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My boy is under 18 and wants to apply for British Citizenship.

He was born outside UK but moved here when he was one year old. He has lived and studied in UK for the last 16 years and has ILR since 2009 along with us. We, his parents, do not want to apply for British citizenship for various reasons.

Does he need to apply with MN1 Form? What are his avenues for citizenship since the options in MN1 form are not very clear for under-18 born outside UK whose parents are not applying for citizenship as well.

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    It sounds like he's almost 18. Why not wait until then?
    – phoog
    Jul 9, 2015 at 18:47
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    It's a heck of a lot cheaper for one reason. Also, an entitlement is a bit more fundamentally sound than a regular application.
    – ouflak ♦
    Jul 10, 2015 at 23:51
  • If I'm not mistaken, citizenship by means of Entitlement can never stripped under any circumstance. It can only be renounced. Those who have acquired citizenship by regular application can have their citizen taken away. But that part of my comment is irrelevant now that I think about it. MN1 via 3(1) is the only possibility here, and I do not believe that this is an entitlement. It is solely by discretion, so forget that part. But it is a lot cheaper.
    – ouflak ♦
    Jul 11, 2015 at 14:00
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    There's no appeal. There's reconsideration, which I believe is £80. It's if you decide to take it to JR that its outrageous and obviously more than the regular route. I'd probably wait until 18 and take fewer chances (assuming that all else i.e. residency, good character, etc are all in order).
    – ouflak ♦
    Jul 11, 2015 at 15:39
  • I have no idea about all this but if someone puts all this in an answer it could be useful to explain if there is any prejudice attached to a failed MN1 application (can you still try again easily after you turn 18?).
    – Relaxed
    Jul 11, 2015 at 15:54

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From looking at the Form MN guide book it seems that the child's options are limited, at least without one parent being a British citizen.

Working through the categories in that document, the only one that seems to apply is the item titled "Any other child born to British or non-British parents" on page 14. There, point 4 in the list says:

The parents’ nationality and immigration status – we expect either both parents to be British citizens or one parent a British citizen and the other parent settled in the UK.

Given this, it seems that you'd be relying entirely on discretion rather than entitlement.

I'd suggest discussing the situation with a lawyer or possibly your local citizen's advice bureau to get a better idea of the chance of success

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