When to apply for British citizenship after 5 years PR (QP)

[markuk]

Hello,

1) Me and my wife are EEA nationals.
2) We recently applied for UK Permanent Residence Certificates (using EEA3 forms) and we got the certificates on April 19th, 2014.
I believe we qualified by residing in the UK for more than 5 years time in the past (2006-2011). I was main applicant and my wife a family member.

Now, the thing is that I am not sure when we can apply for British Citizenship (naturalization) after getting this permanent residency certificate, because we were outside of the UK after this period of 5 years of qualifying period (QP).
Please have a look in our time spent in the UK and outside breakdown below:

Year 1 - 04/2006-04/2007 - working & living in the UK (days outside of the UK - 14)
Year 2 - 04/2007-04/2008 - working & living in the UK (days outside of the UK - 46)
Year 3 - 04/2008-04/2009 - working & living in the UK (days outside of the UK - 16)
Year 4 - 04/2009-04/2010 - working & living in the UK (days outside of the UK - 31)
Year 5 - 04/2010-04/2011 - working & living in the UK (days outside of the UK - 31)
Year 6 - 04/2011-04/2012 - working & living in the UK, staying abroad (days outside of the UK - 220)
Year 7 - 04/2012-04/2013 - contracting abroad (days outside of the UK - 365)
Year 8 - 04/2013-04/2014 - contracting abroad (days outside of the UK - 320)
Year 9 - 04/2014-Present - coming back to the UK, about to start working again in May 2014

I have tried to read all booklets and docs supplied by Home Office but I am still not sure when we will be allowed to apply for British Citizenship in our case.
Can you advise anything or shed more light on this topic?
Thanks for your understanding in advance.

Mark

[milan69]

You may want to double check this but in my opinion your absences are likely to result in negative outcome of your application.
Check page 7-8:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... let-an.pdf

[markuk]

You may want to double check this but in my opinion your absences are likely to result in negative outcome of your application.
Check page 7-8:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... let-an.pdf

Thanks for your reply.
I know this information from page 7-8. However those days outside of the UK mentioned there are related to the 5 year period (QP). We passed this test, but I am not sure how long should we wait to apply for British citizenship from now on.

Mark

[milan69]

I think it is absences in the last 5 years that are important.

[markuk]

I think it is absences in the last 5 years that are important.

Thanks again for reply.

So it is going to be even more confusing now.
We just received HomeOffice Permanent Residence Certificate which is based on our 5 years stay in the UK in the past.
So when I apply for British citizenship this certificate is not taken into account and they will calculate all absences again in the last 5 years from now (from 2014 back to 2010)? so what is the purpose of having this certificate?
I was thinking that we need to stay for the next 12-15 months in order to add 1 qualifying year to the previous 5 years (QP) we spent in the UK and which were the base for getting permanent residence certificate here.

Any ideas really appreciated...

[milan69]

You may want to double check with senior members.

Only very rarely would we disregard absences in excess of 900 days (540 days for 6(2)
applications). If your absences are more than this limit your application is likely to fail and
your fee will not be fully refunded.

[markuk]

You may want to double check with senior members.

Only very rarely would we disregard absences in excess of 900 days (540 days for 6(2)
applications). If your absences are more than this limit your application is likely to fail and
your fee will not be fully refunded.

Ok, lets wait for senior members response...hopefully some of them will find it interesting to read through our case...

[markuk]

So to summarize:

I woulld be very grateful to senior members of this forum to have a look into my first post in this thread and answer my questions.
I am still confused on how to approach our case in near future.

Please have a look and let me know your thoughts!!

Mark

[Jambo]

Although you probably obtained PR in 2011 and were elgiblie to apply for BCin 2012, your absences since mean that you will not meet the requirements now. Its the last 5 years before the application is made that count for BC. You will probably be able to apply around 2018.

BTW - since 2011 (after completing 5 years of residence in the UK), have you been absent for more than 2 consecutive years? If you did, you should have not received PR Confirmation in 2014. If however, you visited the UK during your 2 years absence, you are fine (for the PR).

[markuk]

Although you probably obtained PR in 2011 and were elgiblie to apply for BCin 2012, your absences since mean that you will not meet the requirements now. Its the last 5 years before the application is made that count for BC. You will probably be able to apply around 2018.

BTW - since 2011 (after completing 5 years of residence in the UK), have you been absent for more than 2 consecutive years? If you did, you should have not received PR Confirmation in 2014. If however, you visited the UK during your 2 years absence, you are fine (for the PR).

Hi Jambo,

Thanks so much for your advice and explanation.

Would it be possible that we got PR Confirmation in 2014 because my wife was in the UK for a few days in 2012? I was applying for PR as main applicant and she was a family member.

So, we received PR Confirmation in 2014. Does it help to apply for BC sooner than in 2018 then? What are the options?

If not, do we have to wait another 5 years to get again PR Confirmation ( lets say in 2018) and then wait another 1 additional year (so in total 6 years of stay) in order to apply for BC ?
Thanks for your clarification in advance.

Mark

[Jambo]

PR is lost if you don't visit the UK for more than 2 years. If this is the case for you, count yourself lucky because the PR Confirmation should not have been issued.

You don't need to get a PR Confirmation (or to submit treaty rights evidence) again. Just used the one you got.

Once you complete 5 years of residence, you can apply. You don't need to wait another year (as you would have PR for more than 1 year). The exact date you can apply would depend on your absences. You might be able to apply earlier if your absences are less than 450 days during the period and if you have been in the UK at the beginning of the 5 years period (this requirement is very important and one of the main reasons for refusals).

[markuk]

PR is lost if you don't visit the UK for more than 2 years. If this is the case for you, count yourself lucky because the PR Confirmation should not have been issued.

You don't need to get a PR Confirmation (or to submit treaty rights evidence) again. Just used the one you got.

Once you complete 5 years of residence, you can apply. You don't need to wait another year (as you would have PR for more than 1 year). The exact date you can apply would depend on your absences. You might be able to apply earlier if your absences are less than 450 days during the period and if you have been in the UK at the beginning of the 5 years period (this requirement is very important and one of the main reasons for refusals).

Hi Jambo,

Thank again for your clarification.
So it looks like we need to wait the next 5 years to plug this 2 years gap.
Interestingly, I was assuming that when we get PR Confirmation in 2014 we then just need to wait another 12 months (without immigration control) to apply for BC. But it seems to be not the case in our situation.

Mark

[Jambo]

Common mistake. 1 year after ILR/PR is one of the requirements (which normally affects most applicants) but not the only one.