ILR to Citizenship Enquiries

[vjpaddy]

Hi,

Good Day.

I have a tricky situation and seek your advice please on the best path towards British Citizenship. I have done my best in referring the gov.uk website and this forum to search for answers. But couldn't find an easy answer to my questions below.

• * Myself - On ILR at the moment. Eligible to apply Naturalisation Oct 2014
  * Wife - On PBS Dependent VISA valid until Nov 2016. She has been in UK for 20 months (until Sep 2014)
  * Our Child - Born couple of weeks ago in UK. As per the guidance in gov.uk, I intend to apply British Passport as one of the parents is on ILR.

Now to my questions:
1. I am eligible to apply naturalisation next month. Assuming, my application goes through fine and I get British Passport by Jan-Feb 2015, what is the recommended progress steps for my wife's citizenship. i.e. Does she have to go through PBS Dependent -> FLR (Nov 14)-> Naturalisation (Nov 15) ? (or) is there any other simpler route available ?

2. I understand that the fees as of today for Naturalisation is £906 pounds. If answer to the previous question is - my wife has to go through PBS - FLR before naturalisation, I could wait until Nov 2015, and then apply for naturalisation with my wife together. Is there any benefit in applying the Naturalisation of Husband and Wife together ? (both in terms of process and fees)

3. Irrespective of how I and my wife get citizenship, as our Baby would have got British Passport, I assume that we need not apply anything more for the baby (for e.g., naturalisation or ' certificate of entitlement to the right of abode in the UK'). Is this assumption valid?

Thank you very much for taking time to see my question.

[IndiMarshall]

what is FLR ?

1) https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-c ... sh-citizen

lived in the UK for at least the 3 years before your application is received
spent no more than 270 days outside the UK in those 3 years
spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months
not broken any immigration laws while in the UK

2) There is no benefit to apply together in terms of process .. Joint applicaitons sometimes takes more long compared to single applcation.. It is better you apply yours first as God knows what new rules and what fee UKBA might come up with..

In terms of fee too, its the same fee .. check here.. there is no such thing as spouse fee.. it is naturalization..

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... r_2014.pdf


3) Which country are you from actually ? if it allows dual citizenship, I think you should get one for your child for easy access to your actual home country..

[vjpaddy]

Thanks for your reply IndiMarshall.

FLR - Further Leave to Remain. I read somewhere that spouse's get FLR as against ILR, albeit technically they are similar. (My knowledge may be outdated..)

1). Understand the reference you have provided. I could see the following clause:
"If you’re married to, or the civil partner of, a British citizen, you can apply for citizenship if:"
"you’ve been granted indefinite leave to stay in the UK (or permanent residence if you’re an EEA national) - this means there’s no specific date that you have to leave"

I presume, this means that my wife has to take ILR/FLR first and then apply naturalisation ? as against going straight from PBS Dependent to Naturalisation ?

2) Thank you. Noted.

3) We are from India. My understanding is that we could apply OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) for the child, but this cannot happen until one of the parents have OCI. So the Child has to wait until one of us get OCI ? (if the Child needs to travel to India before parents get citizenship, Child has to go for Indian Tourist ViSA?) Is this understanding correct ?

4) Forgot to ask about one more thing. For naturalisation, I understand we have to provide approximate (if not accurate) dates of entry and exit to UK. Thanks to a belgian thief, my previous passport was stolen. I have got the police reports plus my new passport, which contains entry and exit details only for the last 2 years (and not 5). Should I be okay to provide entry exit dates only for this period, as for the period before this, I really don't have a clue.

[akash08]

Lot of complication .. Is not it?

whether your wife can remain as PBS dependant or should apply for FLR is very debatable. One of my friend was asked not to do this by Solihull office even when her wife was ready with application form the day he was getting his ILR. they travelled to India in that status and no issue. He saved lot of money and think Solihull PEO office is next to God. one of our common friends followed his example and were detained for hours in the airport. Who knows what is right? However the issue is your wife is still on PBS dependant visa when you are no longer under PBS, so that is no less illegal( assuming FLR is the way) than what will happen after you get citizenship. So, why worry?

as for your daughter, yes she is not eligible for OCI but she is eligible for PIO. You have to apply that for her.

As for stolen passport, you have to still give your entry and exit dates from memory along with proofs of your stolen passport. Expect your application to be delayed as losing passport is common practice when people have more absences and do not want to declare it. However if you had your original passport during ILR, they can check records against that and you should be fine.

[vjpaddy]

Thanks a lot Akash. Some very useful points there in your reply

[ouflak1]

3) We are from India. My understanding is that we could apply OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) for the child, but this cannot happen until one of the parents have OCI. So the Child has to wait until one of us get OCI ? (if the Child needs to travel to India before parents get citizenship, Child has to go for Indian Tourist ViSA?) Is this understanding correct ?

Neither of the parents have to have OCI before the child can get it, according to the India High Commission site. My own daughter got OCI without her mother acquiring it. However, the child won't be eligible until you get your UK citizenship, thus forfeiting Indian citizenship (as both parents can't be simultaneously citizens of India for a minor child to qualify for OCI).

[ramadnk]

Hello there,

I got a case where main applicant(myself) eligible for BC, my dependent who is also having an ILR same time as me, but not completed 5 year in UK, (dependant got ILR on old creteria of 2 year in UK for dependants).

My question is will dependant be eligible for an BC along with me (dependent is 2.5 years on dependant visa and 1 year ILR)...

Thanks,