Successful Citizenship Application - Useful Feedback

Hi All,

I always found (find) this forum very useful when applying for visas for my in-laws and more recently for my wife's British Citizenship application so thought I would share some of my experiences which may benefit other people!

History Pre-British Citizenship Application

- EEA1 Family Permit Visa held (valid for 6 months) aka 'UK Entry Visa'.
- EEA2 Family Permit Visa held (valid for 5 years) aka 'residence permit'.

Due to life having unfortunate timings my wife had to return to her country of birth because of family circumstances for a bit at the time we wanted to submit her British Citizenship application. Unfortunately her EEA2 had expired when she left the country and she therefore had to re-apply in her home country for a UK Entry Visa (based on EEA dependency) before coming back to the UK, which was successful and following on from which we applied for her British Citizenship.

British Citizenship Application Basis

The British Citizenship application was based on EEA dependency (5 years residence plus 12 months, the latter is the required exercising of EC treaty rights as I understand it). Her second EEA1 had expired at the time of the application, so if you are wondering.. it was fine as long as you have completed your 5 years plus 12 months, in this case, you are already considered as a UK resident (at the time) and technically don't need a visa although this might be troublesome when applying for a job and definitely will be when travelling abroad. Annoyingly it seems recently the Government changed all the websites again and cannot find the reference links anymore for this kind of information and the new website seems quite scarce on EEA information.

Note: if you hold a EEA2 (NOT EEA1!) residence permit you can travel to most EU countries without needing a Schengen Visa (it will say on the EU country's consulate website if they will accept this or not) we have successfully travelled to The Netherlands a couple of times like this (remember to bring your marriage certificate!).

Documents Submitted for British Citizenship Application

Always interesting I found when applying for this (and Visas),

- Document checklist.
- Covering letter.
- Supporting letter from me confirming relationship status, confirming our account was a joint account, confirming I supported her financially when needed (as you need to fill-in basis of stay from last 6 years and if you are not employed you will need to evidence you were self-sufficient for whatever period that was).
- My wife's old Passports.
- My wife's 'current' Passport.
- My EEA Registration Certificate (I am a Dutch).
- Pass Notification Letter Life in the UK Test.
- Letter from my and her employer confirming employment (making mention of; position held, type of contract, join date, how long employed, annual salary).
- Marriage certificate.
- My wife's payslips of the last 6 years. Note: apparently P60 slips will also suffice instead of payslips.
- My payslips of the last 6 years.
- Copies of any Home Office letters we had from past applications.
- Evidence of her qualifications obtained whilst studying.
- Bank statements (not required actually I believe?).
- Full travel history.
- Copies of council tax payments (yearly overviews will probably suffice as well).

Other Notes

- If anyone is wondering, as I was at the time, I filled in 'Section 2: Residence requirements' (incl. EEA part) on a month to month basis (i.e. Jan 2009 to Feb 2010).
- After checking everything a million times.. I had completely mocked up the payment slip and filled in my American Express details *sigh* which I can now confirm, in case you are wondering, they DO NOT accept this as payment.
- If for whatever reason you do not know your parent's date of birth just fill in '01 Jan 1900' and give an explanation at 'FURTHER INFORMATION NOT COVERED IN OTHER SECTIONS'.
- I did not use a checking service as offered by most Councils.
- My referee used with a professional qualification was Dutch and NOT LIVING IN THE UK (nor did he ever live here or held a British passport in case you were wondering). This is accepted (at the time) as long as your other reference is a British National holding a valid British Passport and meets the other requirements.
- Please note that filled in references are valid for 6 months from the date signed after which they will become invalid (if you have not submitted your application yet at that time).

Hope this was useful to at least one person! Let me know if you have a question.

Hi guido,
Congratulation!!!
That is helpful thank you for your share!
I am about applying naturalisation as we'll but first time was refuse
Wait to do the second time soon.
Natalie

Thank you! I hope the second time is successful Natalie!