British children born in the EU

[LavenderFairyrunswild]

Dear Mumsnetters,

I've tried googling and there isn't much coming up, so thought I would ask here. I hope somebody can help me understand how Brexit will impact the futures of British children born in Europe.

I moved to a mainland European country for work 10 years ago and have since had a family here, with a British partner. We have been paying tax in our new home country.

Our children go to school here, they are happy and settled and it's the only life they know.

However, I have never planned on staying here forever. I always planned to "come home".

For now, we are waiting, watching what happens with Brexit, although this was the year I was supposed to return to the UK.

Can anyone please give me any clue as to how Brexit might impact British children born in Europe?

Thanks.

You can apply for a British birth certificate using their orginal one and then obtain citizenship by descent enabling them to be classed as UK citizens.

Providing you were born in the UK yourself (and are not British by descent) then you don’t need to do anything, your children are automatically British citizens by descent. There isn’t an application process, it’s automatic.

Thanks. They already have British passports, but not birth certificates. I will look into that.
If we were all to come back, will I be able to just enroll them in school? My DH kept up his national insurance payments but otherwise we have paid all our tax into our new country.
I don't know if I'm panicking but I'm starting to worry that they might say that since we haven't paid UK tax we aren't entitled to do so (even though thay wasn't the deal when we left)

You don't need to apply for a British birth certificate - if they already have passports, the UK has already recognised their right to citizenship. You might see if your current country can issue you with a multilingual birth certificate for your children to avoid having to get their existing one translated in case you ever need an English version, though. (Here, it's the town hall where the children were born that issues them, but that will vary by country, I'm sure.)

There is guidance from the government on registering for school places for British citizens moving back from the EU, I'll see if I can dig it out. But basically they have to treat you in the same way they treat people living in the UK. If you're all British, you'll be able to move back with no legal issues; after Brexit, you may or may not be able to consolidate your social security payments that you've made in your current country with ones you make in the UK. But most benefits in the UK are residence-based, I think, not based on contributions, so should be ok. (There might be an impact on state pensions, though I don't know enough about it to guess.)

Potentially your main problem will be the three month wait to access public services when you return, if there is no deal and you cannot rely on your EHIC for healthcare.

If you can obtain local citizenship for your kids before you leave, you should do so, to preserve their freedom of movement. For example, children born in France to foreign parents can claim French citizenship when they turn 13 as long as they have lived in France for 5 years since the age of 8 - it is a very straightforward process (both my kids got FR citizenship this way). Obviously the rules for acquiring citizenship will vary between EU states.

Thanks. I wonder if there's any way round the 3 month wait - e.g. if we start paying tax before we bring the children over? Otherwise they will have an extra long summer one of these years I suppose.

I'm not sure that the 3 month wait applies to schools - I thought it was for benefits (and maybe the NHH?) www.gov.uk/schools-admissions/applying says you can apply while still abroad, even.

Mistigri we are also in France. Unfortunately my youngest gas a long wait till shes 13! My eldest is close though. It's all a nightmare. It really is time for me to come home, but I worry I'm doing something terrible taking them out of mainland Europe. If only it was just "live in France for 5 years" not "from the age of 8".

@LavenderFairyrunswild if you have the opportunity, I would sort out your oldest's French nationality. It will potentially give you a means of returning to France if you want (a foreign parent raising a French child in France has a right to a titre de séjour). This was one of the reasons why we got our teenagers' nationality sorted out.

The 3 months is for health care and benefits entitlement. It would probably be easy enough to "move" to the UK in June and then spend 3 months on holiday in France, or arrange holiday insurance in France before travelling. I suspect that when pensioners start coming back from the Spain the 3 month requirement will get removed anyway, assuming the government is still sufficiently functional to pass any legislation after a no deal Brexit.

In your shoes I'd want to wait for a month or two to see what sort of Brexit we are getting.

I would not move, honestly, until you understand more. But the exchange rate is fluctuating and it might not be a bad idea to move some euros into pounds and into a uk account when you think you’ve reached a level you’re happy with...also, check your pension status. I’ve thrown away 6years of EU mandatory state pension contribution, by moving, without realising that the minimum number of years to be counted was 10 (now with Brexit it’s highly unlikely the merging of years of contribution will happen, there’s a document on the gov website, but it doesn’t say much...)

I appreciate it's fuck all of my business, and really easy for me to say as it's not me - but I don't understand why you'd come back when your children know it as home and are fully settled with all their friends and schools and lives - AND everything is potentially going to shit here.

Is there any way you would wait till they're older or can you just not bear it anymore?

(Sorry I honestly don't mean to be rude, I just had frequent moves as a child and it wasn't good, and I always wince when I read things like this.)

NopeNi I agree, I do, and they are happy here and their school is great. I just might have a nervous breakdown in the mean time. I have lost my grove here- I don't really fit anywhere. I'm too French for the "English" crowd, to "English" for the French crowd. My job has gone a bit crazy - colleagues are suffering too and the relationships are not good there. The natural feeling is that it's all over, but my children are happy.
NopeNi I'm not a flaky parent. They have never moved before and I have no plans to move again. And Yes, Brexit terrifies me. I worry I am taking them "home" to no NHS and human rights... but if I keep them here they will be raised by a mad woman with no friends and no culture. Urgh.