****URGENT B1 Necessary?**** UK Citizenship

Hi everyone,

I applied myself for my wife for BC online. I am a born UK citizen and my wife is from Bangladesh. She arrived in the UK in December 2003 and since then has not travelled abroad. We have 4 childrens and her current passport expired which is from Bangladesh.

She studied in UK and has numerous certificates including english GCSE and Esol. She also passed life in the UK test. She speaks good English and has been in UK for 16 years.

My concern is when we applied for British Citizenship it mentioned B1 we ticked NO but included other qualifications and also left a note explaining her competences in english.

We are concerned that they might decline our application even though they did not request to show B1 certificate, all they asked for was my British passport, my wifes Bangladesh passport and her indefinite to remain certificate and proof of living which we took with us.

We applied in October 2019 and got a response in November saying our application is now passed onto a case worker.

Can someone please advise us if B1 is absolutely necessary and if it is would our application will be declined and we loose our fee or can we re submit?

Thanks

She studied in UK and has numerous certificates including english GCSE and Esol. She also passed life in the UK test. She speaks good English and has been in UK for 16 years.

The B1 test or a UK Degree is mandatory and the B1 test must be from an HO approved current test and test provider. ESOL is NOT accepted anymore.

My concern is when we applied for British Citizenship it mentioned B1 we ticked NO but included other qualifications and also left a note explaining her competences in english.

The question should have prompted you to do your research BEFORE applying. What 'other qualifications' have been included? If it is NOT a UK degree or foreign degree with UK NARIC ELA and Comparable assessment, it will not be accepted.

We are concerned that they might decline our application even though they did not request to show B1 certificate, all they asked for was my British passport, my wifes Bangladesh passport and her indefinite to remain certificate and proof of living which we took with us.

HO will likely ask her to submit a correct English test and she will likely only get 10 days to submit it.

Can someone please advise us if B1 is absolutely necessary and if it is would our application will be declined and we loose our fee or can we re submit?

If an application is refused for failing to meet the requirements, then yes, you will lose the fee paid.

Thanks for the reply, our problem was my wife passport expired in 2008 and she had no need for travel, she passed her test life in UK and got UK driving licence and current bank account. The booking for B1 requires ID which is her passport not accepted because out of date and non of her existing ID are accepted, so she cannot even do the B1 test even if she wanted to! Surely the HO cannot penalise us for something that is beyond our control.

Surely the HO cannot penalise us for something that is beyond our control.

Then it really is your error. You should have renewed her passport, which is NOT something 'beyond your control'. It is, and has always been, the applicants responsibility to make sure they meet ALL the requirements and for mandatory requirements, there is no discretion.

You haven't answered my question on what exactly you DID submit??

Unfortunately without the correct English test, it will likely be a refusal.

Presumably you also submitted evidence since 2008 that she has been in the UK???