Naturalisation of EEA national married to BC - 3 or 5 yrs?

Hi, I hope someone can shed some light for me here. I'm an EEA national married to a British citizen. We've been married for 3 years and I'm considering applying for naturalisation. From the gov.uk page on "Becoming a British citizen, if your spouse is a British national" I understand that the residency requirement is 3 years. However, another requirement is that "you’ve been granted indefinite leave to stay in the UK (this means there’s no specific date that you have to leave) or permanent residence if you’re an EEA national (and you have a permanent residence card or document that shows you have permanent residence)". Does this mean that I need to get a PR card before I can apply? Meaning that I actually need to wait 5 years before I can apply, rather than the 3 year residency requirement?

The confusing thing for me is that the only related mention in "Chapter 18: naturalisation at discretion" of the "British Nationality Act 1981" is at 18.2.2.2.d. which says "was not, on the date of the application, subject under the immigration laws to any restriction on the period of stay in the UK". The question is: as an EEA national without a PR card, are you in any way "subject under the immigration laws to any restriction on the period of stay in the UK"?

Thanks for your help.

You will need PR before you qualify to apply for British Citizenship. If you apply without it, your application will be refused and you will lose your fee.


It takes 5 years to attain PR by exercising treaty rights as an EU national.

Once you have the document confirming your PR, you can apply immediately for citizenship without having to wait the 12 months on PR.

See similar discussion and query in the link below

http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 01133.html

Thanks for your reply. So that basically means that EEA nationals in the UK are in fact "subject under the immigration laws to restrictions on the period of stay in the UK". This is something I didn't know.

No, they are not, EU citizens have the right to free movement between states. Nationality law requires ALL applicants for British Citizenship to hold PR (EU route) or ILR (UK immigration route). PR and ILR effectively mean and are the same thing 'free from immigration restrictions' and both are obtained after 5 years.

Nationality law is completely different to UK Immigration law and the EEA route you are under.