How long before applying for British Citizenship.

Hi Everyone,

I am the spouse of an EU citizen. Both have been married and living in the UK for the past five and half years.

I have just received a UK residence card expiring 2021. I want to apply for the British citizenship but have been told conflicting information from diffrent immigration expert lawyers.

One of them has informed me that I have to wait 12 months before you can apply/The other that I can apply now since you have been living inthe UK for the last five years.

I have cheked the UKBA website but is still not 100% clear: It says you can only apply after 1 year of permanent recidency in the UK but at the same time it says that you are a permenant resident if you have exercised EEA free-movement rights in the United Kingdom for a continuous five-year period ending on or after 30 April 2006.

Can anyone plz advice.

Many thanks.

European Economic Area nationals and Swiss nationals

If you are a European Economic Area (EEA) national or a Swiss national or the family member of such a person, you will automatically have permanent residence status if you have exercised EEA free-movement rights in the United Kingdom for a continuous five-year period ending on or after 30 April 2006. You do not have to apply for leave to remain.

It's a bit confusing as there are two periods of 5 years which cover 6 years....

After 5 years as a family member of EEA national exercising treaty rights, you automatically obtain PR (Permanent Residence). You need to have PR for 1 year before you can apply for British Citizenship so 6 years in total.

For the BC application, you need to be in the UK for 5 years so effectively you need to meet the requirements for years 1-6.

Now, you have two options:

1. Wait 1 year after you receive your PR sticker and apply. In this case, you don't need to provide information on your EEA partner activity in year 1-5.
2. Apply after exactly 6 years. In this case you will need to provide again all the information you provided in your EEA4 application to show that your EEA partner has been exercising treaty rights for 5 years. The AN form used for BC application has a section to cover such cases.

In both cases, you will also need to pass the Life in the UK test.

I am in the same boat with Armada81, i really dont think it's worth the risk of losing money and time trying to get the application in ealier than the most reasonable time stated in the guidance booklet.

i wish i could send it in earlier without the hassle of including my spouses documents, but that is not going to happen. We know with the new government, laws change abruptly and we all stand a chance of an onerous process by waiting, but we can only wait and hope it doesnt happen before out time.

ultimately i would like to be considered on my own merit, so i'll wait till my one year PR is up.

thanks Jambo for your insight.

Jambo wrote:It's a bit confusing as there are two periods of 5 years which cover 6 years....

After 5 years as a family member of EEA national exercising treaty rights, you automatically obtain PR (Permanent Residence). You need to have PR for 1 year before you can apply for British Citizenship so 6 years in total.

For the BC application, you need to be in the UK for 5 years so effectively you need to meet the requirements for years 1-6.

Now, you have two options:

1. Wait 1 year after you receive your PR sticker and apply. In this case, you don't need to provide information on your EEA partner activity in year 1-5.
2. Apply after exactly 6 years. In this case you will need to provide again all the information you provided in your EEA4 application to show that your EEA partner has been exercising treaty rights for 5 years. The AN form used for BC application has a section to cover such cases.

In both cases, you will also need to pass the Life in the UK test.

Hi,

does it means that you can also obtain British citizenship if your eea family member exercising treaty rights for 5 years?

kacha wrote:

Jambo wrote:It's a bit confusing as there are two periods of 5 years which cover 6 years....

After 5 years as a family member of EEA national exercising treaty rights, you automatically obtain PR (Permanent Residence). You need to have PR for 1 year before you can apply for British Citizenship so 6 years in total.

For the BC application, you need to be in the UK for 5 years so effectively you need to meet the requirements for years 1-6.

Now, you have two options:

1. Wait 1 year after you receive your PR sticker and apply. In this case, you don't need to provide information on your EEA partner activity in year 1-5.
2. Apply after exactly 6 years. In this case you will need to provide again all the information you provided in your EEA4 application to show that your EEA partner has been exercising treaty rights for 5 years. The AN form used for BC application has a section to cover such cases.

In both cases, you will also need to pass the Life in the UK test.

Hi,

does it means that you can also obtain British citizenship if your eea family member exercising treaty rights for 5 years?

Yes. You can apply for BC if you have been on EEA route and have held PR for 1 year.

Hi
This whole 6 or 5 years thing is well confusing :S
I have PRC and m an ex-family member of a EEA. Should I go through the 5 or 5 years route please?
thank you

I meant ... 5 or 6 year route pls?
thx