uk visa enquiry

7-year child Parent Route

On the basis of a 7 year child parent route, one can regularize their status in the UK. This allows a child below 18 years of age living in the UK based on his/her private life. Paragraph 276ADE of the Immigration Rules provides children to apply under Article 8 to private life.

Significance of 7 years residence

In 2012 the idea of 7 years was re-introduced with new criteria added to it. The new criteria were to check if it would be unreasonable for the child to leave the UK. Until 2008, 7 year's rule was a concessionary policy and in 2012 it became a part of the immigration rules which say that 7 Years of continuous residence is a sufficient period for a child to integrate and adapt to life in the UK. This acts as a critical factor when the Home Office has to decide whether to grant leave to remain status or not in the best interest of the child.
Basic eligibility condition
You must prove the below points at the time of the application:
  • You are under 18;
  • You have lived in the UK continuously for at least 7 years (discounting any period of imprisonment);
  • You are already living in the UK; and
  • It would be unreasonable to expect you to leave the UK
However, just meeting these conditions does not guarantee you leave to remain in the UK. It is upon the discretion of the Secretary of State for the Home Office to decide what would be appropriate for the welfare and in the best interest of the child. A child's immigration status heavily depends upon the history of the immigration status of his/her parents. Parents with poor immigration history do not lay a strong base for their children. So, the Home Office may decide against granting the leave to remain to the child because they feel that there is a high probability of the child leaving the UK with his/her parents.
Not reasonable for the child to leave the UK
In 2012, the new criteria were added in the 7 year child parent route category. This stated that along with 7 years of residency rule it should also be checked if it would be unreasonable to expect the child to leave the UK. How does the Home Office determine this? Well, the Home Office has guided for this. The factors which are considered to check this are the following:
  • There would be a risk to the health of the child. For example, the child is suffering from a life-threatening disease and going through a course of treatment in the UK.
  • In such a case, if the child is removed to a country where the child would be returning where the treatment is not available for the disease then it would not be reasonable to remove the child from the UK.
  • Would it be reasonable for the child to return with his/her parents?
  • The extent of wider family ties in the UK
  • The extent of association of the child he/she would return to. In this regard, various factors have checked that include
1. Access to citizenship to that country, 2. Child's ability to speak, read and write a language of that country, 3. Whether the child has previously visited or lived there, 4. The extent of social and cultural ties to the place, 5. The network of family and friends there, 6. Has the child attended school there previously?
How long the child can stay on limited leave to remain
If the child's application is successful, he/she is granted to live in the UK for a period not exceeding 30 months.
Applying for ILR
Once the 10-year residency is completed by the child in the UK, he/she should be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain under the 10 years route to settlement.

7 Year child-parent route for the parents

A UK family visa allows you to live in the UK for more than 6 months. So, through the 7 years child's residency route you as a parent can apply for it provided your child must be under 18 at the time of application and should have been living in the UK continuously for the 7 years and it would be unreasonable to expect that the child would leave the UK.
How can Visa & Migration help you?
Child's future depends upon his/her immigration status. So, it is important they make the application in the right manner knowing the possible outcome. We come in here for the required help to minimize your effort, time, and money. You can seek help from a reputed agency like Visa & Migration when looking to make an application under the 7-year child-parent route to regularize the immigration status irrespective of whether you are the parent of the applicant child or the applicant yourself. For the latest updates on UK Visa and Immigration, follow us on: Facebook @visaandmigration Twitter@visamigrationuk...



about-image about-image about-image about-image about-image
Visa and Migration is a private OISC regulated company (F201500999) and is not an official Government body. If you would like to prepare and submit your UK immigration application yourself you can do so by visiting the UKVI website.