married French person applying for naturalisation.

[natalie75]

Hi there,

First of all thank you for your superb website; it helped us a lot few years ago, when my husband needed a visa to the UK.

Ii am a French national, living and working in the UK continuously for the past 10 years, although I don’t need a visa to live and work in the UK, my NON EU husband and i applied for a UK residency 2 years ago and we have been given both a 5 years visa based on the EEC regulations.

My question is: if it’s been over 10 years since Ii have been living in the UK, will it be possible to apply for ILR, or eventually obtain the British citizenship as a European citizen exercising her treaty rights in the UK continuously for over 10 years.

or do I HAVE to wait until my visa is 4 weeks to be expired " as I have been told that its now 5 years and not 4 years in order to get the ILR even with a EEC1 Visa"

I know that people can gain the ILR based on their lawful residence for the past 10 years, does it apply to European citizens as well..??

and if so, and if I gain the ILR based on this, or even better the British nationality based on this, will my husband who has the same visa as me, will get any thing good out of it?

Please if anyone could give me any advice of it, I would be extremely thankful.

Natalie

[happyfamily]

Hi Nathalie
Other opinions welcome but here's some informations from home office website

1) From http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/applyi ... unationals
If you are an EEA national and wish to be issued with confirmation of permanent residence you should apply using form EEA3. If your family members are EEA nationals they should be included on the EEA3 application form if they have resided here (in accordance with the Regulations) for 5 years. Your non-EEA national family member should apply using form EEA4.

2) from http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/applyi ... unationals
How can I apply for permission to stay in the United Kingdom indefinitely?
European Economic Area Nationals may apply for permanent residence if they have completed 5 years of residence in the United Kingdom during which time they have been either in employment, self-employment, or been economically self-sufficient. Those who have been dependant on the income of a spouse / family member may also apply. Time spent as a student does not though count towards the 5 years qualifying period.
Third country nationals who are either the spouses or dependant family members of European Economic Area nationals may apply independently for permanent residence if they have lived in the United Kingdom for 5 years. However, they will need to provide evidence that their European Economic Area family member has lived in the United Kingdom and been engaged in employment, self-employment, or been economically self-sufficient, during this qualifying period.

So I think you can apply for EEA3 and 1year later for British citizenship and for your husband different possibilities: he can apply for French citizenship after 3years marriage so maybe next year(?) or after his 5years resident permit apply for EEA4 and 1year later British citizenship or when you have EEA3 mean ilr he can apply for his 2year spouse visa (I think FLR(M)) and then ilr and then British citizenship.

good luck

[JAJ]

Hi there,

First of all thank you for your superb website; it helped us a lot few years ago, when my husband needed a visa to the UK.

Ii am a French national, living and working in the UK continuously for the past 10 years, although I don’t need a visa to live and work in the UK, my NON EU husband and i applied for a UK residency 2 years ago and we have been given both a 5 years visa based on the EEC regulations.

My question is: if it’s been over 10 years since Ii have been living in the UK, will it be possible to apply for ILR, or eventually obtain the British citizenship as a European citizen exercising her treaty rights in the UK continuously for over 10 years.

or do I HAVE to wait until my visa is 4 weeks to be expired " as I have been told that its now 5 years and not 4 years in order to get the ILR even with a EEC1 Visa"

I know that people can gain the ILR based on their lawful residence for the past 10 years, does it apply to European citizens as well..??

and if so, and if I gain the ILR based on this, or even better the British nationality based on this, will my husband who has the same visa as me, will get any thing good out of it?

Please if anyone could give me any advice of it, I would be extremely thankful.

Natalie

Rules changed on 30 April 2006. Now an EEA/Swiss national exercising Treaty Rights automatically gets permanent residence after 5 years in the UK.

So you most likely got permanent residence on 30 April. You should use form EEA3 to apply for evidence of this.

Normally, if you're not married to a British citizen,you need to wait 12 months to apply for naturalisation. However, you could read paragraph 8.6(g) of the Nationality Instructions and follow the information further to see if you could ask for a waiver:
(pdf) http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/docume ... iew=Binary

Nationality Instructions themselves are at:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/lawand ... ns/nismenu

Regarding your husband, how long in total has he been living in the UK and what's his nationality?

And have you got UK-born children? If so, when were they born?
Or are you planning to have children in future?

[natalie75]

hi there,

thank you both so much for your reply, i have checked all the links and it is looking rather confusing! but to answer your questions:

my husband has been living in the UK for 6 years, however the first 4 years were a mix a legal and illegal stay, he became fully legal when he obtained his EEC permit valid for 5 years in september 2004, he is a moroccan national.

we havent got kids yet, althou we are planning to.

we have been married for over 2 years, yet we have been living together for 6 years.

we have thought about the french citizenship, but its being even more difficult for foreign people married to french nationals to obtain the french nationality especially when they are both living outside france, it can be done of course, but it takes a long long time now.. even longer than the whole ILR process, plus the 12months wait..etc..

also, since we have chosen england as our home country, he can only apply for one more citizenship in addition to his, and he is going for the british one and not the french one.

it is obvious that i personally dont need to be british to be in england etc, but we are trying to find the quickest route to get over all these ristrictions he faces daily. to be honnest we have decided that things should progress quickly after a nasty VERY NASTY experience at los angeles airport recently where my husband because of his nationality has been treated like filth ... to name just one reason.

if anyone please could guide me to some kind of law which might work in our favour i would be forever thankful.

much regards

N xx

[JAJ]

hi there,

thank you both so much for your reply, i have checked all the links and it is looking rather confusing!

It's not simple. Don't expect to understand it all at once.
Bear in mind that happyfamily's post was based on the rules as they existed before April. Things changed on 30 April as the links I quote make clear.

my husband has been living in the UK for 6 years, however the first 4 years were a mix a legal and illegal stay, he became fully legal when he obtained his EEC permit valid for 5 years in september 2004, he is a moroccan national.

His best option is likely to be to apply for permanent residence after he has completed 5 years on his EEA Family Permit. Once he has permanent residence, if by then you are naturalised British then he can immediately apply for naturalisation himself.

The 12 month rule does not apply for someone married to a British citizen.

we havent got kids yet, althou we are planning to.

Any children you have born in the UK will automatically be British citizens because you are a permanent resident. However you may have to be assertive with front-line staff at the Passport Office if they don't understand the new rules.

also, since we have chosen england as our home country, he can only apply for one more citizenship in addition to his

Who is making that rule? Morocco?

it is obvious that i personally dont need to be british to be in england

No, but you do get certain advantages as a British citizen that French citizens don't get. And you would be protected from any future change to the immigration laws.

If you see your home as the United Kingdom, then it's quite reasonable to want to be British on that basis alone.

Is there any particular reason why you would not want to naturalise?

if anyone please could guide me to some kind of law which might work in our favour i would be forever thankful.

You've already been shown the relevant law.

One way forward is:

Now: Use form EEA3 to apply for evidence of your permanent residence

May 2007: Apply for naturalisation as a British citizen (unless you feel confident enough to apply beforehand and ask the Home Office for a waiver of the 12 month rule)

September 2010: Your husband applies for permanent residence after 5 years on an EEA permit

Late 2010: Once your husband has permanent residence, and if you are British, he can immediately apply for British citizenship by naturalisation.

[natalie75]

Dear JAJ,

once more, thank you very much for all your clarifications, i think thats our best option.

i will apply for confirmation of my permanent residence using the EEC3 form later next week, then for the british citizenship 12 months later, i guess i should be british by the time my husband would reach his 5 years visa, so that will save him the 12 months waiting time to apply.

he got his visa in september 2004 "i made a mistake stating it was 2005" so he will apply for the ILR in august 2009, then if i'm british by then he will apply for his naturalisation just after obtaining his ILR.

once again, thank you guys for your help, and best of luck to everyone.

X natalie X

[JAJ]

i will apply for confirmation of my permanent residence using the EEC3 form later next week, then for the british citizenship 12 months later

The 12 month clock started ticking on 30 April this year, so you don't need to wait until Sept/Oct 2007. You can apply in May 2007 so long as you meet the other aspects of the residence requirements.

Make sure your EEA permanent resident permit notes the date of 30 April 2006 as this will make things easier if you apply for naturalisation in May/June 2007.

You're correct about your husband. He should be able to apply for permanent residence in September 2009 and naturalisation immediately afterwards (if you're British by then).

[happyfamily]

hi JAJ
could you tell me please where i was wrong in my message because i went on home office website?
and by the way i already post a topic about family in law coming to uk: what dependant means??? which proof we need?
thank you