Settlement Options

Hello all,

Head is spinning as I do not find gov.uk website useful for finding the information I am after!

My situation is this:
In UK 11 years
8 years as student
2 years on PSW
1 year as spouse
(1.5 years left on FLRm)

I understand I am now eligible to apply for 10 year settlement/ILR document.

But is this the best option?
I want to apply for a passport as soon as I am eligible (am I correct thinking this can be done 1 year after getting ILR but on spouse visa I've a while to go yet?)

Just want to make sure that I am heading down the best route, considering costs and hassle of compiling all the supporting documentation...

Thanks in advance!

Is your spouse British?

If you apply for ILR under 10 years long residency (any legal stay counts), you can apply to naturalise as a British citizen once your receive your ILR (if your partner is British) and once your citizenship application is approved and you attend your ceremony, you can apply for a passport.

For long residence applications, you only need to send your current passport and all other passports covering the last 10 years, BRP, LIUK and English Level B1 test certificate.

https://www.gov.uk/long-residence

CR001 wrote:Is your spouse British?

If you apply for ILR under 10 years long residency (any legal stay counts), you can apply to naturalise as a British citizen once your receive your ILR (if your partner is British) and once your citizenship application is approved and you attend your ceremony, you can apply for a passport.

For long residence applications, you only need to send your current passport and all other passports covering the last 10 years, BRP, LIUK and English Level B1 test certificate.

https://www.gov.uk/long-residence

Hey Char!

Thanks so much for your response,

My husband is indeed British - from birth (not sure if this matters)
So do I understand you correctly - as soon as I get approved for ILR I can apply to naturalise without waiting a year - between receiving this and becoming a British citizen/acquiring a passport doesn't need to take long?

This is amazing news, I am so frustrated having to apply for visas and being told I can't get a mortgage with a lot of banks etc. etc. all the fun stuff that comes with being an honest, working, paying immigrant

Thanks again and apologies for the rant!

Correct, so the order of events will be :

Apply Set(LR), which is a postal application only and can take anywhere between a couple of months to 6/7 month.

Once you receive ILR and your BRP, complete form AN and you will be applying as spouse of British citizen and submit either postal or using NCS for a small fee (recommended as you get to keep your original documents) at your council. Submit passport, ILR BRP, spouse passport, LIUK, English Level B1 again and marriage certificate. The application is based on 3 years residence only and you need to make sure that you were physically present exactly 3 years earlier to the day that HO receives your application.

Approvals for citizenship currently take about 6-10 weeks. Once you receive your approval letter followed by invitation letter OR approval and invitation letter combined in one, contact your council to book your ceremony or book a private ceremony (which has an additional cost).

As soon as you received your naturalisation certificate at the ceremony, you can apply for a British passport, which takes about 5/6 weeks and you will receive a letter to attend an interview, which is to confirm your identity and they will ask questions that only you should know. Your spouse cannot sit in the interview with you.

Once you have done the interview, you will receive your documents back (foreign passport and naturalisation certificate) and within a few days of that you should receive your British passport.

Thanks for all the detail! This sounds great and I am almost annoyed I've got a summer full of holidays so can't apply till October!

Having lived here for 11 years, fingers crossed Life in the UK test should be a breeze and as I've got a degree from a UK Uni, language quals are also taken care of.

Thanks SO much once more!