Apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (settled and pre-settled status)
Applying for your child
Each child must have their own application. You can apply for your child or they can apply for themselves.
Eligibility
Your child may be eligible for settled or pre-settled status if they are:
- under 21, or they were under 21 when they got pre-settled status and they want to switch to settled status
- from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein - or you, or your spouse or civil partner, are
Although the deadline for applications for most people was 30 June 2021, you can still apply for your child - or they can apply for themselves - if you lived in the UK by 31 December 2020.
You must apply within 90 days of either:
- your child being born or adopted in the UK
- the date your child first arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020
If your child was born in the UK but is not a British citizen, they will still need to apply. You can check if they’re a British citizen if you’re not sure.
What documents you’ll need
You’ll need proof of:
- your child’s identity - you can use the same types of documents for proving your own identity, for example a passport
- your relationship to your child
- your pre-settled or settled status - or that you’re an Irish citizen, eligible British citizen, an eligible person of Northern Ireland or exempt from immigration control
- when your child was born or adopted - for example a birth certificate or adoption order
- when your child started living here, if they started living in the UK by 31 December 2020
- your child’s continuous residence
If your child started living in the UK by 31 December 2020, you’ll need evidence that shows they were here in the last 6 months of 2020.
Check what evidence you can use to show when your child started living in the UK, and that they’ve continued to live here.
If you have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme
When you apply for your child you can ‘link’ their application to yours. This means that if your own application is successful, your child will usually get the same status as you.
To do this, select the option to apply ‘using your parent’s residence’, then enter your application number. You will need to do this for each child you apply for.
You can use your own email address in the application if your child does not have one.
You can apply for your child any time after you’ve made your own application - you do not need to wait for a decision.
Your child will not get the same status as you if they’re eligible for settled status and you have pre-settled status.
If you have not applied to the EU Settlement Scheme
If you’re eligible for the scheme, but did not apply by the deadline, you may still be able to apply. You’ll need to show ‘reasonable grounds’ for why you’re applying now, and not before the deadline or in the time since the deadline passed.
If you’re not eligible for the scheme but your child is, you can still apply for them. For example, if they live in the UK and you do not.
If your child does not have 5 years’ continuous residence
If your child does not have 5 years’ continuous residence when they apply, they’ll usually get pre-settled status.
If you’ve already been granted settled status, your child will be granted it too.
You can apply to change your child’s status from pre-settled to settled status once they’ve reached 5 years’ continuous residence or you’ve been granted settled status.
If you’re an Irish citizen
You do not need to apply for settled or pre-settled status if you’re an Irish citizen who was living in the UK by 31 December 2020, but you can choose to do so.
If you apply, your children will also need their own application unless they have:
- Irish citizenship
- British citizenship
- dual British and Irish citizenship
If you’re an Irish citizen and your child is not a British citizen, they’ll be eligible for either:
- the same status that you could get, based on how long you’ve lived in the UK
- settled or pre-settled status, based on their own residence
This also applies if you’re from Northern Ireland and have Irish, British or dual British and Irish citizenship, and your child does not have Irish, British or dual citizenship.