British citizenship!

[malcolm]

Hello everyone!
I've been married to a British citizen for 5 years, We've got a child who is (BC). And we live in the republique of ireland, never lived in the UK. Does anyone know if i can apply for british citizenship?
many thanks

[Wanderer]

Hello everyone!
I've been married to a British citizen for 5 years, We've got a child who is (BC). And we live in the republique of ireland, never lived in the UK. Does anyone know if i can apply for british citizenship?
many thanks

Without residency I don't think so. Where are you from?

[malcolm]

I'm from Morrocco, i've got an irish residency.

[Wanderer]

I'm from Morrocco, i've got an irish residency.

In that case I think you've already got almost the same - u have the right to live and settle here.

For you to get actual British Citizenship I think you need to be married to a BC (as you are) and to reside in UK. Thing is I don't know for how long! I think it has to be three, under UK immigration rules, meaning two years FLR on a UK spouse visa, and one year ILR then apply for Citizenship.

I'm not sure about that so wait for others.

In any case why BC? I'm just interested to know since you already have a form of European Citizenship.

[sakura]

Hello everyone!
I've been married to a British citizen for 5 years, We've got a child who is (BC). And we live in the republique of ireland, never lived in the UK. Does anyone know if i can apply for british citizenship?
many thanks

To Wanderer: I don't think he is an Irish citizen yet.

To malcolm: you cannot apply for British citizenship, because you need to live in the UK to qualify for naturalisation. Once you have lived in the UK for three full years, you can apply for British citizenship.

Why not apply for Irish citizenship, since you're living there? Are you on the EEA family permit?

[malcolm]

Thank you wanderer,
I am not an irish citizen, i've got a residency card.

[malcolm]

thanks Sakura.
i'm on the EEA family permit, I guess i could apply for an irish citizenship,
but it takes years for the application to be processed.

[JAJ]

thanks Sakura.
i'm on the EEA family permit, I guess i could apply for an irish citizenship,
but it takes years for the application to be processed.

You've got no chance of becoming naturalised British while you're living in the Republic of Ireland.

How long have you lived there and are you eligible to become naturalised Irish now? And your son - was he born there?

There is a long processing time for Irish naturalisation but you may just have to wait.

[malcolm]

Been living in ireland, for the past four and a half years, and my son is British, born in the UK.

[John]

malcolm, is your spouse in Crown Service by any chance? That is, do they work for the UK Government in Ireland? If the answer to that happens to be yes, then you probably can apply for British Citizenship.

However it is more probable that the answer is no, in which case as already pointed out to you, you are not able to apply for British Citizenship, not without moving to the UK for 3 years.

[JAJ]

Been living in ireland, for the past four and a half years, and my son is British, born in the UK.

So your options are either stay in Ireland and apply for naturalisation after 5 years + however long they take to process the application.

Or abandon your Irish residence status and move to the UK with a spouse visa, and you can become naturalised British after 3 years. Processing times for naturalisation are currently short but who knows what they will be 3 or so years down the line.

If you choose to stay in Ireland, there is nothing stopping your British wife and child applying for naturalisation as well, if they like.

[malcolm]

Thank you guys, for your replies. there is another thing, do you think i am eligible for a UK ILR?

[sakura]

Thank you guys, for your replies. there is another thing, do you think i am eligible for a UK ILR?

Not ILR. If you've been living with your wife for four years outside the UK and now want to come and live in the UK, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE), but you need to take, and pass, the Life in the UK test (in the UK only). Also, even if you obtain ILE, you still need to have three year's residency in the UK before you can naturalise as a British citizen. I think you might aswell go for Irish citizenship - you should be qualifying soon, and I think you could get that before you'd get British citizenship (assuming you moved to the UK now, you'd still have to wait until 2010).