Naturalisation and Surinder Singh case?

[o4ktree]

I have been looking into this and I am a bit confused, someone here might be able to put me on the right track or might have experience that they could share?

My wife is a British citizen and I am a non-EEA national. We lived in Ireland previously and moved to the UK using the Surrinder Singh ECJ case. Recently I received my Permanent residency after 5 years living in the UK.

There seems to be two different views on when I can apply for British naturalisation. One view is that I have to wait for another year, before I can apply for naturalisation, as I would be treated like other EU citizen's family members. As I have used the EEA route, I cannot use the UK route.

The other view is that as my wife is a British citizen, I can apply for naturalisation immediately. using the fact that I have lived here for more than 3 years and I am not subject to immigration control.

Has anyone got a definite answer for this? By that I mean first hand experience or a case-law or policy document stating the UKBA's stance on the subject?

Many thanks.

[Jambo]

Don't know who holds the views but there is only one law.

For naturalisation, there isn't a EEA route or UK route. It doesn't matter how you have obtained your ILR/PR. The requirement is just to hold it.

If you are married to a BC, you can apply under Section 6(2) which means the residential period relevant to the application is 3 years (even if you had to live 5 years to obtain ILR/PR) and you can apply the day you have ILR/PR.

There are several cases in the forum of EEA national married to BC who applied after 5 years or Tier-1 migrants who married BC while on their Tier-1 visa and applied once ILR was granted.

[aledeniz]

as my wife is a British citizen, I can apply for naturalisation immediately. using the fact that I have lived here for more than 3 years and I am not subject to immigration control.

The above is also my own understanding of the law.

Where did you get the other conjecture from?