... to think the Home Office is trying to extort ££ by threatening my baby

[notlost]

First, I am not British and neither is DH (not a sin, believe it or not), but we are indefinitely settled in London and DD was born here. Since we are not British she cannot have a British passport, regardless of where she was born, so we got her an American one. Now the Home Office is saying that since she is "declared American" we need to get her a visa that is EXACTLY the same as ours - that's right, an ADULT work permit, to the tune of £585.

AND THEY WANT TO COLLECT MY 6 MONTH OLD BABY'S FINGERPRINTS AND DNA FOR THEIR F-ING DATABASE AND MAKE HER CARRY ONE OF THOSE BIOMETRIC ID CARDS.

They have told me I have to do this within the next two months or risk her being deported and a permanent black mark on her immigration record.

Isn't it enough for them that we have to pay the same taxes as everyone else, but don't get access to any kind of public benefits (including the child tax credit)? Wasn't it enough for them to make DH and I pay £600 for PERMISSION to get married? Why do they have to treat my baby like a criminal??

I wish I could complain to my MP, but as a foreigner I'm not eligible to vote and am therefore no-one's constituent.

"'But is the UK really aspiring to imitate US immigration policy?'

Yes, yes they are. "

Oh, sad. I would hope they could take the good bits and leave the rest. But then, the US doesn't seem to be very good at that either.

Ducchesse... on several occasions my folks have got back home to find the green visa waiver to have not been retrieved.

And the sworn statement from absent parent costs £50+ to get notarised, doesn't it?!! That alone sticks in the craw; I phoned around for ages to find a Notary who would do the 2 simple documents for just one £50 charge.

I have to travel down and stay overnight. And it's very difficult to get appointments on the same day once you have 2+ children to get passports for, or if you have any other business (I had something I needed to get notarised at the Embassey).

They are actually much more flexible once you're there in person or if you can get someone on the phone (like what a challenge, like).

I am trying to persuade an American friend that she must get her 2yo DS a US passport for any trips Stateside; she managed to take him into Washington State last year on a British passport and didn't realise why the immigration officer kept tut-tutting, shaking his head and tapping his nose at her.

'But hey ho, them's the rules. You can be fined for taking a person entitled to US nationality into the US without a US passport.

And they're cracking down on people who do this.'

Exactly, I had heard about this and so I was really worried about making sure her American paperwork was ducks in a row, including the afternoon at the embassy for the consulate reports and whatnot.

The British passport site said she wasn't entitled unless a parent was British or settled (which I misread, since we're in that in-between time where we aren't on a visa, but aren't eligible to apply for naturalisation), so I didn't think she could get one yet.

PITA indeed. Looks like I should arrange my donation to the Home Office then...

LOL, lljkk, like totally, dude

And your friend should definitely get the US passport. Getting a nice immigration officer is lucky, but I don't count on it. They threw a fit at me last time I was there because DH and I are married but don't have the same last name!

(because I would have to change my name in my passport and then pay the Home Office for a spankin new visa when this one is still good and it's just more trouble than it's worth until we're eligible for the naturalised passport - then I will think about changing it)

'And the sworn statement from absent parent costs £50+ to get notarised, doesn't it?!!'

Yes, it does. A friend had to do this because her husband works away (and of course, you have to go to the Consulate/Embassy when you are given an appointment) and they were charged £65! For what is basically a letter!

She went once to the US with one child without the US passport. The next time, she got fined.

So it does happen.

Once you get in there, though, it's so piss-easy you think, 'All that stressing and fuss for this?!'

My folks were here and my mother finally got an inside view into what a PITA it is and I spent hours filling out forms for two new passports, birth certs and SSNs, a renewal for myself and a renewal for DD1.

I had all the paperwork and documents laid out on the table in folders because the Consulate required that I send it all in to them 5 days before the appointment.

'Yes, it does. A friend had to do this because her husband works away (and of course, you have to go to the Consulate/Embassy when you are given an appointment) and they were charged £65! For what is basically a letter!'

We were lucky that DH works relatively close to London and could take a day off work to be present for the swearing in front of the Consulate. He was surprised when he found out both parents had to be present, but then conceded that DD is certainly cute enough to steal so it was understandable

It didn't used to be that way. When I got DD1's first passport and paperwork, she is now 6, I didn't have to take DH or even DD1 in with me.

He took her a walk whilst I went into the Consulate.

sigh none of it's the way it used to be is it?

They won't even let us smile in our passport photos anymore

My landlord's daughter, a Scotswoman, married a S. African man in SA and they applied for his visa to come back to the UK with her and got rejected! She had to come back to the UK on her own and jump through all these hoops and then he had to re-apply and pay the fee again.

Thankfully, he's now got ILR and will be applying to naturalise at the end of this year.

Notlost - what is your exact status? I am a bit confused - you say you are permanently settled, but that you have a work permit which doesn't make sense.

If you are still on a work permit then no your DD cannot be British.
However if you and DH have a residency visa (the visa that says Indefinite leave to remain) when your DD was born, then she will be British and can get a passport.

I was in the same position in 2005. DH and I both had indefinite leave to remain, but were not yet eligible to apply for citizenship. Our child who was born that year is British and has a British passpot.

Actually Riven, I think that's true of a lot of countries.
My children are dual nationality, and need to enter UK on their British passports and Australia on their Australian passports.

potoroo that's exactly where we are, it seems I misread the British passport site and thought that we had to have naturalisation completed for her to be eligible.

The lady at Immigration was the one who told me she needed a work permit. A dependant visa for a settled person is £585. Boo.

Will try the British passport thing first, but I am a bit worried they will say no and I will have to do the visa anyway. Perhaps it's a bit paranoid, but I always am when dealing with immigration officials (they laugh that I carry my last four passports on me, but I KNOW if I don't they will need it).

Actually I disagree, we have to jump through the same hoops you do, biometric stuff, id cards (even for my 5 year old).

But this is not my country. I am a visitor and I am allowed to stay here as long as I follow the rules. We knew we would be paying tax and not be eligible for any public assistance or funds when we signed up.

It is part of living abroad. If you don't like it the option is to move home.

OK, thanks stewie.

I'm not sure what the rules are now, but I don't think you have to be naturalised .

DD was born in 2007 and she is British too. We haven't got our citizenship yet because of the cost. But we will have to before we get our passports renewed...

Also, you can do it at the post office - they can do all the pre-checking for you and it is fairly quick - a few week's turnaround I think

One other thing - depending on who you get at the Home Office, they may not always have the right information.
We found it easier and quicker to fly back to Australia and sort out our paperwork there rather than get it done by the Home Office.

Hate to diappoint you Ilovemydog, but the Home Office insisted that I got married. According to them, the citizenship of the child follows the mother. Same thing happened to 4 or 5 of my friends and a sister as well.

What the Home Office says on it's website and it's actual practise are two very, very different things. BF is an immigration lawyer (very conveniently) and spends half his life pointing out the discrepencies to the faceless banks of drones who do it their way, whether or not the documentations says otherwise.

My son lives in Turkey with his Turkish wife and their child who was born in Turkey in 1999
She has a British passport and a Turkish one.She is described as a British citizen by descent because my son was born in Sierra Leone when his dad [we are both English]was working there.Any children dgs has will only be entitled to British citizenship if they are born in UK.Isnt it complicated!

are you coing to get her baptised so she can go to a catholic school?

I don't know about other nationalities Riven, but Australia has a reciprocal arrangement with Medicare/NHS so we do get to use the NHS.

Riven with Americans the NHS is an interesting arrangement. Basically unless we have been here over a certain amount of time (presumably to pay in to the system for a while), we have to pay for any NHS treatments, including A&E, out of pocket.

DH and I carry bupa.