UK Visas for British Citzens

[Richard W]

I've move this to a separate post as suggested.

I hesitate to correct you, theoldgit, but ( and this might even be worthy of a new, or pinned, thread) a child who is a British citizen ( in this case, by descent) cannot be issued with a visit visa for the UK, even in a Thai passport. We know that applications for visit visas are made to the UKVI in Bangkok, and are accepted as valid applications. We also know that visit visas are sometimes issued by ECOs, but it is not legally possible. By saying we I mean the generic we, that is many of us here, as Im sure a few of the members here have had visit visas issued to their British citizen children on their Thai passports.

The law does not allow an ECO ( or an immigration officer) to restrict admission to the UK to British citizens, or to impose a time limit on their stay, as British citizens automatically have the right of abode in the UK. Therefore, an ECO cannot issue a visa which restricts the childs stay in the UK to 6 months. What should happen is that, firstly, VFS should refuse to accept the application ( but I doubt that they are even aware of the legalities involved). If the application gets past VFS, then the ECO should refuse to consider it. That, basically, is it.

What should actually happen is ( assuming the child holds only a Thai passport) that the applicant ( or parent) should be told to apply for either a British passport for the child, or for a Certificate of Entitlement to The Right of Abode. The visit visa application cannot be considered as it is unlawful to do so.

A CoE to the ROA costs 289 GBP.

If a child already holds a British passport, then a CoE cannot be issued, even into a Thai passport.

The logic here is flawed. Surely a UK visa does not restrict someone who is a British citizen. The position, surely, is that the visa holder must observe the conditions or be able to establish that he is British. After all, the government has been telling us that British citizens have no right to hold British passports.

We seem to have the anomalous position that British citizens living overseas may be denied the opportunity for a visit to the UK at moderately short notice that is available to most financially secure visa nationals. I have noted another anomaly where non-EEA foreigners can have rights denied to UK citizens as such.

The only legal ruling I am aware of is that if one becomes a British citizen, leave to remain lapses. Is there some statute, regulation, legal judgement or UKVI instruction that prevents UK citizens without usable evidence of citizenship from receiving UK visas? If so, could you please tell me what it is?

It is entirely possible that I have overlooked some ruse to reduce the immigration of British citizens to the UK.

[theoldgit]

I'm not sure that this is the place to discuss this issue, I feel it will only confuse as similar hypothetical posts have done recently.

Tony M is the only professional on this forum who posts meaningful advice, I will do as he has suggested and move this to a pinned topic, people can either take on board or ignore the professional advice at their will.

I will close this thread.