# Timeline for when need to enter uk after ancestry visa processed?



## travelspice (May 6, 2012)

Hi
Just a quick question...once we receive our ancestry visas is there a timeline in which we need to enter the UK?
Like I know they are valid for 5 years but do we need to enter the UK to activate them by a certain date?
I just was told today my oldest son needs retainers and it could take months to get fitted for them and we planned to go to the UK in Sept...but if we waited a few more months would it make a difference?
Could we enter any time within the next 5 years?
And if we are in the UK and leave to come back to Canada for awhile, is there a time limit on how long we can be outside of the UK to keep the visas still valid for the 5 years?
Cheers!
(trying to hustle the kids to bed here since we have to get up for a 5am bus for biometrics tomorrow!!)


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

travelspice said:


> Hi
> Just a quick question...once we receive our ancestry visas is there a timeline in which we need to enter the UK?
> Like I know they are valid for 5 years but do we need to enter the UK to activate them by a certain date?
> I just was told today my oldest son needs retainers and it could take months to get fitted for them and we planned to go to the UK in Sept...but if we waited a few more months would it make a difference?
> ...


You can arrive in UK at any time during the visa's 5-year validity, but arriving after the 'valid from' date may affect your application for ILR. If you cannot complete 5 years because of your later arrival, you will have to extend your visa before you can apply for settlement. But if it's just your minor child delaying his arrival, and he is still 18 when you come to apply for ILR, it may not matter because residence requirement only applies to you as main applicant and not any of your minor children. But this can of course change.

You can return to Canada during the visa's validity, but it can affect your eligibility for ILR, even though no timescale is laid down. If your stay in Canada was for a holiday, or compassionate ground like looking after a sick relative, it's unlikely to be a problem but any extended stay may be interpreted as having abandoned your UK stay and can affect your eligibility for settlement. Also any extended absences will affect your eligibility for naturalisation, though I think you have ROA so may not apply.


----------



## travelspice (May 6, 2012)

Hi
Just wanted to ask a bit more about this as it looks like our departure may indeed be delayed even possibly until after Christmas to get all the orthodontics stuff dealt with properly, he needs many appointments and they takes ages to get in...ugh.

Now for myself I plan to apply for my UK passport either asap from here or after I arrive in the UK so I won't have to worry so much about the 5 yr thing will I?

And the children will be ok after 3 years of residency? And does it change at all for them from their ancestry visas once their mum has a UK passport?


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

travelspice said:


> Hi
> Just wanted to ask a bit more about this as it looks like our departure may indeed be delayed even possibly until after Christmas to get all the orthodontics stuff dealt with properly, he needs many appointments and they takes ages to get in...ugh.
> 
> Now for myself I plan to apply for my UK passport either asap from here or after I arrive in the UK so I won't have to worry so much about the 5 yr thing will I?
> ...


Can you please remind me on what basis you hold ROA? This affects how your children can become British.


----------



## travelspice (May 6, 2012)

Well my expired ROA is under my mum being born in England and lived there with her family until she came to Canada as a warbride in 1946.


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

travelspice said:


> Well my expired ROA is under my mum being born in England and lived there with her family until she came to Canada as a warbride in 1946.


So you are a British citizen by descent then. Once you get your British passport - it's just a question of applying with supporting documents like birth and marriage certificates, your minor children can apply to be registered as British after living in UK for 3 years. They will then become British citizen otherwise than by descent, able to pass on their nationality to children born anywhere in the world. During the three-year qualifying period, you and they must not have been absent from UK longer than 270 days in total. There is no discretion over this.
UK Border Agency | Children born abroad to parents who are British by descent and who are now living in the United Kingdom - section 3(5) application


----------



## travelspice (May 6, 2012)

Hi
Thanks that is great info...so I just have to keep all of our travels within a 3 yr period to less than 270 days...I think we can do that!


----------

