Does living in Gibraltar count as living in the UK?

[Grazia]

Hi,
I’m an EU citizen living and working in the UK. Recently, I have been issued with Permanent Residence Card. I’m planning to naturalize as a British citizen in a year time and would like to clarify whether or not I can live in Gibraltar for the entire year before I apply for naturalization or it will affect my eligibility for naturalization as a British citizen.
Please advise.

[Grazia]

[quote="Grazia"]Hi,
I’m an EU citizen living and working in the UK. Recently, I have been issued with Permanent Residence Card. I’m planning to naturalize as a British citizen in a year time and would like to clarify whether or not I can live in Gibraltar for the entire year before I apply for naturalization or it will affect my eligibility for naturalization as a British citizen.
Please advise.[/quo


Anybody knowledgable who could advise please?

[Wanderer]

Why not try searching, this question was asked very recently.

[areti]

Hi,
I’m an EU citizen living and working in the UK. Recently, I have been issued with Permanent Residence Card. I’m planning to naturalize as a British citizen in a year time and would like to clarify whether or not I can live in Gibraltar for the entire year before I apply for naturalization or it will affect my eligibility for naturalization as a British citizen.
Please advise.

Hi, did you find out? or did you end up moving to Gibraltar? I am on an EEA National Family member Permit, I have been offered a job in Gibraltar. I have 3 years left on my residency to becoming a British citizen. I am wondering if the following will apply

1) If I take the job in Gibraltar, will working and living in Gibraltar count as living in the UK? Will I still be able to get a British citizenship in 3 years?

2) Can I use my EEA National Family Member permit to work in Gibraltar or will I need to apply for a new permit?


Any information given will be very much appreciated.
Thanks

[Gomjaba]

Gibraltar is not part of the UK. GIbraltar is a British oversea territory. I think the only way it can count towards a British Citizenship is when you apply as partner who worked for the crown service abroad in Gibraltar. I believe the only other part which counts towards the UK is NI ..

I used to live in Gibraltar for 5 years and without hassle you can't even get a bank account because it is offshore.

I believe Gibraltar does count as EEA member state though :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Wes ... stituency)

Personally I wouldn't necessarily take either my word or any person's word for granted. The only way I can see you getting a definite answer is finding a reference on the official government website or official letter from the Home Office etc. Heck I wouldn't even trust a lawyer unless he got experience with situations and offshore countries - because even if a lawyer advises you it is ok to live in Gibraltar and it counts towards the UK - if you get declined it doesn't matter as you cannot appeal a declined application.

Maybe you can find some caseworker notes regarding Gibraltar

Try google too though - here a few seconds google results

https://www.gov.uk/register-british-cit ... -hong-kong

http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-gi ... -residency

[secret.simon]

The full title of the UK is "Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". The countries/nations included in it are England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

While not a part of the United Kingdom, the states in the Channel Islands (such as Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney) and the Isle of Man are Crown Dependencies and are closely associated with the UK. The citizens of these places are full British citizens, but not EU citizens, as these places are outside the European Union.

Booklet AN (Pages 4 & 5) does specify that you need to have been resident in "England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands" at the beginning of the 5 year or 3 year qualifying period for citizenship. It then continues with the appearance of using "the United Kingdom" as short form for these places.

Gibralter is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. Till recently (2002), they had a separate citizenship-British Overseas Territories citizenship(BOTC)-and a BOTC citizen had to go through the same hoops as a non-EEA citizen to settle in the UK. In 2002, all BOTC citizens were made full British citizens in addition to their BOTC citizenships.

However, if you met the conditions for citizenship in Gibraltar, the Gibraltar government (not the UK Home Office) would be responsible for your citizenship and would grant you a BOTC with Gibraltarian belonger status. You would then have to register to become a British citizen.

Gibraltar is not a part of the UK for immigration purposes. For instance, non-EEA citizens with a UK work permit or PBS visa need a separate visa to visit Gibraltar.

Therefore I believe that you can not use your stay in Gibraltar for the purposes of naturalisation.

As an aside, the British practice is unlike that of France, where Reunion, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and St Pierre and Miquelon are fully a part of the French Republic, on par with the Metropole. Likewise, Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands are fully part of Spain.

Conversely, I believe that Dutch & Danish practice is similar to that of the UK in treating their overseas countries (the Caribbean Netherlands in case of the former & Greenland and the Faroe Islands in case of the latter) as separate immigration jurisdictions.