Referee Requirements

[hnfq]

Hi,
My wife arrived in UK on Oct 27, 2010 and would be eligible to apply for Naturalisation as spouse of a UK Citizen on Oct 26, 2013. We already have an appoinment booked at NCS for that date.

While filling her AN form I came across a requirement in "Section 5: Referees and Identity" that the referee must have known the applicant for more than 3 years.

Both the referees on my wife's application met her for the first time during the first couple of weeks after her arrival in UK. If I go by the exact wordings in the AN form this means that neither of the referees satisfies "knowing the applicant for more than 3 years" requirement.

I would greatly appreciate input on the following
Should we delay submitting the application by a couple of weeks just to make sure that in the off chance if the referees are contacted this particular requirement does not become grounds for refusal? My wife has done her MSc from a UK university and passed the LIUK test for her ILR application last year so submission before Oct 28 is not really critical.

[VR]

Hnfq,

Lets be logical. Do the case workers count 3 years to the last second? Why would they assume your wife met the referees two weeks after she landed?Even if they did how would they be able to prove it?

Even though you say its not critical to file before the changes to KOLL on28th October , get the thing over with at the earliest, in this case on your appointed day with NCS.

Migrant journey is full of anxiety and this is a classic case.
Good luck.
cheers
vr

[neoseal]

There is no way to prove the 3 year knowing thing, however the referees must be happy to sign and more so if UKBA calls to verify, they must answer "more than 3 years".

As VR said it is critical to apply before 28 Oct with new rules coming in after that.

[hnfq]

Thank you VR and neoseal for your input.