application for citizenship now that ilr has been granted

My Japanese wife was granted ilr recently based on settlement as my spouse.

I cannot find a clear answer to my following question.

I am a British Citizen.

She came to the UK in 1999 with a visitor visa, six months later she obtained a voluntary worker visa for a years length, then a year later she got another volunatary worker visa for a year.

On expiry of the voluntary visa she obtained a student visa, renewed each expiry time until October 2004 when she obtaned definite leave to remain as my spouse.

So she has resided in the UK for 7 years now and now that she has ilr, I need to know if she qualifies for and what form she needs to submit to get her British Citizenship.

Thanks for any info.

Mikey, given that your wife is married to a British Citizen ... you .... there is a three-year qualifying period. It is clear from what you post that your wife has clearly been in the UK legally for at least 3 years.

Accordingly she needs to pass the "applicant for Naturalisation was physically in the UK exactly three years before IND receive the Naturalisation application" test. It matters not what sort of visa was held at that time.

There are also requirements :-

• not being outside the UK more than 270 days in the 3 years up to the date IND receive the application
• not being outside the UK more than 90 days in the 1 year up to the date IND receive the application
• enclosing a Pass Certificate in respect of the Citizenship Test
• as noted by you, holding ILR

There is a bit of leeway on those 270 and 90 day numbers, but not a lot.

So Mikey it might come down to ... has your wife passed the Citizenship Test? If not she needs to get studying!

Incidentally, has your wife investigated whether Japan allows dual citizenship? If not and she acquires British Citizenship then she might well lose her Japanese Citizenship.

Assuming she wants to proceed, go to this IND webpage and download the form AN(NEW), the Guide AN(NEW) and look at the Fee Notes, from which you will see that the application fee is currently £268.

Thank you very much John for the information.

Apparently Japan does not allow Dual nationality. Our daughter has until she is 21 years old to decide whether she wishes Japanese or British Citizenship.

Btw her postal application for ilr took less than one month.

Thanks again.

Apparently Japan does not allow Dual nationality.

So what is your wife going to do? Remain Japanese, or become British?

Go for British Citizenship probably, she does not intend to return there to live.

Thanks for the info.

mikey wrote: Apparently Japan does not allow Dual nationality. Our daughter has until she is 21 years old to decide whether she wishes Japanese or British Citizenship.

If you want your daughter to stay British, then it might be worth ensuring she doesn't get too attached to her Japanese citizenship.