Citizenship through EEA marriage

[jagberg]

This may be a bit complicated so heres the facts. My wife and I arrived in the UK in Jan 2006, having been dating for 7 years. She arrived on an Irish passport. I was here on a working holiday visa until 2007.

Me
2006-2007 (Mar) - Working Holiday Visa
2007 (Mar) - 2009 (Mar) - HSMP
2009 (Mar) - 2012 (Mar) - HSMP

Wife:
2006 (Jan) - Irish Passport

She can apply for citizenship next year as shes been here for 5 years. We got married last year 2009 (Mar). I wanted to find out if I can apply for citizenship when she goes for hers in 2011. Otherwise would I be able to get it after she gets hers (straight away)?

[BLK235]

She can apply for citizenship next year as shes been here for 5 years.

Unfortunately after acquiring PR your wife also needs to be free from immigration controls for 12 months, thus bringing overall residential period to 6 years (see page 5 of the guide AN).

If you are a national of a country which is a member state of the EEA or Switzerland, or the family member of such a person, you will automatically have permanent residence status after exercising EEA free movement rights in the UK for any continuous period of 5 years ending on or after 30 April 2006, and therefore will not have to apply for indefinite leave to remain. But remember that, unless married to or the civil partner of a British citizen, you should normally have held permanent resident status for 12 months before applying for naturalisation.

The good news is that thanks to transitional arrangements she should be able to apply under current BC rules.


Now, the bad news it's not enough to be a spouse of BC to apply for BC. Amongst other things you also need to be free from immigration controls (i.e. hold PR or ILR)

I suppose you can acquire ILR either through your HSMP (Feb 2012 after taking into account 28 days rule) or by spending 2 years on UK spousal visa. It appears in your case HSMP route is marginally quicker. Also you are most likely to be subject to new BC rules.

[newperson]

She can apply for citizenship next year as shes been here for 5 years.

Unfortunately after acquiring PR your wife also needs to be free from immigration controls for 12 months, thus bringing overall residential period to 6 years (see page 5 of the guide AN).

This is not true. There is a loophole in this legislation based on prior agreements between Ireland and the UK. Unlike other EU citizens, Irish citizens are deemed de facto and de jure to have permanent residence the moment that they arrive to settle in the UK. So the moment that the OP's wife accumulates five years in the UK, she can apply immediately for UK citizenship, if that's what she wants to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Tra ... in_Britain

Under current rules, once the OP had been granted ILR on the basis of his HSMP/Tier 1 status, he would have been able to have applied immediately for citizenship if his wife was a British citizen. As he will be applying for the next stage (probationary citizenship) in March 2012, he will be subject to the new laws.

I know that he can't apply for citizenship with his wife when she does so in 2011. He will need to wait until 2012, at least. However, with the new regime, it is unclear to me whether or not he can apply for citizenship immediately the moment he is granted probationary citizenship or whether you need to wait a year. I would imagine in would sadly be the later case, as he is in effect "switching" from an economic category to a family one, and the new system doesn't treat those people very favourably. I think the OP got caught right in the crack of the change, unfortunately.