Registration. Child has lived in the UK for the first 10 years of their life
You are entitled to be registered as a British citizen if you were born in the UK, at the time of your birth none of your parents were British citizens or settled in the UK, you have attained the age of 10 years, and as regards each of the first 10 years of your life, the number of days on which you were absent from the UK in that year does not exceed 90.
An application must be made for your registration as a British citizen.
Hence, the first requirement is for you to be born in the UK. If you were born outside the UK, you cannot apply to be registered as a British citizen, even if you live now in the UK, have lived in the UK for the first 10 years of your life, and you have not been outside of the UK for more than 90 days in each of the first 10 years of your life. Therefore, even if the only day of your life spent outside the UK was the day when you were born, you cannot apply to be registered as a British citizen.
The second requirement is that neither parent was a British citizen or settled at the time of your birth. If you were born in the UK and at the time of your birth at least one of your parents was British or settled, you cannot register as a British citizen, because you acquired British citizenship by birth. In such a case, you became British automatically, by operation of law, and there is no need for you to register.
The third requirement is that you are aged 10 years or over on the date of the application.
The fourth requirement is that you have lived in the UK for the first 10 years of your life.
The fifth requirement is that you have not been outside of the UK for more than 90 days in each of the first 10 years of your life.
What if you have been absent from the UK for more than 90 days in any one or more of the first 10 years of your life?
If the number of days in which you were absent from the UK in any one or more of the first 10 years of your life is between 91 and 180, then the question is whether the total number of days in which you were absent from the UK in the first 10 years of your life exceeds 990. If the total number of days in which you were absent from the UK in the first 10 years of your life does not exceed 990, this requirement may be waived and your excess absences may be disregarded.
But if the total number of days in which you were absent from the UK in the first 10 years of your life exceeds 990, or if the number of days in which you were absent from the UK in any one or more of the first 10 years of your life exceeds 180, the questions is whether that was due to circumstances beyond your or your family’s control, such as a serious illness, a war, or the pandemic. If such circumstances exist and can be proved, this requirement may be waived and your excess absences may be disregarded.
Where the total number of days in which you were absent from the UK in the first 10 years of your life exceeds 990, or where the number of days in which you were absent from the UK in any one or more of the first 10 years of your life exceeds 180, and that was not due to circumstances beyond your or your family’s control, but rather due to your parents being outside the UK entirely voluntary and unaware of these legal requirements, then this requirement will not be waived and your excess absences will not be disregarded. You will have your application refused.
Finally, you must be of good character. At this age, that means that you were not convicted of a crime, or involved in crime, that you were not in the UK in breach of immigration laws, and that you do not have a history of dishonesty in your dealings with various departments of the UK government.
If you meet all these requirements and make an application, you are entitled (meaning that it is your right, it is not the discretion of the Secretary of State to grant you citizenship) to be registered as a British citizen “otherwise than by descent”.
What does it mean, to be a British citizen “otherwise than by descent”?
If you will have a child and the child will be born in the UK, the child will be British automatically, by the effect of the law, because at the time of the birth you, as a parent, will be British.
But if your child will be born outside the UK, then you will still be able to pass British citizenship onto the child because you are a British citizen “otherwise than by descent”. In such a case, you child will not be a British citizen “otherwise than by descent”, but a British citizen “by descent”.
Because your child born abroad will be a British citizen “by descent”, your child will be able to pass on British citizenship to any child born in the UK, but not to a child born outside the UK.
Your application to be registered as a British citizen must be supported by evidence in the form of your full birth certificate issued within 12 month period following your birth, demonstrating that you were born in the UK and that you are 10 years or over on the date of application.
You will also need to provide evidence of your residency in the UK to cover the first 10 years of your life. For the first 5 years of your life, you may provide medical and vaccination records, doctors’ letters, personal health record (red book), or letters from your nursery. For the next 5 years, you may want to provide letters from your school confirming attendance, and your passports for the full 10 year period, as a confirmation of your absences from the UK not exceeding 90 days in any of the first 10 years of your life.
The online application process generates at some stage a consent agreement for your registration, a document that must be signed by both your parents (except where only one of them has parental responsibility for you). If any parent refuses to give their consent, this is not a reason for your application to be refused. Again, it is your right to be registered as a British citizen, and it is not mandatory for the caseworker to secure the consent of the parents.
If you want to apply for British citizenship or for a British passport and need specialist advice, feel free to contact me. Please note that I am an accredited immigration adviser, not an employee of the UK Visas and Immigration. I charge fees for the advice provided.