Should I apply British Citizenship/Passport

ajayjain · Post by **ajayjain** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:49 pm

Hi,

I am here from the last 7 yrs. and now i am eligible
to apply british passport but still I am not able to decide
should i take it or not, I love my india and may go back to my India in
future. there is no benefit for british passport except going europe
and getting british passport will cost more than Â£600/-

Please advice.

Thanks

magsi23 · Post by **magsi23** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:23 pm

What exactly are you asking then?

maveli62 · Post by **maveli62** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:29 pm

We all love mother India. But if you travel on Tube every day then it is wise to take a season ticket.... make any sense ?

avjones · Post by **avjones** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:02 pm

If you were quite that keen, wouldn't you be living there?

ajayjain · Post by **ajayjain** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:37 pm

I got indefinite visa which will expire if I stay more than 2 yrs outside uk.
is there any lifetime visa which allows to come back to uk any time
and work in uk. I know india is growing and will be good to go back in 2-3 yrs. time but in case i want to come back to uk in future, i should be able to come back without any visa problem.
I am not interested to take british passport only for travel purpose
just want to know if there is any other benefit.

yankeegirl · Post by **yankeegirl** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:58 pm

is there any lifetime visa which allows to come back to uk any time

No.

but in case i want to come back to uk in future, i should be able to come back without any visa problem.

The only way you can leave the UK for years at a time and come back without visa issues is if you are a British citizen.

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:07 am

ajayjain wrote:Hi,

I am here from the last 7 yrs. and now i am eligible
to apply british passport but still I am not able to decide
should i take it or not, I love my india and may go back to my India in
future. there is no benefit for british passport except going europe
and getting british passport will cost more than Â£600/-

Please advice.

Thanks

Actually a British passport costs Â£72. You cannot apply for a British passport until you become a British citizen.

ajayjain · Post by **ajayjain** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:36 am

Hi,

I got an idea

I take british citizenship and do not apply british passport
then i can keep indian passport and can come back any time in future?

is it possible ?

Post by **JAJ** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:04 pm

ajayjain wrote: I take british citizenship and do not apply british passport
then i can keep indian passport and can come back any time in future?

If you become a British citizen, you instantly lose Indian citizenship.

sammie121 · Post by **sammie121** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:10 pm

USER alert lol!!!

ajayjain · Post by **ajayjain** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:14 pm

If i visit UK every two year for 1 week, will it keep my visa valid.

maveli62 · Post by **maveli62** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:21 pm

I keep saying this b'cos my friend got caught by HO. The moment you take the oath you loose India Citizenship and your ILR become invalidated. So to leagally enter UK you need to apply for ROA and the moment the Indian immigration guys see ROA on your Indian passport they will send you to the guest house

ajayjain · Post by **ajayjain** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:33 pm

thanks maveli62

I know this and i cannot take risk to go to guest house ..lol
and will i will not.

but if i keep my indian citizenship and Indefinite uk visa then
i can leave uk and settel outside uk and come back every two years
for a short visit to keep my visa valid, is it possible?
will there be any problem at immigration why have you come back,
where were you 2 yrs. etc.etc.

hsmpwpilr · Post by **hsmpwpilr** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:13 pm

It's possible to come to UK every two years for few times. However, if you do it more than 'X' times, then their is a chance that your ILR may get revoked as you are not making UK your permanent residence (the very reason you got your ILR in first place). The officer at the port of entry has every right to deny you an entry in UK. You may appeal and get it resolved but it's unnecessary headache.

What is this 'X' number ? nobody knows. It's all at the discretion of the officer and your luck.

I'd strongly recommend you to get british citizenship and passport at the earliest as you never know, when HO would change it's mind. HO may make it difficult to get BC by introducing/amending existing rules about BC qualification or to avoid ILR abuse.

ajayjain · Post by **ajayjain** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:19 pm

hsmpwpilr wrote:It's possible to come to UK every two years for few times. However, if you do it more than 'X' times, then their is a chance that your ILR may get revoked as you are not making UK your permanent residence (the very reason you got your ILR in first place). The officer at the port of entry has every right to deny you an entry in UK. You may appeal and get it resolved but it's unnecessary headache.

What is this 'X' number ? nobody knows. It's all at the discretion of the officer and your luck.

I'd strongly recommend you to get british citizenship and passport at the earliest as you never know, when HO would change it's mind. HO may make it difficult to get BC by introducing/amending existing rules about BC qualification or to avoid ILR abuse.

very true thanks hsmpwpilr

Christophe · Post by **Christophe** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:54 pm

ajayjain, I think your question highlights a very difficult issue and, of course, only you can solve it for yourself. It is quite reasonable for a person with ILR to live in the UK indefinitely (even for the rest of their life) with that status, certainly as things stand at the moment. Apart from the possible feeling of not fully belonging to your adopted country, you have highlighted the biggest practical disadvantage of such an approach: you are not free to leave the UK and reside elsewhere and then return to reside in the UK again later. The ILR status is really for people who are *living* in the UK - the two years' absence rule is a basic guideline, but ILR ceases, in theory at least, when you stop *living* in the UK. (Conversely, it is also possible, in certain circumstances, to leave the UK for more than 2 years and come back to the UK as a returning resident.)

To answer one of your qusetions: although you might be able to leave the UK and return each 2 years for a short period and keep your ILR technically valid, such a strategy is not likely to work for very long, since you are likely to be called on at some point to demonstrate the intention to return to live in the UK.

thirdwave · Post by **thirdwave** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:14 pm

Why not get the OCI thingie? That way you`ll have the best of both worlds..Personally, I suspect this thread is a bit of shamelss trolling..I cannot believe a person who has been in this country for 7 years & had enough sense to apply for an ILR & get it, cannot work out the pros & cons of BC...

ajayjain · Post by **ajayjain** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:22 pm

I think we have enough discussion in this thread.

thirdwave - I know so many people who do not care about BC and they are happy with their own country passport and i could not find any benefit of BC except travelling. I know there is no loss if I take BC, will just end up Â£500-700. OCI thing, there are some limitation in India, i exactly do not know. and I think only after 6 yrs. you can apply BC (5 yrs. to Indefinite + 1 yr. after that).

Dawie · Post by **Dawie** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:30 pm

ajayjain wrote:I think we have enough discussion in this thread.

thirdwave - I know so many people who do not care about BC and they are happy with their own country passport and i could not find any benefit of BC except travelling. I know there is no loss if I take BC, will just end up Â£500-700. OCI thing, there are some limitation in India, i exactly do not know. and I think only after 6 yrs. you can apply BC (5 yrs. to Indefinite + 1 yr. after that).

To be honest, I can't believe anyone would choose an Indian passport over a British passport if given the opportunity, no matter how patriotic you are.

maveli62 · Post by **maveli62** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:19 pm

Dawie wrote: To be honest, I can't believe anyone would choose an Indian passport over a British passport if given the opportunity, no matter how patriotic you are.

There are many who thinks the other way
Lakshmi Mittal
Amartya Sen ....

Christophe · Post by **Christophe** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:28 pm

Dawie wrote:To be honest, I can't believe anyone would choose an Indian passport over a British passport if given the opportunity, no matter how patriotic you are.

Well, Indian citizenship is more useful to the person who wants to live in India...

thirdwave · Post by **thirdwave** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:46 pm

ajayjain wrote: OCI thing, there are some limitation in India, i exactly do not know. and I think only after 6 yrs. you can apply BC (5 yrs. to Indefinite + 1 yr. after that).

How can you expect people to give you advice when you haven`t even researched your options properly???Are you trying to tell me that you'd forego the option of getting a BC purely to save 700 quid? IIRC, the only difference between full Indian citizenship & an OCI is that people holding OCI are not allowed to buy agricultural land (or hold public office maybe).Now tell me, what are the chances of you returning to India in order take up farming??I agree that India would probably be a far more attractive place to work in than the UK in a decade of so (Lehman Brothers are predicting that India would grow by 10% pa for the next 10 years whilst UK is tipped to grow at 2% (if that) which is well below trend..Indian economy has solid fundamentals whereas the UK economy is entirely driven by consumer spending & debt) but you'd probably be much better off with the flexibility that having 2 passports gives you, than holdinh just an Indian one..If nothing else, you`ll save a bob or two in visa costs.. Although many countries are lifting visa restrictions for Indians,especially for the ones living in Western countries, most countries would still require Indians to have visas as there are just too many people in India who are poor & desperate & would give an arm & a leg to leave for a better life elsewhere. On the other hand, UK citizens would enjoy visa free travel to most countries, atleast for the forseeable future, as the population is relatively small compared to India (this might ofcourse change if most of the low skilled immigrants to the UK in recent years gain BC in due course & use it in order to emigrate to greener pastures further West, thus taking a bit of shine off the burgundy passport)

Vravi2007 · Post by **Vravi2007** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:53 pm

maveli62 wrote:
Dawie wrote: To be honest, I can't believe anyone would choose an Indian passport over a British passport if given the opportunity, no matter how patriotic you are.
There are many who thinks the other way
Lakshmi Mittal
Amartya Sen ....

lakshmi mittal---is the richest PERSON --WHETHER BRITISH/INDIAN in UK

ismangil · Post by **ismangil** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:25 pm

Remember, being a British Citizen = EU Citizen. So you immediately expand your choice of where to work and live by 26 other countries.

As for going back to home country, can't you do the reverse as you did here? Stay on a work permit/retirement visa or something, after a few years you will naturalise back to your original citizenship.

olisun · Post by **olisun** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:24 am

maveli62 wrote:
Dawie wrote: To be honest, I can't believe anyone would choose an Indian passport over a British passport if given the opportunity, no matter how patriotic you are.
There are many who thinks the other way
Lakshmi Mittal
Amartya Sen ....

They have millions at their disposal and don't care which countries passports they hold.

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