when do the changes to british citizenship application star

hello,

when do the changes to british citizenship application start.

my friends are eligible for citizenship on the 18th of february 2010 and hence can make the application on the 18th of january (one month before).

as per the uk border agency website, the new rules (one year probabion citizenship) kick in on the 13th of january. have my friends missed the deadline by 5 days? will they be able to escape the new rules of one year probationary citizenship? The confusion is arising because in the proposed changes, as per the border agency site, the probationary citizenship program does not start till the summer of 2011.

28 days rule doesn't apply to citizenship applications.

As your friend already has ILR he has up till July 2013 to apply for citizenship under current rules.

thanks for the reply,

you mean to say if my friend applies on the 20th of january 2010, he can apply for citizenship under the old rules, and hence the probabtionary rule does not apply to him. is the july 2013 date on the home office website

when you say the 28th days rule does not apply to citizenship applications, you mean to sayt that if my friend if eligible for citizenship on the 18th of february 2010, then he can only apply for it on the 18th of feb, not 28 days before, correct?

There is a thread on this

UKBA mentions it here

You want to look at the last sentence of the first bullet point

If a migrant has already been given indefinite leave to remain (also known as settlement) on the date when earned citizenship is introduced, they will automatically be considered to be a 'permanent resident'. They will not need to pay or apply for this to occur. They will be eligible to apply for British citizenship under the current rules during the first two years after earned citizenship is introduced.

The last sentence of the last bullet point specifies when earned citizenship is introduced

Earned citizenship will now be introduced in July 2011.

There is discretion to disregard immigration time restrictions in the final 12 months (see point 7.5). However I'm not aware of anyone successfully using it and considering how much you pay for the application I wouldn't recommend to rely on the above discretion.

thanks for all the information and clarifications.

much appreciated!!