Child Entry Requirements — British Parent

Hello! I am in a sudden panic in regards to our upcoming move to the UK.

I am a british citizen and we currently live in the USA. My husband has obtained his spouse visa, and I was under the impression my children were automatically british citizens at birth so they would not require anything for the move.

However, I have been seeing information about child and family visas, and am worried I was supposed to have them apply as a dependant under my husband, despite them having a britsh parent?

We have sold our home and we leave in 3 weeks, but I am curious now if I need to get something expediated? Or can we still travel there and apply for their UK passports once in the UK since they would get 6 months to travel?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

As long as you were born in the UK to British parents, your children will automatically be British citizens and just need a UK passport in order to enter the UK.

So, they do not need dependant visas, however, you will need to make sure they have their UK passports in hand before you move to the UK as they won't be able to enter the UK without them.

The only time that children need to apply as dependants is if they have no claim to UK citizenship and only hold US citizenship... in which case, they would need to apply for child dependant visas in order to be allowed to move to the UK.

Thank you @ksand24 Yes, I am UK born to UK born british citizens.

We are flying in three weeks and my husband has to enter before September on his partner visa, so do you think that would qualify the children to apply for an emergency travel document? Unfortunately it looks like you can only do the fast track from within the UK and they haven't had a UK passport before. I am not sure if the limitations of his visa would qualify them?

I suppose my other option would be to take them on a return trip as tourists and come back to collect the 6 week passport when ready?

So I applied to see if the children could get emergency travel documents, and I guess the restrictions on their father's entry visa didn't qualify. We leave a few weeks and I am not sure what my best approach is here. I really want us to all be able to travel together, and I don't want the children to miss the start of the new school year.

Does anyone have any advice they could please share?

I am thinking perhaps we start the application process now and enter as tourists, with plans to return to the US in a month or so to retrieve the passports. And then we re-enter on those?

So I applied to see if the children could get emergency travel documents, and I guess the restrictions on their father's entry visa didn't qualify. We leave a few weeks and I am not sure what my best approach is here. I really want us to all be able to travel together, and I don't want the children to miss the start of the new school year.

Yeah, unfortunately it's not possible to expedite applications if it's their first passport.

First UK passport applications from the overseas take around 10 weeks for processing, possibly up to 16 weeks.

In order to apply for their UK passports, I believe you will need to send their US passports to the UK Passport Office, so your children will not be able to fly to the UK while the applications are processing.

I suppose you have a few different options:

1) Leave the kids with family or friends for a few days while you and your husband fly to the UK to activate his visa and pick up his BRP card (this will start his official UK residency). Then you can fly back to the US to apply for the kids' UK passports, and fly back to the UK again once they have them.

2) Fly to the UK to activate your husband's visa and pick up his BRP card, with the kids entering as visitors. Then fly back to the US with the kids to apply for their UK passports. HOWEVER, your kids may not be allowed into the UK as visitors if you are entering on a British passport and your husband is entering on a spousal visa, as you will be considered to be moving to the UK (not visiting), and UKVI may not believe they are genuine visitors and will leave the UK again... so you may end up right back on a plane to the US.

3) You could try to enter the UK without the kids' UK passports, but with proof of their UK citizenship (their birth certificates, your birth certificate, your parents' birth certificates, your UK passport etc.) and see if UKVI will let them in as British citizens... then you could apply for their UK passports from within the UK. I'm not sure if they will be allowed in or not though.

4) Delay your move to the UK for 3-4 months and apply for the kids' UK passports now. In order to be able to enter the UK after September, your husband would need to apply for a new replacement 90-day visa vignette (£154) so he can travel after his current one has expired. See here: https://www.gov.uk/transfer-visa

Options 1 and 4 are probably the safest options, as in those cases your children would not be attempting to enter the UK without UK passports.

Thank you @ksand24  for your advice and options. I was sort of thinking along those same lines.

So does my husband have to enter the UK on his spouse visa with me? He entered without me when he had the same one in 2010, but perhaps things have changed since then?

So does my husband have to enter the UK on his spouse visa with me? He entered without me when he had the same one in 2010, but perhaps things have changed since then?

You either need to already be in the UK when he lands, or you need to be travelling with him and entering the UK at the same time as him.

Either way, you MUST be in the UK at the time he first enters on the spousal visa because the whole point is that he is JOINING you in the UK - if you are both currently in the US, he cannot travel to the UK before you (i.e. you can't stay in the US while he flies to the UK).

@ksand24 so... I have spent most of today reading online and going cross eyed, but I believe there may be another option and I wanted to run it by you and see if you knew anything I don't here or if there is reason not to do this.

It appears the children qualify for a rushed one-week UK passport, since they are British Citizens. It also appears that (with written content letters) someone can go to the appointment on behalf of a parent/guardian and that the children do not need to be there either. The passport applications have to be done using the ones from the Post Office (not online or printed).

If I had my mum go to the post office and Fed-Ex us the applications, then I send them back along with the written concent letters. I also make her an appointment at the soonest London Passport Office slot (nearest to our UK address) and she goes in person with it all in tow. The passports arrive at our UK address a week later and she Fed Exs them out to us... all in the next 2.5 weeks.

Am I delusional or could this work?

This one?
https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently/1-week-fast-track-service

You have to be in the UK.

"Sending someone in your place

If you’re in the UK, you can ask someone to go to your appointment for you. "