at least we did) get the children's passports back sooner.

I dont have much more to add other than to just say we sent our sons Uk passport in with my husbands FLR(M) because the form seemed to ask for it as you say (we didn't send his US one) - we are still waiting to hear a decision on it but we got my sons passport back from the home office within a couple days of them receiving the application with a letter stating they had taken a copy (even though we sent copies) and that we wouldn't need to resubmit it so you do (or at least we did) get the children's passports back sooner.

That is great to know, thanks!