Can My Child Stay?
Regularising Children Who’ve Grown Up in the UK
Last updated: February 2025
You didn’t plan for this to happen.
Maybe you overstayed a visa years ago and never found the right time to fix it. Maybe your own situation was uncertain, and you were afraid that applying for your child would get you into trouble. Maybe you just didn’t understand how the system worked—until your child started asking why they can’t do things their friends can do.
Now your child is a teenager. They grew up here. They sound British. Their friends are British. The UK is the only home they know. But on paper, they don’t exist.
And you’re scared that asking for help means admitting what went wrong.
Here’s what you need to know: the law says that children who grew up in the UK often shouldn’t be sent away, even if their parents have immigration problems. There is a route for exactly this situation. It’s not a trick or a loophole—it’s the law accepting that a child’s life matters, even when their parents’ history is complicated.
Who This Guide Is For
This guide is for parents of children who:
• Are under 18 years old
• Have lived in the UK for at least 7 years without a long break
• Have no visa, or only a short-term visa
It doesn’t matter if your child was born here or came as a baby. What matters is the seven years living here and the life they’ve built.
Your own immigration problems—even if you’ve overstayed for years—don’t automatically stop your child from applying. The application is about your child, not you. If your child succeeds, you may then be able to fix your own status as their parent.
The Law: The 7-Year Rule
The ‘7-year rule’ for children comes from the Immigration Rules (a part called Appendix Private Life). It says that children who spent most of their childhood in the UK have built a life here that the law should protect.
To use this route, your child must:
1. Be under 18 when they apply
2. Have lived in the UK for at least 7 years without a long break
3. Show that it would not be fair to make them leave
That third point—’would it be fair to make them leave?’—is where applications succeed or fail. You have to show that your child’s life is here, that the UK is their home, and that sending them away would hurt them.
What ‘7 Years Living Here’ Really Means
Seven years sounds simple. But there are rules about breaks.
Your child’s 7 years is broken if they:
• Left the UK for more than 6 months at one time
• Spent more than 550 days total outside the UK during the 7 years (that’s about 18 months added together)
Short holidays and family visits abroad are usually fine. But longer trips—maybe your child stayed with grandparents for a year, or you tried to move back home and it didn’t work—can break the 7 years.
If you’re not sure about your child’s travel history, check old passports, flight tickets, and school records. The Home Office will check carefully, and if your story doesn’t match the evidence, it hurts your case.
How They Decide If Your Child Can Stay
This is the most important part of the application. The Home Office has to look at your child’s real life and ask: would it be fair to send this child away?
They look at:
How long they’ve been here: A 15-year-old who came at age 2 has a stronger case than one who came at age 8. The more of their life spent in the UK, the better.
School: Is your child in school? Taking GCSEs or A-levels? Taking them away from school at an important time matters a lot.
Language: Does your child speak your home country’s language? Have they ever lived there? Do they know anyone there?
Friends and life here: Friends, activities, sports clubs, community. Proof that your child’s life is in the UK.
Health: Any medical problems, mental health issues, or learning difficulties that couldn’t be treated properly in your home country.
What’s best for the child: The law says the child’s needs must come first. Sending them away has to make sense, not just be convenient for immigration control.
Important: your own immigration problems don’t automatically mean your child has to leave. The courts have said that the Home Office must look at whether it’s fair for the child to go—even if the parents have to leave.
Evidence: What You Need to Show
Weak applications fail because they say things without proving them. Saying ‘my child is settled here’ means nothing. Showing it means everything.
To prove 7 years living here:
• GP registration letters covering the whole 7 years
• School records and attendance letters
• Child benefit or tax credit letters (if you have them)
• Passport stamps showing travel in and out
• Bills, tenancy agreements, council tax showing where you’ve lived
To prove it’s not fair to send them away:
• School reports, exam entries, letters from teachers
• Proof of clubs, sports, activities
• Letters from people who know your child—teachers, family friends, community leaders
• Medical records if health is important to the case
A letter from your child can be very powerful. Let them write in their own words about their life here, their friends, their fears about leaving, and why the UK is home. This shows the Home Office who your child really is—not just a name on a form.
The 18th Birthday Deadline
This is urgent: this route closes the moment your child turns 18.
If your child is 17 and you keep putting it off, you need to act now. The application must be sent before their 18th birthday. Not decided—sent. It can take months to process, but what matters is when the Home Office receives it.
After 18, the rules change. Your child would have to use different routes that are harder to qualify for and have less protection for young people.
If your child is close to 18, don’t wait for everything to be perfect. A good application sent on time is better than a perfect application sent too late.
What Happens If They Say Yes
If the application succeeds, your child usually gets 30 months’ permission to stay. They can go to school, and later work, legally. After 10 years on this route—with more applications every 30 months—they can apply for permanent residence (called Indefinite Leave to Remain or ILR).
There’s one exception: children born in the UK who have lived here for 7 years may be able to get permanent residence straight away, instead of waiting 10 years. This rule changed in June 2022.
And what about you? As the parent of a child with permission to stay, you may be able to apply to stay too. Your child’s status can be the starting point for fixing the whole family’s situation.
What Happens If They Say No
A refusal is not the end. Most refusals come with a right to appeal to a tribunal—an independent judge, not the Home Office.
Many 7-year applications are refused at first but win on appeal. The judge can look at new evidence and can take a different view from the Home Office.
Appeals take time—often 6 to 12 months or more—but while the appeal is going on, your child can stay.
That said, winning on appeal costs more money and takes more time. Getting it right the first time is always better.
When Do You Need a Solicitor?
Not every application needs a solicitor. If your child’s history is simple, you have good evidence, and you’re comfortable with forms, you might be able to do it yourself.
But a solicitor can really help if:
• There are gaps in your evidence that need explaining
• Your child spent a long time abroad and it might break the 7 years
• You or your child have been refused before
• You or your child have a criminal record or police caution
• Your child is nearly 18 and there’s no time to make mistakes
• You want to apply for yourself at the same time as your child
• The case is not clear-cut and needs careful argument
A solicitor doesn’t just fill in forms. They work out what the Home Office needs to see, put the evidence together in a way that makes sense, and think about the questions that could cause problems.
How We Can Help
At Migrant Law Partnership, we’ve helped many families in this situation—parents who were scared to come forward, children who grew up British but don’t have the papers to prove it.
We offer a fixed-fee first meeting where we look at your child’s case, check what evidence you have and what’s missing, and tell you honestly what we think. If we take your case, we work for a fixed price with no hidden costs.
We won’t take your case if we don’t think it can work. We don’t charge people for applications we don’t believe in.
If your child grew up in the UK and you’re ready to sort out their status, book a consultation or call us on 020 7112 8163.
This guide gives general information about UK immigration law. It is not legal advice. Immigration rules change often. For advice about your own situation, please contact us.