Newly enforced mandatory 12 month waiting period introduced with the ILR

Previously, if you have stayed in the UK for 6 years or longer when you have applied for the Permanent Residence card, if you have provided sufficient proof to cover 6 years+, after receiving the PR card you could apply for the British citizenship immediately without waiting 12 months.

With the ILR, the wording seems to imply that they will only look at your last 5 years, doesn't matter that you stayed here for example for 10 years. And because of this, you will have to wait 12 months until you can apply for the British citizenship.

Am I understanding this correctly, that even though i have been here more than 6 years, I will have to stil wait 12 months with the new ILR rules?

And if so, is this legal - was the process not supposed to be like-for-like, except simplified and made simpler. Not changing the existing regulations.

Can this be challenged in court, and what are the chances of this getting overturned in that scenario?


Below is taken from https://www.gov.uk/british-citizenship

You have indefinite leave to remain (ILR)

To apply for citizenship with ILR you must usually have lived in the UK for 12 months after getting it.

You have ‘permanent residence’ status

This means that if the 5 year period was more than 12 months ago, you’ll be able to apply for citizenship as soon as you get your permanent residence document.

PR was automatically attained under the EU regs after 5 years if you were a qualified person or family member of a qualified EU citizen. PR status must have been held for 12 months.

The new settled (ILR) status is granted under the UK immigration rules and not the EU rules.

The 12 months on ILR has always been the case under the UK immigration rules when applying for citizenship, this is nothing new.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:19 pm

PR was automatically attained under the EU regs after 5 years if you were a qualified person or family member of a qualified EU citizen. PR status must have been held for 12 months.

The new settled (ILR) status is granted under the UK immigration rules and not the EU rules.

The 12 months on ILR has always been the case under the UK immigration rules when applying for citizenship, this is nothing new.

You still had to apply to confirm your PR before you could apply for British citizenship. But obviously it covered whole duration you were qualified. So if you applied after 6 years, and were covered for that duration, you did not have to wait 12 months.

Why is that not the case for ILR for Europeans?


Perhaps you can help me with my specific issue. I have been here for almost 10 years now. After 5 years mark, I have applied for the PR card so I could apply for citizenship, but I was rejected due to not having comprehensive health insurance for 1 of those 5 years, when I was over 18 and in university but not working (not paying NI).

Because of that I have been waiting another 5 years so I could apply for the PR, which would be in few months from now. But now comprehensive health insurance requirement is scrapped with the ILR.

Am I still able to attain PR? Or that process is gone now, and I have to get ILR. And if I get ILR, do my 10 years not count here, as in I still will have to wait 12 months after I receive it before I could apply for citizenship? No way around it? Besides being married to British citizen, as it seems that the 12 month waiting requirement is scraped then.