Naturalisation through marriage complication

[Tullynagardy]

On 21st January 2016 my wife will have been married to me (a dual Irish/British citizen living in NI) for 3 years and thus be eligble to apply for Naturalisation.

On 31st March 2016 my wifes current UK spouse visa will expire.

My understanding is that the whole naturalisation process takes around 6 months. This leaves a 3 month gap when her current visa has expired but naturalisation not taken effect.

I am reluctant to pay for the UK visa to be extended when she is just weeks away from being an Irish citizen.

Can i therefore ask if anyone knows do INIS only care about the documents at the time they were submitted? i.e if it finally reached the decision making stage in May would they look at the original documents from January and naturalise her or would they see she currently has no legal right to be in NI and refuse?

[ninjaman]

On 21st January 2016 my wife will have been married to me (a dual Irish/British citizen living in NI) for 3 years and thus be eligble to apply for Naturalisation.

On 31st March 2016 my wifes current UK spouse visa will expire.

My understanding is that the whole naturalisation process takes around 6 months. This leaves a 3 month gap when her current visa has expired but naturalisation not taken effect.

I am reluctant to pay for the UK visa to be extended when she is just weeks away from being an Irish citizen.

Can i therefore ask if anyone knows do INIS only care about the documents at the time they were submitted? i.e if it finally reached the decision making stage in May would they look at the original documents from January and naturalise her or would they see she currently has no legal right to be in NI and refuse?

I would highly recommend you to extend it if you can. I am in a same/similar situation as you wife.

After I applied for naturalisation, they dragged their feet until my 1st UK visa expired and just before they submitted my application to the minister for naturalisation approval they asked me again for my UK visa. I had to apply for the 2nd UK visa which took 6 months and in December 2014 I submitted the 2nd UK visa to INIS hoping to get approval for naturalisation letter soon.

Check my post here (when they put my application on hold) http://www.immigrationboards.com/irelan ... l#p1058051

and when i received UK visa, I posted to the forum again to join other members who are waiting for their approval letters:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/irelan ... l#p1124526

[Tullynagardy]

Thanks for the reply.

Out of curiosity, how did you re-apply for the UK visa if you let the previous one lapse?

[ninjaman]

Thanks for the reply.

Out of curiosity, how did you re-apply for the UK visa if you let the previous one lapse?

i was on EEA 2 (5 year permit). To apply for EEA 4 (permanent residency), you have to complete those EEA2's 5 years first. after those 5 years have past, you will have no valid visa but you are not illegal either something INIS did not want to know. So I had to apply for Permanent residency (EEA 4) and then send INIS a copy of it.

Hopefully I will hear from INIS soon.

[chaoclive]

To apply for EEA 4 (permanent residency), you have to complete those EEA2's 5 years first.

Not actually true. You don't have to pass the full 5 years of the EEA2. If you applied for the EEA2, for example, after entering the UK as a spouse of an EEA citizen who was already exercising treaty rights in the UK, you won't need to wait until the EEA2 expires. E.g my civil partner's situation:
-Entered the UK August 2014 on EEAFP as my civil partner
-EEA2 applied for October 2014
-EEA2 issued December 2014, will expire in December 2019

Based on the above you would think he will be eligible for EEA4 only in December 2019. This is wrong. He can apply in August 2019.

(Of course, I will have him apply for Irish citizenship instead; as I'm Irish and we're living in NI).

[jeupsy]

There is no question, just renew the UK visa. I don't know how much it costs, but is that saving worth missing the chance to obtain the citizenship and to become illegal in the UK?

[jeupsy]

There is no question, just renew the UK visa. I don't know how much it costs, but is that saving worth missing the chance to obtain the citizenship and to become illegal in the UK?

[jeupsy]

There is no question, just renew the UK visa. I don't know how much it costs, but is that saving worth missing the chance to obtain the citizenship and to become illegal in the UK?