Student > Refugee > Permanent Resident > Citizenship

[feri_2017]

Hi all
I am going to apply for citizenship in a few weeks time and am not sure, what sort of details I need to provide during the application submission

1. I came to the UK as student in June 2009, via Student Visa. I did study English then went to the university. After two years at the university I had to take a gap year as I was going to apply for Asylum. This was January 2013.
2. On 9 Jan 2013 I went for my Asylum Screening
3. I stopped working during the application processing time, as I was not allowed to work. But not sure how I can prove this. (about 20 days)
4. I was granted Refugee status on 31 Jan 2013
5. I received my BRP shortly after
6. I got my travel document on 18 March 2014
7. I got my Permanent Residence Permit on 6 April 2018
8. I assume I would be eligible for naturalization after 6 April 2019

Questions:

1. I’m a bit unsure how I’m supposed to prove that I wasn’t working during the application process time even though it was only 20 days.
2. I haven’t been outside the UK for longer than two weeks at any time. Would providing my Travel Document be enough to prove that I was here for past 5 years? Or do I need to get letters from my work places?
3. Is this the right place to apply online
https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-in ... w-to-apply



Thanks

[feri_2017]

Can someone please help me here,
I need to know considerring my situation, do I still need to provide all the work history from HMRC or the travel document and all the stamps in it would be enough.

[wahi66]

Hi all
I am going to apply for citizenship in a few weeks time and am not sure, what sort of details I need to provide during the application submission

1. I came to the UK as student in June 2009, via Student Visa. I did study English then went to the university. After two years at the university I had to take a gap year as I was going to apply for Asylum. This was January 2013.
2. On 9 Jan 2013 I went for my Asylum Screening
3. I stopped working during the application processing time, as I was not allowed to work. But not sure how I can prove this. (about 20 days)
4. I was granted Refugee status on 31 Jan 2013
5. I received my BRP shortly after
6. I got my travel document on 18 March 2014
7. I got my Permanent Residence Permit on 6 April 2018
8. I assume I would be eligible for naturalization after 6 April 2019

Questions:

1. I’m a bit unsure how I’m supposed to prove that I wasn’t working during the application process time even though it was only 20 days.
2. I haven’t been outside the UK for longer than two weeks at any time. Would providing my Travel Document be enough to prove that I was here for past 5 years? Or do I need to get letters from my work places?
3. Is this the right place to apply online
https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-in ... w-to-apply



Thanks

did you made asylum application before your student visa expired or after expiry??

[feri_2017]

It was a few months before it expires.

[Springie]

Hello, I had a similar immigration history (student-refugee-ILR-Citizenship) and I had no trouble.

Your travel document should be fine to prove you were in the country all the time, but make sure you haven't got gaps between Travel Documents. For example, I had a gap after applying for ILR, so I provided a letter from my employer for that period.

As for your question about working - were you working officially, paying taxes, etc? And did you stop officially too? If so, HMRC records will show that.

[feri_2017]

Hello, I had a similar immigration history (student-refugee-ILR-Citizenship) and I had no trouble.

Your travel document should be fine to prove you were in the country all the time, but make sure you haven't got gaps between Travel Documents. For example, I had a gap after applying for ILR, so I provided a letter from my employer for that period.

As for your question about working - were you working officially, paying taxes, etc? And did you stop officially too? If so, HMRC records will show that.

Thanks a lot for your response.
No I havent had any gaps.
Yes all legal and paid all my taxes, and yes I stopped working officially too.

May I know if I have to provide Payslips or P60s? Did you include your payslips and P60s? I never kept them so not sure if they are required. However I can get letters from my employers proving that I was woking for them for the past 10 years.

I have also requested employment history from HMRC but not sure if it woulkd even arrive.

When I was student, when I appliued for my third extension of Student Visa it was rejected due to not having enough funds but I fixed it and applied for an appeal, it took 4 months for the outcome to come back but it was successful and I had a letter from Home Office that my application is being processed. Do you think that would make any negative impact on my application?

Another thing, when I applied for Asylum on 9 Jan 2013 I stopped working and informed my employer about it, until I got my approval letter on 31 Jan 2013, do I need to prove that I was not working during this 22 days?

Thanks again

[Springie]

I didn't provide any payslips or P60s as they would have been redundant. Your travel document is fine to prove residence, since as you say, there are no gaps and presumably it has all the stamps.

I can't comment on the visa extension much, except to say that if you did everything on time and never went over the time limits for applying/appealing, it should be fine. The time the HO takes to decide your application doesn't matter. But since I don't know your details, it's hard to say for certain.

As for proving you didn't work... it's a bit of a lottery - they may not even bother checking whether you worked or not, OR they may decide to dig and then you'd need something to prove you stopped working. At a minimum, when filling out the AN form, make sure that the working gap is there in the employment history section, e.g.

1. worked for Employer X from [2009] to 9 Jan 2013
2. worked for Employer X from 31 Jan 2013 to [Date]

Did you notify your employer (that you'll stop working) by email, by any chance? Would you or they still have a copy of this email/letter? That might help.

[feri_2017]

I didn't provide any payslips or P60s as they would have been redundant. Your travel document is fine to prove residence, since as you say, there are no gaps and presumably it has all the stamps.

I can't comment on the visa extension much, except to say that if you did everything on time and never went over the time limits for applying/appealing, it should be fine. The time the HO takes to decide your application doesn't matter. But since I don't know your details, it's hard to say for certain.

As for proving you didn't work... it's a bit of a lottery - they may not even bother checking whether you worked or not, OR they may decide to dig and then you'd need something to prove you stopped working. At a minimum, when filling out the AN form, make sure that the working gap is there in the employment history section, e.g.

1. worked for Employer X from [2009] to 9 Jan 2013
2. worked for Employer X from 31 Jan 2013 to [Date]

Did you notify your employer (that you'll stop working) by email, by any chance? Would you or they still have a copy of this email/letter? That might help.

Thank you very much
Yes I did inform them and they gave me a letter which I gave to HO at the time to show that I stopped working. But the employer doesn't response now so I cant get a copy of the letter. However I am trying to reach the parent company for a my employment history,
Do you think if they can give me a letter saying that in those dates I wasn't working it would be enough as a proof?

[Springie]

It should be enough. If both you and your employer say you didn't work then what can the HO do?

Keep a copy of that letter if you do get it, just in case (a copy of the previous letter would have been so useful!)
If you can't get it, you could make a note in the more information box that you've previously provided a letter from your employer stating you didn't work.

[feri_2017]

It should be enough. If both you and your employer say you didn't work then what can the HO do?

Keep a copy of that letter if you do get it, just in case (a copy of the previous letter would have been so useful!)
If you can't get it, you could make a note in the more information box that you've previously provided a letter from your employer stating you didn't work.

Thank you very much