baby to be born on ancestry visa?

Hi there,

I have been in the UK for just over a year on my 5 year ancestry visa. I have been employed professionally the entire time. My partner and I have just found out we are 6 weeks pregnant, and we're really excited, but a little confused. So, a couple of questions, if anybody has the time:

1) will I be able to qualify for the full maternity leave entitlement from the government/my employer, or does this count as part of the "no recourse to public funds" according to my visa? will the year off disadvantage me when I want to apply for citizenship after the 5 years? Will I still have to wait that long or can I apply sooner now?

2) I understand the baby will be eligible for dual citizenship - I think I understand how it will work on the UK side, but does anyone have any tips on how to ensure it is also registered in Canada? It would be a nightmare if in 4 years' time, I was only Canadian and it was only British!

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

I will try to answer some of your questions.

Question 1 : statutory maternity pay is not considered a public fund so this will not be a problem for when you apply for your permanent residence after 5 years. However, you should not apply for child benefit,child tax credit,housing benefit, etc. As they are
public funds.
Also here is a link to thestatutory maternity pay, you are allowed to take up to 1 year off but you will only receive maternity pay for 9 months.
You still have to wait 5 years to apply for your permanent residency, it does not change anything.

Question 2:
If the baby's father is British then the baby will be British and Canadian, if the father is not British then the baby will probably be only Canadian. I believe you can apply for a Canadian passport for your baby (just need to provide the correct documents).

hope this helps

Joanne

You should register the child as Canadian at the Canadian High Commission and apply for his/her citizenship certificate, providing both local birth certificate and your own Canadian citizenship certificate. You may also want to apply for a passport for the child at the same time. John