Hello From Texas

I came across this forum and the UK Yankee website while I was researching information about moving to the UK. It's been something on my mind for a while now, my mother is from Yorkshire, and I have tons of family there, and at one time talked to my mom about her going back, but she won't. Then last year I met my mister wonderful online and we've been chatting every day for the last 7 months. We've talked about our future, marriage, etc, and learned a lot about each other. While we still have a way to go, he's planning on coming here soon so we can spend some time together, we've become quite serious about one another, and talk every day throughout our days. The funny part is he is also in Yorkshire, so if everything works out and I do move there I'd be able to spend time with my family there. Even though we still have a way to go with our relationship, I like to be prepared and have all the information I need, not just for myself, but what ever I find out I let him know so we we're on the same page. Plus, what ever happens I have two kiddos who will come with me, so any information I can learn early, the better.

I'm not sure how much info I need to put here, and hope I don't make this too long. We both have some things we want to accomplish this year, he wants to retrain in another profession so he can make more money, and I want to finish my JavaScript studies because I don't want to do freelance web design full time anymore. But my hope is that once he's able to come here for a bit we can then work on planning my move to the UK. I've already done some research, but after reading through a lot of the posts and topics I think this forum can really be a great help, and it would be nice to meet others who've made the move I hope to make one day soon.

Welcome to the board Just curious, are you a British citizen? (or can you apply to become one?) It will make moving much easier if you are!

I haven't been to Yorkshire yet but I've heard it's lovely up there.

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Thank you  No, I was born here in Texas.

I haven't been since I was 10, my mom used to go back for visits a lot when I was little. I have a lot of fond memories there. It is lovely, she has a lot of photographs she took there of areas where she lived. I'm looking forward to being able to see those places again now that I'm much older.

You may want to check to see if you meet the requirements through your mother if you haven't ever looked into it. https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-british-parent  

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Welcome to the forum .

Was your mum born in the UK?

UK citizenship can be passed down to 1 generation born overseas, so depending on what year you were born, and what your parents’ circumstances were at the time of your birth, you may actually have been a UK citizen your whole life.

Have a look at the link margo posted above for more info.


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If you are a UK citizen, then all you need to do in order to move is apply for your UK passport and fly to the UK.

Your kids however, will not qualify for UK citizenship (because you were not born in the UK), so they will need visas if they will be moving with you, so you would need to work out if you could meet the requirements to sponsor Child Settlement visas for them.

If you are not a UK citizen, then all 3 of you will need to qualify for visas to move to the UK... either by getting married to your UK partner (he would have to be able to meet the requirements to sponsor all 3 visas), or by securing a work or student visa and then qualifying for dependant visas for your children.


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That is something to think about, and look into. My mom was born in Yorkshire and grew up there. She then went to Nigeria to teach, and that is where she met my father, who was from Texas. After they got married she moved here with him, and shortly after, I was born. I'm not sure if it will apply to me or not, she did become a US citizen when I was younger, after my parents had divorced, so I'm not sure if she even still has UK citizenship or not or how that affects me. Or maybe its her UK citizenship when I was born that matters. I was born in '77, and at that time she was still a UK citizen and married to my father who was a US citizen.

Sounds like it would be much easier for me if I was a UK citizen, and then all I would have to worry about would be my kiddos. If I'm not, he and I have talked about getting married, and if all works out then we both want to, so I guess it would boil down to his income. Although from some of the research I've done from my understanding I would have to apply for a family visa for myself and add on my children, if it turns out I'm not a UK citizen.

As you were born in 1977 you are not currently British, because at that time only British fathers could pass their citizenship down to children born abroad.

However, the rules changed in 1983 to allow mothers to pass down their citizenship as well... and there was a provision added to allow those born before 1983 to British mothers to be able to register as British citizens.

So, while you are not British yet, you can register as British using form UKM. It costs £1206, which includes the application fee and the citizenship ceremony. Once you have registered as British and attended your ceremony, you can apply for a UK passport.

See here for more information:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-british-parent/born-before-1983
And
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/831522/guide_ukm-sept-2019.pdf


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I applied for and received my British Passport in June.  I have been planning to move to Scotland for the last 3 years.  My plan had been to apply for the ancestry visa which would have given me the right to live and work in the u.k for 5 years and be able to apply for citizenship after 5 years.  Last January I started wondering....I knew my dad had taken up Canadian citizenship, but what if my mother never had....would that make it easier for me to get a British passport.  My mother left when I was 4 and I never saw her again.  I started doing research and the phrase “right of descent” kept coming up and that’s when I realized through my dad I was officially born “British”.  Even though my dad moved to Canada in 1951 and became a Canadian citizen,  and I was born in 1967 in Canada  he was still a British citizen. 

Unless your mother officially renounced her British citizenship, she was still British when you were born even if she was living in the states and took up U.S citizenship.  Luckily for me, my dad was born in Scotland and it was automatic for me.  My mother was born in England , and if like you, I had to use her citizenship to get mine, I would have had to do the ceremony like you but through my dad it was automatic and I had my passport in 6 days.

So definitely look into it and see if you to can claim the passport through your mother.  It will make life so much easier on you as you’ll be able to go there as a British citizen with full rights and no restrictions and you will save thousands of pounds in visa fees.  It will probably take around 6 months for you to get it done.   The £1200  you pay to get the passport will be a lot cheaper then having to go any other route to have the right to live and work there.

Good luck 

Thank you so much for all the information, this is an area I hadn't even known existed until now.  I'm definitely going to look into my options of gaining British citizenship through my mother. After looking over a lot of the fees associated with visas it would make things much more do-able to pay less, for both myself and my future husband. We both want to find out all costs associated with my move so we have a good part of the battle out there to work towards. If I can get citizenship through my mother then all I would have to deal with are the requirements for both my children. My son will only be there temporarily, and has no intentions of staying. He has plans of coming back to the states and going into the Marines once he's done with school. My daughter is the only one who would stay in the UK with me.