British citizenship for skilled worker dependant

Hi Immigrations Board Team,

I would be grateful if you can help me with the following question:

At the moment I have got my British Citizenship, but my wife is still on Skilled Worker Dependant visa since she joined me later. My wife immigration history is below:

Arrival date to the UK: October 2021
1st Dependant Visa validity: February 2024
2nd Dependant Visa validity after extension: Jan 2027

I remember that my wife has to live in the UK 5 years continuously, in order to apply for ILR which is in Oct 2026. Once she get ILR she is also able to apply for citizenship straightaway without waiting for 1 year.

However, I have recently read the next information from gov.uk:

"You can apply for British citizenship by ‘naturalisation’ if you:

are 18 or over
are married to, or in a civil partnership with, someone who is a British citizen
have lived in the UK for at least 3 years before the date of your application"

Since my wife has already been in the UK for 3 years, is she able to apply for citizenship in October this year?
Sorry for silly question, but above sentences confused me a little bit. Aprreciate your help on this!

Thank you!

No, she needs 5yrs to qualify for ILR as you rightly wrote, then after ILR apply for naturalisation without waiting for 1year as you are BC already

She needs to qualify for and obtain ILR before being able to apply for naturalisation. Once she has ILR she will only need to prove 3 years of residence (though she will have lived in the UK for longer). Route to ILR is immaterial for citizenship, they only care you have it, not how you acquired it.