Can a person born in the UK obtain permanent residency? Child citizenship and the comparison of two paths ILR

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

The Home Office fee schedule, effective April 8, 2026, reduced this item from £1,214 to £1,000, which is a rare decrease on the entire list. In the same table, the application for settlement (ILR) for dependants is £3,226 per person, with no discounted rate for minor children, nor a maximum family total. These two figures together represent the most common dilemma faced by families with children born in the UK.

What license do parents hold 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 without immigration time limits). 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 were holding limited-time permits such as Skilled Worker, student, or spouse visas, the child will not be a British citizen and will not obtain settled status by birthplace.

The UK birth certificate does not state the nationality; it is merely a birth registration and does not constitute a 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. The child has the right to register for citizenship before the age of 18, 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 close to "automatic" is on the EU Settlement Scheme side: according to relevant regulations in 2021, in some cases, the parents' granted settled status after the child's birth can be considered as having been settled at the time of the child's birth.

Should I first apply for ILR for the child, or wait until the 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 settlement, it is not necessary to specially arrange a £3,226 settlement application for the child just to "stabilize the identity", it is more cost-effective and time-saving to save the budget and time for the registration after the parents are approved, which is also more thorough. Children under 18 years old do not need to take the Life in the UK test or the English 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 leave to remain, and upon leaving the country, they need to re-apply for an entry visa to return to the UK. Processing overseas is usually slower than domestic processing, making it difficult to arrange the whole family's flights. For such families, it is advisable for the child to maintain a valid dependent visa. 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 on justiscript.com to have a qualified British lawyer provide a written response within 24 hours regarding this specific issue.

The parents have not been able to handle it yet, and the child has his own ten-year path.

Article 1(4) does not consider the parents' status: children born in the UK on or after 1 January 1983, who are over 10 years old, have spent no more than 90 days outside the UK during each of the first ten years of their life, and 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 still 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: over the past ten years, the age is divided by birthday years, from the birth date to the first birthday is considered the first year, not aggregated by calendar years. For families who plan to keep this route as an option, they should keep air tickets, boarding records and passport pages from the child's birth, and each time they return to China 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: parents without permanent residency may still meet paragraph 1(4) for their children; conversely, parents obtaining permanent residency will not automatically complete the child's registration. The two paths are independently verified.

The last thing to mention, which will reduce the urgency above: children born in the UK with no documents at all remaining in the UK do not constitute illegal residence. Immigration Rules Part 8 paragraphs 305 to 308 are a channel for families wanting to regularize their status, not a requirement that every child must obtain a permit. The only real cost occurs on the day of departure. Therefore, this matter can be arranged calmly, just don't let it clash with an already booked flight.

[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 is searchable).

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

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