A baby born in the UK to two parents with indefinite leave to remain in Britain has been denied the right to live in the country.
In a clear cut case of a lack of knowledge and perhaps training on the part of immigration officers whose mandate appears to be to make the lives of anyone entering the country without a British passport as difficult as possible, Dr Charles Kriel, a US national and special adviser to a parliamentary select committee, and his fiancee Katharina Viken have said their baby daughter was initially denied re-entry into the country following a holiday in the US. The child was eventually was given a six-month tourist stamp to allow her to enter and remain with her parents. According to immigration officials who dealt with the family, although the child was born in the UK to parents who have since the late 1990s indefinite leave to remain and an European Economic Area (“EEA”) passport, the baby did not necessarily have the right to live there.
Human rights lawyers have called the decision a potentially unlawful move as a child born to a parent with indefinite leave to remain in the UK is British by birth and therefore entitled to evidence of this through registration. Further, as the mother has been in the UK for a decade as an EEA national, it is highly likely that she has the right to reside in Britain permanently, so the baby would also be British for that reason and entitled to be registered British. Even if the mother had not settled in the UK, by virtue of her being an EEA national and exercising her free movement rights, a presumption in favour of the baby’s right to live in the UK would exist.
A Home Office spokesperson said the department does not comment on individual cases.
