On 1 July 2021, the British Nationality Act 1981 (Immigration Rules Appendix EU) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 introduced a new section 10A to the British Nationality Act 1981. This new section is aimed at ensuring that certain children born from 1 July 2021 onwards will automatically acquire British citizenship in situations where a parent qualified for EU settled status before that date but is only granted it after the child’s birth.
What does this mean?
Basically, where a parent was entitled to EU settled status before 1 July 2021 but is only granted it after the birth of a child born after that date, their child will be British from the date that settled status is granted. The explanatory memo says that this legislation is to cover situations where the parent’s settled status application is only decided after 30 June 2021, either because their application was in the decision-making backlog or because they applied late.
My child is eligible – what next?
If your child meets all of the section 10A conditions and automatically acquired British citizenship sometime after 1 July 2021, the next step is getting the child a British passport.
Our team can assist you with this and all other UK immigration matters.