British Citizenship Question...

I am a Canadian citizen. I was living in the UK from August 21, 2006 until August 15, 2008. I have been living in Canada with my common-law partner (he is British) since. We are planning on returning to the UK permanently by march 2009. I want to apply for citizenship in August 2009 but have a question...

Since I have been out of the country for 7 months, does this effect the three years I have to be living in England before applying for citizenship? (or is there a certain amount of days that you can be out of the country in that time period?)

Thanks for any help!!

Tonia

shadowfoot17 wrote:I am a Canadian citizen. I was living in the UK from August 21, 2006 until August 15, 2008. I have been living in Canada with my common-law partner (he is British) since. We are planning on returning to the UK permanently by march 2009. I want to apply for citizenship in August 2009 but have a question...

Since I have been out of the country for 7 months, does this effect the three years I have to be living in England before applying for citizenship? (or is there a certain amount of days that you can be out of the country in that time period?)

Thanks for any help!!

Tonia

Firstly I'm not sure being a common-law partner qualifies you to apply after 3 years as I thought you had to either be a spouse or a civil partner, so you may have to wait for 5 years.

Secondly you haven't said your reason for being in Canada, but absences over 180 days in the final year are only disregarded if the absence was due to you serving abroad in crown service or due to a compelling occupational or compassionate reason.

What visa category(ies) were you on during your residency in the UK? Do/did you have ILR/ILE or equivalent?

Hi,

We moved to Canada in August of this year, but have since decided that England was a better place for us and are moving back. We'll be going back within the next three months.

I have a UK Ancesty Visa that expires in 2011.

I do believe you're right.. I must have read it wrong somewhere. I will have to wait five years before applying. Or we could just get married now... hehe

So will this stay in Canada effect my 5 years when I do apply?

AND

Does anyone know how I can renew my visa when it expires? (it expires a year before my 5 years... that's silly. They should make it a 5 year visa instead of 4!)

Tonia

If you do get married, the residence requirements for naturalisations comes down to 3 years. Do watch out for the number of days allowed abroad as it could set your eligibility to apply for naturalisation back 3 years.

shadowfoot17 wrote: I have a UK Ancesty Visa that expires in 2011.

You need to get Indefinite Leave to Remain before you even think about naturalisation.

You need to check if your absence from the U.K. breaks the continuity of residence for ILR - if so, you might want to consider switching to the spouse/partner visa.

shadowfoot17 wrote:Hi,

We moved to Canada in August of this year, but have since decided that England was a better place for us and are moving back. We'll be going back within the next three months.

I have a UK Ancesty Visa that expires in 2011.

I do believe you're right.. I must have read it wrong somewhere. I will have to wait five years before applying. Or we could just get married now... hehe

So will this stay in Canada effect my 5 years when I do apply?

AND

Does anyone know how I can renew my visa when it expires? (it expires a year before my 5 years... that's silly. They should make it a 5 year visa instead of 4!)

Tonia

Even if you get married, it wouldn't really make your chances of ILR/naturalisation any easier. For ancestry visas, you would need 5 years' residency, but since you will have been outside the UK for 6+ months, you would need to see if you have too many absences to apply for ILR.

If you get married you would have to apply for a spouse visa, then wait two years before applying for ILR.

sakura wrote:
If you get married you would have to apply for a spouse visa, then wait two years before applying for ILR.

Ancestry Visa holders do not have to switch to spouse status when they marry British citizens. It's optional. Sometimes it is advantageous to do so, sometimes it is not.