Child born outside the UK needs her own ILR first
No, your daughter cannot get a British passport directly when her mother (or father) gets indefinite leave to remain (ILR). ILR is settlement, not citizenship, and a British passport only ever follows British citizenship. A child born outside the UK to parents who are not British citizens does not become British automatically when a parent is granted ILR. So your daughter generally needs her own settlement first, and citizenship (and only then a passport) comes as a separate, later step.
- ILR is not citizenship: settlement lets your daughter live, work and study in the UK, but it is not the same as being British.
- No passport without citizenship: a British passport can only be issued to a British citizen, never to a child who simply holds ILR.
- She needs her own status: a child born abroad usually settles on the child family/settlement route using form SET(F).
- Both parents matter: where a child lives with two parents, GOV.UK expects both to be settled or currently applying for settlement.
- Citizenship is a later step: registration as British (form MN1) is normally pursued once a parent is settled or has naturalised.
Why ILR does not pass a passport to your daughter
It is a common and understandable assumption that once a parent settles, the children become British. That is not how it works for a child born outside the UK to parents who were not British citizens at the time. Whether a child is automatically British depends on the parents' status at the moment of birth and where the child was born — a parent gaining ILR years later does not retroactively make the child British. GOV.UK's check if you're a British citizen tool walks through exactly which combinations of birth date, place of birth and parental status confer citizenship.
Because your daughter is not automatically British, she cannot be issued a British passport on the back of either parent's ILR. She first needs lawful settlement of her own, and citizenship is handled as an entirely separate application later.
Do not assume ILR equals a passport. Granting a parent indefinite leave to remain does not make a child born outside the UK a British citizen, and the Passport Office will not issue a British passport to a child who only holds ILR. Treat settlement and citizenship as two distinct steps, in that order.
The settlement step: form SET(F)
For a child under 18 born abroad, the usual route to settle is the child family/settlement route on form SET(F) — "settle in the UK as a child under 18" (see GOV.UK's SET(F) guidance).
The timing detail in your case is the important one. GOV.UK is clear that where a child lives with two parents in the UK, both parents must be settled, or both must currently be applying for settlement, for the child to qualify on this route (see the child (family visa) ILR rules). With your daughter's father already holding ILR and her mother applying in around four months, she generally cannot settle on the father's ILR alone while the mother is not yet settled. In practice she may be able to apply at the same time as her mother, or once both parents are settled.
The exact answer depends on your daughter's own current visa and immigration history, which your question doesn't state — for example, whether she already holds a dependant visa and how long she has held it. Check her current leave carefully, because that, as much as the parents' status, determines when and how she can apply. If you are weighing the sequencing for the whole family, our note on whether to apply for ILR together or separately may help you plan the order of applications.
The citizenship step: registration on form MN1
A British passport follows British citizenship. For a child, that normally means registration as a British citizen on form MN1, a discretionary route under section 3(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (GOV.UK's register a child as British (form MN1)).
In practice, the Home Office usually expects a child's circumstances to be settled before registering them — commonly once a parent has naturalised as a British citizen, not merely obtained ILR, or once the child has held settled status for a reasonable period. Only after registration is granted, and the child is a British citizen, can you apply for her first British passport. If you want the full picture on timing, see our guide on how to register your child once you are British or settled.
What this means for your family
Put simply, your daughter cannot "wait and skip straight to a passport." The realistic sequence is: secure her own settlement (likely alongside or after her mother on SET(F)), then later register her as British (MN1), and only then apply for a British passport. Plan the settlement step around the mother's application, and confirm your daughter's own current immigration status before you file anything.
We do not state fees here because Home Office fees were uprated on 8 April 2026 — always check the current fees for citizenship applications before you apply.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Immigration rules change and individual cases turn on their facts — for a decision that affects your family's status, take advice from a qualified immigration adviser regulated by the IAA (formerly OISC) or a solicitor.