Can a person born in the UK obtain permanent residency? Child citizenship compared with two paths ILR

Register a minor child for British nationality, now £1,000.

The Home Office fee table, effective April 8, 2026, reduced this item from £1,214 to £1,000, which is a rare reduction on the entire table. In the same table, the application for settlement (ILR) for dependents costs £3,226 per person, with no discounted rate for minor children and no family cap. These two figures together represent the most common dilemma faced by families with children born in the UK.

What license do parents have at the moment of birth?

The only criterion under section 1(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981 is: on the day the child is born, the father or mother is a British citizen, or has settled status (such as permanent residency or other status not subject to residence conditions). If either condition is met, the child automatically acquires British citizenship at birth, without needing to submit any application, and can directly apply for a UK passport. If the parents held a time-limited visa such as Skilled Worker, student, or spouse visa at that time, the child will not be a British citizen and will also not obtain settled status by birthplace.

The birth certificate in the UK does not state nationality; it is merely a birth registration and does not constitute proof of nationality.

Parents obtained permanent residency after the child's birth, following paragraph 1(3): the child was born in the UK, and one of the parents later became a British citizen or obtained settled status. Before the age of 18, the child has the right to register for naturalization using form MN1. This is an entitlement, and the Home Office cannot exercise discretion to refuse it if the conditions are met. However, it requires an active application and payment of fees, and it does not automatically take effect with the parents' permanent residency approval. The only exception that is closest to "automatic" is on the EU Settlement Scheme side: according to relevant regulations in 2021, in some cases, the settled status approved after the parent's birth can be considered as having been settled at the time of birth.

Should I first apply for ILR, or wait until my parents get permanent residency to register?

My judgment: For families where the child was born in the UK and the parents are currently applying for permanent residency, it is not necessary to specially apply for permanent residency with a fee of £3,226 just to "stabilize the status". It is more cost-effective and time-saving to save the budget and time for the subsequent registration after the parents are approved. This approach is more thorough. Children under 18 years old do not need to take the Life in the UK test or the English language test when registering for citizenship.

There are two exceptions. First, if there is an unavoidable trip in the next year: the child does not have a valid dependent visa, and after leaving the UK, they need to re-apply for an entry visa to return to the UK, and overseas processing is usually slower than domestic processing, making it difficult to arrange the whole family's flights; such families should keep the child on a valid dependent visa for a period of time. Second, if the child is approaching 18 years old, and the parents' permanent residency timeline is still uncertain, the registration window will close upon the child's birthday. If you are unsure which category you fall into, you can pay £5 at justiscript.com to get a written response from a qualified UK lawyer within 24 hours regarding this issue.

The parents have not yet processed it, and the child has his own ten-year road.

Article 1(4) does not consider the parents' status: those born in the UK on or after 1 January 1983, aged over 10 years, who have left the UK for no more than 90 days each year during the first ten years of their life, and who meet the good character requirements, can register using Form T, with a fee of £1,000. If the child is over 18 years old before the decision is made, an additional £130 naturalisation ceremony fee applies.

Guide T (February 2026 edition) specifies the discretionary lines beyond 90 days: absence of no more than 180 days in any given year, and a total of no more than 990 days over ten years, are usually exempted; if the absence exceeds these numbers but the reason is uncontrollable (such as serious illness), it may be considered; if the parents are unaware of this requirement, or the absence is entirely voluntary, it is usually not exempted.

This step is easy to miss: the ten years are divided by the birthday year, with the first year counted from the birth date to the first birthday, not by calendar years. For families who plan to keep this option as a backup, they should keep tickets, boarding records and passport pages from the child's birth. Each time they return home for a visit, they should stay within 90 days, which is much easier than gathering evidence retrospectively ten years later.

Another boundary that is easy to confuse: children of parents without permanent residency may still meet paragraph 1(4); conversely, parents obtaining permanent residency will not automatically complete the child's registration. The two paths are independently verified.

Finally, there's one more thing that wasn't mentioned earlier, which will ease the sense of urgency above: children born in the UK with no permits at all do not constitute illegal residence if they remain within the UK. Paragraphs 305 to 308 of Part 8 of the Immigration Rules are a channel for families wanting to regularize their status, and it is not mandatory for every child to obtain a permit. The only real time when a cost is incurred is on the day of departure. Therefore, this matter can be arranged calmly, just make sure it doesn't clash with an already booked ticket.

[Data source] GOV.UK "Home Office immigration and nationality fees, 8 April 2026"; Home Office "Registration as British citizen: children"; Home Office "Guide T" February 2026 edition (www.gov.uk searchable).

This document is for reference only. For specific issues, please consult a licensed attorney.

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