What is the Seven-year Child Rule for Residency and Does it Still Apply?

Under the seven-year rule, a parent and child may be able to apply for leave to remain if the child has been living in the UK for seven or more years. In this article, we will explain the background of the seven-year rule and how it is applied in UK immigration law.

What is the Origin of the Seven-year Child Residency Rule?

The seven-year rule has come, gone, and returned again in the past two decades. Prior to 2008, immigration policy DP5/96 was in place which allowed children living in the UK for seven or more years to remain in the UK. This also applied to the parents of the child. Given that seven years as a child may be their entire lifetime, this is not an inconsiderable amount of time to acquire the right to stay in the UK. This policy was successfully used by many applicants; however, it was scrapped in December 2008.

After a considerable gap of time, in June 2012, the seven-year rule came back in the form of a statement of changes to the immigration rules (HC194), which stated under paragraph 7.6, “The new Immigration Rules deal clearly with how to treat a British citizen child or a foreign national child in cases where we would otherwise intend to remove their parent(s) and how countervailing factors should weigh in the decision.

There are some circumstances where a child may be allowed to stay on a temporary or permanent basis on best interests’ grounds. The key test for a non-British citizen child remaining on a permanent basis is the length of residence in the UK of the child – which the rules set at least the last seven years, subject to countervailing factors. The changes are designed to bring consistency and transparency to decision-making”.

A separate document outlining the compatibility of the changes with the ECHR further explains why seven years is significant, “we consider that a period of 7 continuous years spent in the UK as a child will generally establish a sufficient level of integration for family and private life to exist such that removal would normally not be in the best interests of the child.

“A period of 7 years also echoes a previous policy (known as DP5/9611) under which children who had accumulated 7 years’ continuous residence in the UK were not deported, which is still referenced by the Courts on occasion. In policy terms, we would not propose a period of less than 7 years as this would enable migrants who entered the UK on a temporary route (for example a route limited to 5 years in the UK) to qualify for settlement if they had brought children with them”.

In 2014, Part 5A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 was introduced which made it harder to use the seven-year rule, and required judges to also take into account whether “it would not be reasonable to expect the child to leave the United Kingdom”.

What is Meant by Reasonable?

In order to secure residency for a family on the basis of a child living in the UK for seven years, not only must the judge be satisfied that “the person has a genuine and subsisting parental relationship with a qualifying child”, but they must also assess whether it would be reasonable for the child to have to leave the UK if the application is refused. The guidance states that case officers must take into account:

• By refusing the application the child, would need to leave the UK (it is generally the case that it is in a child’s best interests to remain with their parent(s)).
• The child’s wider family ties in the UK.
• Whether the child is likely to be able to (re)integrate readily into life in another country, relevant factors include the extent of any social, cultural, linguistic ties, access to citizenship, and whether the child has ever attended school in that country.
• Whether removal would pose a significant risk to the child’s health.
• Any relevant country-specific information.

The challenge in such applications is that the bar is set very high. Decision-makers will almost always lean towards preserving the family unit, and if it cannot be proven that it would be harmful to return home, it is not uncommon for parents and children in this situation to have their leave to remain application refused.

The importance of building a robust legal case

If you are planning to apply for leave to remain as a family, on the basis of your child who has been living in the UK for seven or more years, it is important to submit a robust application. It is advisable to provide as much evidence as possible upfront that shows in detail how integrated the child is in the UK, the extent of the family’s integration, the harmful impact of removing the child from the UK, and the challenges which the child will face if they have to move to another country. The greater the proportion of their life already spent in the UK, the greater the chance of proving it would be unreasonable for them to leave.

Final Words

Successfully applying for leave to remain as a parent of a child who has been living in the UK for seven or more years is absolutely possible. It is imperative that you engage the services of immigration Solicitors as early as possible to ensure that the best possible case can be created and submitted to the Home Office. An experienced Solicitor will understand how to ‘front load’ your application in such a way as to remove any doubt that your child remaining in the UK is the only reasonable option.