Children born in the UK may automatically be British citizens or may be able to register for British citizenship. This article explains the rules which apply to children depending on the date of their birth and status of their parents.

Is a child born in the UK a British citizen?

Before 1 January 1983, anyone born in the UK was automatically a British citizen.

Since then, a child would only be automatically British if at least one parent was British or “settled” or, if the child was born after 13 January 2010, a member of the UK armed forces.

Settled means being resident in the UK and having no time restriction on how long the person can stay in the UK. This includes being granted indefinite leave to remain or being an Irish citizen.

For the children of EU nationals who were resident in the UK before 31 December 2020, the situation is more complex as “settled” has had different interpretations over time:

Date of birth	Status of parent(s) at time of child’s birth for automatic British citizenship
1 January 1983 – 2 October 2000	One or more parent was exercising EU treaty rights. Please note – this definition had been temporarily suspended but is now reinstated through new law effective from 30 June 2023.
2 October 2000 – 29 April 2006	One or more parent was granted indefinite leave to remain.
30 April 2006 – 30 June 2021	One or more parent gained EEA permanent residence through five years exercising treaty rights. Or EU Settled Status granted.
From 30 June 2021	One or more parent granted EU Settled Status or indefinite leave to remain. One or more parent held EEA permanent residence who had applied for EU Settled Status but not yet been granted at the time of the birth. Children of people who make late applications for EU Settled Status for good reason and will automatically become British when Settled Status is granted.

Exercising treaty rights means being a worker, self-employed, student, self-sufficient or job-seeker. There are specific requirements to be met for each of these activities to be counted as qualifying time. In most cases, a period of five years was required to gain permanent residence, but this could be less in certain cases including where workers permanently stopped employment or certain family members had died. In some cases, whether a parent had gained permanent resident status may involve complicated factual and legal issues.

The passport office guidance with more details, including the special rules relating to Swiss nationals, can be found here.

Who is a parent for British citizenship?

For British citizenship applications, the definition of a parent always includes a child’s mother. For children born before 1 July 2006, a father was only considered to be a parent if married to the child’s mother or if they married the mother after the birth.

Although the law was changed in 2006 to include unmarried fathers, this was not backdated to include children born before that date. Instead, those affected children can apply to register as British nationals with a reduced fee of £80.

How can British citizenship be proven?

If the child had British citizenship at birth, then a passport can be obtained to prove this status by making an application through the Passport Office.

It is no longer possible to apply for a document certifying permanent residence if one has not already been issued. However, it could still be necessary to provide the Passport Office with evidence to show that status had been gained by the parent. This could include documents such as payslips and/or employment letters.

Guidance on the evidence which needs to be supplied with these applications can be found here.

Even if not needed for travel, making a passport application will make the government aware of the claim to citizenship. It may be easier to provide evidence now rather than in the future when the documents may have been lost or accidentally destroyed. If not applying immediately then relevant documents should be stored securely so an application can easily be made in the future.

Registration as a British citizen

Children born in the UK who were not automatically British at birth can be registered as British citizens once one of their parents gains ILR Settled Status (or had gained EEA permanent residence after their birth).

An application to register must be made before the child’s 18th birthday.

It is also possible for people to be registered as British citizens if they were born in the UK and spent the first 10 years of their life here (except for up to 90 days). This application can be made by both children and adults.

Additionally, it may be possible for a child to be registered in other circumstances as the Home Office has the power to do so and must consider the circumstances of each case.

For all types of registration applications, children over 10 years old must meet a good character requirement.

The fee for children to register as a British citizen is now £1012. Due to campaigning by The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC), it is now possible to apply for a fee waiver where the family cannot afford to pay the fees for children’s citizenship applications.

You can find out more about the work of PRCBC, and how you can get involved, here.

Gaining British citizenship can have an impact on another nationality status, so advice about dual citizenship should be taken from the other country’s government before registering a child as a British citizen.

Can British citizenship applications be made after a child has left the UK?

It is possible for applications for British passports to be made for children who automatically gained British citizenship, or for registration as a British citizen to be made even if the child is no longer living in the UK.

Overseas passport and registration applications may take longer than those made from within the UK as additional checks may be made.

If you would like advice about British citizenship, please contact us.