How to Get a UK Visa for a Foreign Baby, Born in the UK

Did you know that if you and your spouse are foreigners, your baby has no right to live in the UK, even if he/she was born there? That's what we were told by the border patrol agent at the Glasgow Airport after making a weekend trip to Paris when our son was two months old. Oops! We figured that after getting his passport, we were good to go. We were wrong. The border patrol agent VERY kindly let us back into the UK with the stern warning that he had the authority to put our son in detention and have him put on the next plane to the US without us (now, the logistics of doing this with a nursing infant would have been interesting, but nevertheless, he did a good job of scaring us). He stamped our son's passport with a six month tourist visa and told us we needed to apply for a proper dependent visa as soon as possible. Below I'll share with you what we learned about this process. As usual, though I'm writing from an American point of view, this information would likely pertain to other nationalities as well.

First of all, we found the citizen's advice bureaus to be very helpful. "The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice..." They are non-profit organizations and they are happy to help people like you and me with just these sorts of questions. I highly recommend giving them a call if you need help with anything.

The other folks to contact are the people at your regional Public Enquiry Office. Actually, the phone number on the website can be incredibly difficult to get through on, but it is possible. They are the people with the definitive answers, so it's good to double check any advice you get with them.

Basically, though, the form we were directed to complete to apply for our son's visa from within the UK is called the FLR(O) form (Further Leave to Remain (Other)). Note, this form is only applicable if you are trying to apply while in the UK. While it may not seem like the right form, it is. It's basically a left-overs sort of form for all the people who don't fit into other categories. Also note (this is important), your child will be the main applicant--don't be confused and add yourself as the main applicant and your child as the child of the main applicant. You will have to add a note explaining your particular circumstances, i.e., that the main applicant is a child.

Also, you will see on the application, that it is expensive. The current price is £465 if applying by mail and £665 if applying in person. Yikes! We had to remind ourselves that we didn't have a hospital bill for this kid! One final thing, the wait-time on this application if you mail it in is 4-14 weeks. The more expensive in-person appointments are processed same-day, but you often need to book your appointment a month in advance. You do this by calling the Public Enquiry Office mentioned above.

The other option, of course, would just be to go home to the US (or wherever you have citizenship) to make the application. If you do this, you would need to follow the procedures for applying for a dependent visa from the US per http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/. The difficulty you might run into with this is knowing when to book your return tickets to the UK, since the visa application process can take several weeks and you are not permitted to apply without being on US soil. However, the price for the actual visa is currently around $230. The price difference may almost pay for your plane ticket to go home. Also note, biometric data is NOT currently required for children under the age of five years.

American Passport for your Baby Born in the UK

One of the first things you'll need to take care of after your baby is born (and you're feeling up to snuff) is to apply for your baby's passport. This is not something you can do by mail or online. You will be required to go in person either to the embassy or your nearest consulate. Here's a little step-by-step guide from the website of the US Embassy in London. This site will give you the up-to-date info on what you need to bring with you to the appointment depending on where you live. For visa info for your baby, see the next post.

Notes:

You will be asked to show a marriage certificate. If you do not have a copy with you, you should be able to obtain one from the county you were married in for a minimal fee and have it mailed to you.

You will be asked to show a "long copy" of your baby's birth certificate. This must be obtained at a register office within 3 weeks (Scotland) or 6 weeks (England/Wales) of your baby's birth. This website should provide all the information you need. The "long copy" is referring to the copy you have to pay for, as opposed to the "short copy" you receive for free.

The application for your child's passport will automatically include the application for a Social Security Number and a Consular Report of Birth Abroad. You don't have to make any additional appointments.

FAQ's About Obtaining a UK Visa

Q. The website is kind of unclear. Do my spouse and I need separate visas? What about children?
A. YES. You will each need to fill out separate application forms. (Usually online.) Everybody needs their own visa.

Q. Do my spouse and children also need to have biometric data taken?
A. YES, unless they are under the age of five. (Children under age five are not currently required to have their biometric data taken.) When applying online, this can be particularly annoying, especially since some systems don't take into consideration that you may wish to book your appointments together. When my husband and I applied, he was given a slot at the end of August. The next appointment available when I applied (only minutes later) wasn't till mid September. Thankfully for us it was only a 45 minute drive. For some, the nearest office is hours away. So...

Q. ...Will we have to make the trip (to get our biometric data taken) twice?
A. Not necessarily. My best advice would be for both of you to apply (DEFINITELY, don't just think you can squeeze in an appointment without applying for one. In my experience, they WILL NOT see you if you do not have an appointment number. Even if you cry.) So, each of you get that appointment number and then make the trek to the office with your spouse for whoever's appointment comes first (even if the other person's appointment isn't for several days or weeks). There is a good chance that they will see you both together if one of you has an appointment scheduled for that day. Let me repeat again, though. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNLESS YOU BOTH HAVE APPOINTMENT NUMBERS. And, if they insist on only seeing the one with the appointment on that day, at least the other has an appointment scheduled. If you'd waited to make that appointment, you would be adding several more weeks on to your waiting time.

Q. How long should I allow for my visa to be processed?
A. Well, the visa website says something like three weeks. If I were you, I would allow more like three months, just to be safe. This is coming from someone who had to cancel plane tickets and buy new ones because our visas weren't ready in time. To give you an idea, we applied at the end of July. The first biometric appointment wasn't available till the end of August. After that, we still had to send our paperwork in to be processed. This took a further three weeks. In all, our visas took about seven weeks to be processed. Maybe it was just a particularly busy time when we applied--it may not happen to you. But, if you can apply sooner, just do it. You will save yourself a potentially big headache and a sizeable wad of cash.

Q. My spouse is planning to work while I study. Is it okay to count this toward our maintenance fees on the application?
A. Yep. We did anyway.

Q. The application says to include our address in the UK, but we haven't secured housing yet. What should we do?
A. Make reservations at a hotel or hostel for when you arrive and include that as your address. Indicate you'll be staying there until you have secured housing.

I will keep updating with more FAQ's. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions and I'll be happy to answer as I can.

Claiming Your Council Tax Exemption

I wrote previously about ''Council Tax Exemption for Students and Spouses''. The next thing you need to know is that you are required to inform the council of your exemption status. They will not automatically know that you are a student or, if you have a spouse, that your spouse has no recourse to public funds. It is your responsibility to communicate with them. If you do not, you will likely begin to receive scary notices some time in the spring indicating that you owe the council a lot of money.

The best course of action, is of course, to settle the matter as soon as possible. However, if you wait till the last minute (which I did!), you should still be able to get it all sorted. Here's what you should do:

1. As soon as you secure accommodation, inform your landlord or the letting agency of your exemption status. As stated previously, they will probably not know that your spouse is also exempt from the Council Tax and will try to convince you that, while you may be eligible for a reduced rate, the spouse will still be required to pay something. They are wrong. If they don't believe you, send them this link Council Tax: A guide to your bill (also included in the previous post). Once you have convinced them, they may be able to help you in your communications with the council or let you know what to do next. If not:

2. Write to your local council informing them of your exemption status. Most have email addresses and are willing to communicate, at least partially, in this way. It may take a couple of weeks for them to respond to your query. If no email address is available, send them a letter.

3. In response to your correspondence, they should eventually send you a letter requesting that you either send them your passport by mail or that you take it in person to the council. Copies are not usually accepted. They may also require a letter from your University confirming your student status. This can usually be obtained by phoning your Registrar's Office.

4. Once you have either mailed these things or gone in person, they should grant you the official exemption status and you should have nothing further to do.

5. If you have waited till the last minute and have already begun to receive bills, don't be surprised if you receive several more bills after you have been granted your exemption status. It often takes several weeks for them to update their systems. If worried, best to phone the council to confirm.

Council Tax Exemption for Students and Spouses

The UK is divided up into councils and each council levies a tax to cover things like police, water and garbage pick-up within the community. Where we live, we are governed by the Edinburgh City Council, but less populous geographical areas may be governed by a borough or district council rather than a city council.

The Council Tax is levied through housing with each dwelling belonging to a different band, depending on location. (This is very similar to property taxes in the US, where nicer areas, or those with special amenities will have a much higher property tax than those without.)

All students in the UK, whether domestic or international, are exempt from paying the council tax. What many people do not realize though, is that if you are the spouse or dependent of an international student with no recourse to public funds, you are not required to pay either. I cannot tell you how many times we have been told since arriving, that I (the spouse) will have to pay the tax, while my husband (the student) will not. We've been told this by friends, by property letting agencies, and we even had friends who were told this by the Edinburgh City Council! Again, the confusion arises because the non-student spouses or UK nationals, are required to pay the tax, so they assume it's the same for everybody.

So, spouses, if your visa says (as it almost surely does), "NO RECOURSE TO PUBLIC FUNDS", you are most definitely exempt from paying the council tax. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, including your local council! Don't be surprised, though, if you have to prove it to them. The following link will take you to the Department of Communities and Local Government publication for the UK (see page 9): Council Tax: A guide to your bill. You may need to direct your local council to this page in order to back up your exemption claim.