Baby born in the UK — status and documents
Congratulations! Now take a breath: a child born in the UK is not here unlawfully — Home Office policy says so explicitly. But the child does not get citizenship or immigration status automatically — you need to arrange it. The first step is the same for everyone: register the birth within 42 days and get the full birth certificate. After that, the route depends on your own status — see the 3 options below.
What to do — depends on your status
The baby is added as a dependant on your claim — one letter, free of charge. Plus extra asylum support money for the baby. → section 03
🛡️ We already have refugee status or humanitarian protectionYou request permission to stay in line for the child — leave that runs to the same date as yours. Free, no form. → section 04
🇬🇧 One parent already had ILR or British citizenship when the baby was bornThe child is British at birth, automatically. No immigration applications needed — just apply for a British passport (you'll need the full birth certificate). If ILR came after the birth — see section 07 on MN1.
Birth certificate and GP — in the first weeks
At your local register office (you usually need an appointment; the hospital will tell you where). In England, Wales and Northern Ireland — 42 days; in Scotland — 21 days. Registration is free and requires no immigration status at all — the register office does not check Home Office documents.
There are two versions: the short certificate (child's details only) and the full one — with the parents' details. Both cost £12.50. The Home Office and a first passport application need the full version. Get 2 copies straight away — for the status application, benefits and the passport.
A GP practice must not demand immigration status, ID or proof of address to register a patient. GP appointments and A&E are free for everyone. The baby having no status yet does not affect healthcare, vaccinations or health visitors. More: Healthy Start and baby support.
Waiting for a decision — add the baby as a dependant
Report the birth in writing and ask for the child to be added as a dependant on your claim. Enclose a copy of the full birth certificate. No form, no fee — under Home Office policy, including the child itself counts as an application for permission to stay. Quote your Home Office reference (UAN). If you have a solicitor — do it through them.
If you get Section 95 or Section 4 support — report the birth there as well. A hospital letter works as interim proof; send the full birth certificate within 49 days so payments are backdated to the date of birth. The baby adds +£9.50/week (under 1), then £5.25/week (age 1–3). Plus a one-off £300 maternity payment (£600 for twins) — you can apply while the baby is under 6 months old.
When your claim is decided, the decision covers the baby too: they get leave for the same period as you. Child Benefit and the Sure Start Maternity Grant are not available while you wait (NRPF) — but once you have status, claim Child Benefit immediately: the deadline is 3 months.
Two routes for the child — compare and choose
The Home Office instruction "Dependants and former dependants" gives parents with protection status exactly two options. Since July 2023 the process is stricter: you must write in yourself, and the Home Office replies asking for evidence.
- Free, no form — a written request
- Duration = same as the parent's: the child's leave expires on the same date as yours (with two parents on different dates — the longer one)
- Renews together with the family's status
- ⚠ The child does NOT get refugee status — only leave to remain. That is why they are usually refused a Refugee Travel Document (see section 06)
- The child is assessed individually — the claim is registered in person
- If successful — refugee status of their own → and the right to a Refugee Travel Document
- The leave will still be aligned to the parent's expiry date (for claims made from 2 March 2026)
- This is legal-advice territory — only via an IAA-regulated adviser
- Check the certificate. You need the full (long) one — with the parents' details. If you have the short one, order the full version for £12.50.
- Write the request letter (template below): ask for the child to be granted permission to stay in line. If you want the child recognised as a refugee individually — that is option 2, only via a solicitor.
- Enclose copies (originals not required). The list comes from the instruction the Home Office sent families (2025): the child's nationality and home address · the full birth certificate · both parents' details (names, dates of birth, Home Office references, BRP copies if you had them) · 2 passport photographs of the child.
- Send it and wait. In families' experience — up to 6 months or longer. Do not take the child out of the UK all this time (section 06).
- Receive the granted letter. Wording from a real letter: "You have been granted permission to stay in the UK as the child of … until [your own leave expiry date]".
- Create the child's UKVI account and open the eVisa (section 05). For travel, get a Certificate of Travel, not a Refugee Travel Document (section 06).
Two addresses appeared in Home Office replies to families in community chats:
Grant in Line Admin Team, 7th floor Capital Building, Liverpool, L3 9PP (the "How to apply for your UK-born child to have leave in line" instruction, June 2025;
signed by Asylum and Human Rights Operation, email Asylumcentralcommunicationshub@homeoffice.gov.uk)
and AFCC Leave in Line Team, Level 0 — The Capital Building, Liverpool, L3 9PP (email AFCCleaveinline@homeoffice.gov.uk, reply to a family in October 2025).
Neither appears on GOV.UK — check they are current before sending: through your IAA-regulated adviser (legal aid covers asylum matters)
or Migrant Help — 0808 8010 503, free. Send copies, never originals.
Subject: Request for permission to stay in line for UK-born child — [your name] — [Home Office ref / UAN] Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to inform you of the birth of my child, [child's name], born on [date] in the UK, and to request that they are granted permission to stay in line with my refugee status. My details: [full name, date of birth, nationality, address, Home Office reference / UAN]. Second parent: [full name, date of birth, Home Office reference]. Please find enclosed copies of the child's full birth certificate, evidence of both parents' immigration status and two passport photographs of the child. Kind regards, [name]
If your family's claim is still pending (section 03), use the subject "Addition of Newborn Dependant — [name] — [HO ref/UAN]" and the wording "I would like to inform you of the birth of my child and request that they be added as a dependant to my asylum claim. Please find attached a copy of the birth certificate".
The child's eVisa — a separate UKVI account
BRP cards are no longer issued for new grants — the child's status exists only as an eVisa. Every family member needs their own account: you cannot add the child to yours. A parent creates the child's account as a proxy — using your own email and phone number (not the child's), so you keep access. You'll need the reference from the child's decision letter. It is free.
Prove the child's status with a share code (valid 90 days, generate as many as you need) at view and prove. When the child turns 18, switch the account to their own email and phone. How the system works: our eVisa guide.
Travelling with the child — the main traps
Paragraph 34K of the Immigration Rules: if an applicant leaves the Common Travel Area before a decision, the application is automatically treated as withdrawn on the day of departure. You would have to start again. On top of that the child has no status and no document — nothing to bring them back into the UK on.
The blue refugee document (£66.50 for age 15 or under) is only issued to people with their own refugee status. A child with permission to stay in line doesn't have it — the Home Office refuses these applications. Don't waste the fee.
£161 for a child aged 15 or under (rate from 8 April 2026). The eligibility list names your exact case: "you were born in the UK as the child of someone with refugee status and you have permission to stay but do not have refugee status yourself". Put exactly that ground on the form — no need to invent an "embassy refusal". Processing takes up to ~14 weeks — don't book tickets in advance.
A national passport for the child? A child born in the UK is usually not a refugee themselves — in theory they could get a passport of your home country. But official guidance gives no answer on whether it is safe for a refugee parent to approach their country's embassy for the child: the "re-availment" rules are written only about the refugee's own conduct. This is legally untested territory — talk to an IAA-regulated adviser first, then decide.
How the child becomes British — two routes
As soon as one parent becomes settled, the child gains the right to be registered as British under s.1(3) British Nationality Act — form MN1, apply before they turn 18. It is not automatic — you must apply. From age 10 a "good character" check applies. The fee is £1,000 (cut from £1,214 on 8 April 2026). If the family cannot afford it, there is a fee waiver: get the waiver approved first, then apply.
If the child lives in the UK continuously for the first 10 years of their life (no more than 90 days' absence a year, with some discretion), they gain the right to register regardless of the parents' status. The application can be made at any age after 10 — there is no upper limit.
Under the new Core Protection system status comes in 30-month blocks with reviews, and the parent's route to ILR can stretch to 20 years — which pushes back the child's MN1 route too. For these families "route 2" — the child's own 10 years in the UK — becomes the key one. Most readers whose status came from claims lodged before 2 March 2026 stay on the 5-year track to ILR. In detail: Core Protection — how the new system works.
How long it takes — and what to do about delays
There is no official service standard for permission to stay in line — the category simply isn't in GOV.UK's processing-times list. In families' experience in 2025–2026 a reply took 6 months or longer. While you wait: the NHS, school and nursery all work as normal — the child having no status yet doesn't affect them. The only thing that doesn't work is travelling abroad.
Delay dragging on? 1) Complain via UKVI complaints — the standard reply target is 20 working days. 2) Write to your MP — the Home Office runs a separate channel for MP enquiries; it is often the fastest way to move a case. 3) If the child urgently needs proof of rights — go through a solicitor.
How it went for others — from the refugee community chat
"Six months later I got a reply about the immigration status of my daughter, who was born after our positive decision. They went quiet for a long time, but in the end the reply came — from the AFCC Leave in Line Team (The Capital Building, Liverpool)."
"I went back to the Home Office and explained the situation — they replied and issued a granted letter: 'Your application for permission to stay in line as a child of … has been successful. You have been granted permission to stay in the UK … until … 2029'. She got leave in line as the child of refugees. On that basis I was given access to her UKVI account and opened her eVisa."
"I decided to get her a travel document. Gathered the papers, sent them off — and got a refusal, because she is not officially recognised as a refugee, she just has permission to stay as the child of a refugee. Now I'm applying for the Certificate of Travel."
That is exactly the rule from section 06 at work: a Refugee Travel Document needs refugee status of one's own; for a child with leave in line the answer is the Certificate of Travel.
Personal experience of families from a Russian-speaking refugee community chat in the UK, 2025–2026, anonymised and translated from Russian. Procedures and addresses change — always check against official sources and an IAA-regulated adviser.
Frequently asked questions
My baby was born in the UK — are they automatically British?
No. The child is British at birth only if a parent was a British citizen or settled (ILR / settled status) at the time of birth. Refugee status is temporary and does not count. But the child is not in the UK unlawfully.
How much does the child’s status cost?
£0. Permission to stay in line has no form and no fee. Adding a baby to a pending claim is also free.
Can we travel while the application is pending?
No. Leaving the UK and Ireland before the decision automatically voids the application (paragraph 34K). And the child has no document to return on.
Will the child get a Refugee Travel Document?
Usually not: with permission to stay in line the child has no refugee status of their own. The right document is the Certificate of Travel — £161. Born-in-UK-to-a-refugee is a listed ground.
When does the child become a citizen?
Once a parent gets ILR or citizenship — MN1 registration before the child turns 18 (£1,000, fee waiver available). Or after the child’s first 10 years in the UK, whatever the parents’ status.
Our asylum claim is pending. What do we do?
Write to the Home Office to add the child as a dependant (copy of the full birth certificate). Add the baby to your asylum support too: +£9.50/week and a one-off £300 while the baby is under 6 months.