Hello, I am an EEA national planning to apply for British Citizenship. I just received my Permanent Residence card issued on 25 Nov 2015. It was issued on the basis of exercising Treaty Rights for 8 years. My query is do I need to wait for 1 more year before applying for British Citizenship (so that I have held the card for 1 year) or can I apply now?It's not clear whether one year of residence will be required after the issue date of the PR card. Obie will probably be able to advise further on this.
There isn’t any clear information on whether the applicant should possess the Permanent Residence card for 1 year before applying for Citizenship.
I have read the Guide and Booklet which go with the AN Application form downloaded from gov.uk The Booklet is the November version and page 10 which refers to EEA Nationals says that:
If you are a national of a country which is a member state of the EEA or Switzerland, or the family member of such a person, you will automatically have permanent residence status after exercising EEA free movement rights in the UK for any continuous period of 5 years ending on or after 30 April 2006. You should apply for a permanent residence card to prove that you hold that status before applying for citizenship.
But remember that, unless you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen, you should normally have held permanent resident status for 12 months before applying for naturalisation. This means that you may need to wait until you have been in the United Kingdom for 6 years before you can apply. When you apply for a permanent residence document the evidence that you supply for your EEA(PR) application must be for a 5 year period that ended at least a year before you want to apply for citizenship.
For example:
If you apply for Permanent Residence on 1st December 2015 and want to apply for Citizenship once that application is decided, you should send evidence that shows you were exercising Treaty rights as a qualified person or family member from 1 December 2009 to 1 December 2014.
The example suggests that the applicant can apply straight after getting the Permanent Residence card if the card was issued on the basis of exercising Treaty Rights for at least 6 years (in my case it is 8 years). The paragraph above the example says that applicant should have held permanent resident status for 12 months before applying for naturalisation (it says the status, not the card itself; and the status is gained automatically after 5 years).
So, can I apply now bearing in mind my Permanent Card was issued on 25 Nov 2015?
I called Home Office – citizenship helpline. At first they told me that according to the new law from 12th Nov you should have the card for 1 year and then you can apply. But when I explained them what the Booklet says (page 10) and they referred to it, they said that I can apply now without waiting but still there is a possibility my application to be rejected because I have held the card for less than a year. And when I asked why rejection is still possible if the Booklet explains that it is allowed to apply without the need to wait, the operator said that there is a possibility the Booklet is not updated with the latest information. But I think the Booklet is the latest update as it is November version and back in October when I checked it was a different version.
So, I will be very grateful if someone can advise me whether I can apply now? A previous post suggests that maybe Obie may have an idea about the card situation?
Thank you very much for your help!
