Citizenship status after indefinte leave to remain

I had an Ancestry Visa have been here 5 years, applied for indefinite leave to remain and now been in the UK for another 12 months I am looking to apply for citizenship but I cannot believe that you have to basically do the whole application all over again? I have already paid the vast sum to get the settlement and when I went through the process previously I was sure that there was no further fee following that but now it looks as though I will have to pay another £1350 and go through all the biometric processes with UKVCAS again when they got all of this information just over a year ago already. It's blowing my mind a bit the inefficiency and thinking how all this will actually happen in lockdown... any advice out there? Am I missing something?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... ber_20.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... gov-uk.pdf

https://visas-immigration.service.gov.u ... onality-an

Naturalisation is a completely separate process from immigration, which ends at ILR, and it is possible that you may have to repeat some of the paperwork.

However, be aware that the requirements of naturalisation differ from that for ILR and it is administered under different laws and different regulations.

It is not a rerun of the ILR application, though there are similarities between the two processes.

As for the biometrics, I believe that there are some alternatives, but others may be better placed to advise you on that.

There is no alternative to the fees. Naturalisation is seen as a choice from your side. You need not naturalise to live in the UK as you already have ILR. Also, being a Commonwealth citizen with ILR, you can exercise almost all the privileges of being a British citizen within the UK. Indeed, with Commonwealth citizenship+ILR, you can even stand for elections and be elected an MP or be appointed to the Lords.

thanks @secret.simon for taking the time to reply! I appreciate it... it is just so exhausting and expensive at a tricky time to do this and the path to doing so is so complex and repetitive that the process just feels like it is not streamlined at all...

I've got to the end of this journey so I feel I might as well complete the process but it isn't the EU membership I hoped for...

Thanks again for the advice!

Hi, just following on from this post I was wondering if anyone can give me more information about providing "Proof that you have spent at least five years as a lawful resident in the UK" - can I just provide my passport? What other documentation would be required?

It is just your passport(s) covering the five year residency period.

Amazing thanks very much, someone else told me they provided like every bank statement, all tax returns, kids' school reports but I thought surely it would be covered simply by the fact that you were stamped in on your passport. Did you scan every page for the application or is it just reviewed at your appointment?

You have to upload all scanned pages and biomtric page.

Ukcvas is a third party agent, not UKVi staff.