can i apply for british citizenship if i'm getting divorced?

[sfree2010]

Help!

I'm an American who's been living in the UK with an Indefinite Leave to Remain visa for the past 7 years. My husband and I are in the process of getting divorced (only just filed for divorce the other week) and I am very keen to get my british citizenship- can I still do this even if we are no longer still together?

Any information would be extremely helpful.

Thanks!

[f2k]

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... uirements/

Basically you can apply under the 5year residency route and this you can do without getting the support of your husband.
You can of course still apply under the the 3year route as you are still married but for this you will need your husbands passport / birth certificate

[sfree2010]

thanks for the information- so does this mean even if the divorce goes through once i've filed under the 5 year residency route that it would still be considered and not revoked due to the divorce proceedings?

[f2k]

you can even file after the divorce has gone through. On the 5 year route there is no requirement that you have to be married to Brit citizen. Once you get your ILR you are essentially, to find a better word, free.

[Christophe]

Once you have indefinite leave to remain (which you need to have to apply for naturalisation anyway), you are in the UK "as your own person" (as it were), in your own right, and your relationship with your husband is irrelevant from that point of view.

Where it becomes relevant is when applying for naturalisation and deciding whether to apply on the basis of marriage to a British citizen or not. If you are married to your husband (i.e. not divorced) you are entitled to apply as the spouse of a British citizen. This applies even if you are legally separated, since you are still married. As noted above, you would need certain papers of his, which he might well be happy to give you access to. If you apply and citizenship is granted and you subsequently divorce, that is no problem. (As far as I know, it would be no problem if you divorce while your application is pending, since it is your status on the day of application that is important here — but don't hold me to that...)

You are at liberty, whether married to a British citizen or not, to apply under the "ordinary", 5-year rules. If you apply in this way, your marital status, at the time of application and afterwards, is entirely irrelevant.

[sfree2010]

Brilliant. Thanks for the advice.

Think the 5 year route sounds the best option as i've essentially had ILR since October 2002.