Does anyone have any experience in applying for naturalisation before completing one year of ILR?
My non-British wife and I have been in the UK since November 1999 on a combination of WP and HSMP. We only received ILR in August 2004 (4.75 years) because of a period of unemployment while on HSMP. Although we have completed the 5 years, we are currently waiting because of the one-year ILR requirement. The questions is, do we really have to wait until August 2005 to apply? The one-year ILR rule is not rigid; there is room for discretion on the part of the caseworker according the the Nationality Instructions which are below:
7.4 Discretion to disregard immigration time restrictions in the final 12 months may normally be exercised if:
a. at the date of application, the applicant has had less than 12 months free of conditions but has been free of conditions for more than 12 months by the time the application is considered, provided the other requirements are met; or
b. a time limit was imposed inappropriately on return to the UK after a visit abroad, and the applicant subsequently demonstrates eligibility for returning resident status or entitlement to an exemption under s.8(2), 8(3) or 8(4) of the Immigration Act 1971, as amended by s.4 of the Immigration Act 1988 (see paragraph 9.1 below); or
c. the period of limited leave was less than 10 days at the beginning of the 12 month period before the date of application; or
d. the period of limited leave was between 10 and 90 days at the beginning of the 12 month period, if other statutory requirements, including the other residence requirements, are met and the applicant has demonstrated established links through the presence here of home, family and a substantial part of estate; or
e. the period of limited leave was more than 90 days at the beginning of the 12 month period, and the other statutory requirements, including the other residence requirements, are met, only if :
i. the applicant has established links with the UK through presence here of home, family and a substantial part of estate, and
ii. there are compelling business or compassionate reasons to justify granting the application now; or
f. the period of limited leave exceeded 10 days at the beginning of the 12 months period, and the other statutory requirements, including the other residence requirements, are not met, only in the most exceptional circumstances and if the criteria at e. above are met; or
g. consideration of an application for indefinite leave to remain, made more than 15 months before the citizenship application, had been protracted through no fault of the applicant, providing ILR was eventually granted; or
h. if the applicant is a nationals of an EEA country or is a Swiss national, we are satisfied that he or she was genuinely unaware of the need to satisfy this requirement.
It appears that we could apply up to 90 days without much problem before the August one-year ILR anniversary as we meet the requirements of 7.4(d). Furthermore, since most applications take at least 3 months to decide, paragraph 7.4(a) may apply anyway because the statutory requirement may be met by the time the decision is made. My objective in doing this is to try to get a decision a little earlier than if we waited until August.
Does anyone have any experience on this ?
Thanks
Joseph
