Hi Francis,

I can hopefully point you in the right direction.

Firstly, free from 'immigration time restrictions' means that you have no expiry date on your visa - and therefore no time restrictions on your stay in the UK. The most common form of this is 'Indefinite Leave to Remain' (also known as settlement). So you became free from restrictions on the day you were granted ILR.

With the Life in the UK certificate, you are required to either send the original documents, or get them approved through your local branch of the Nationality Checking Service. Section 2 on the last page of Form AN details this. I'm not sure how long the UKBA take to return documents after processing ILR applications. I'd recommend contacting the Settlement team at the UKBA if you are concerned.

Regarding fees and applications, I am not entirely sure so please check this before applying - I believe though, that you and you wife would both need to apply separately, and pay the application fees separately. You would need to use Form AN.

Your children are a slightly more complicated issue. The below is my interpretation of the UKBA instructions and information, I'd recommend talking to the UKBA, or an immigration advisor if you have concerns further to this.

As I understand it, your older son is an Indian citizen, as he was born in India to Indian parents. Check the Can I register a child aged under 18 as a British citizen section of the UKBA site. I don't see that he would fall into the categories eligible to register which means that, in the UKBA's own words:

"If the child does not have a right under British nationality law to apply and be registered as a British citizen, registration will be at our discretion. In these cases we will consider the circumstances of the child's case and whether it is reasonable for them to be registered as a British citizen."

For your younger son - from what you're saying I take it you didn't have ILR when he was born. I think this currently makes him an Indian citizen by descent. The Children born in the United Kingdom section of the UKBA site covers children born in the UK automatically eligible for citizenship. It sounds like Section 3(1) would apply.

Given you and your wife are both settled and well on the way to citizenship it seems likely that you will be given discretion to register them as British citizens once you have become citizens yourself. I wouldn't assume this is certain though!

I also don't know what this would mean in terms of separate application forms/fees for your children.

I hope this helps
George
www.lifeintheuk.net