Hurdles which may derail my citizenship application

Hello everyone,

I am currently in the final stage of gathering the required documents to apply for British citizenship, however some hurdles have appeared which may derail my application.

1) The first hurdle Is regarding the proof of residence. As an EU citizen, I was granted permanent residency in 2006, after my dad was able to prove that me, my dad and my mum at the time were exercising the EU treaty rights.

Now with all this confusion, I am unsure whether or not our existing Permanent Residence Documents are still valid to use as proof of residency.


2) The second major hurdle is the 90 days rule. Currently, I spent 60 days outside of the UK for a summer Holiday, but now I find myself 'trapped' abroad, because of a national lockdown and closure of all land border.

If I present my case for the extended absences, will the Home Office show some leniency or will my application be rejected on the grounds of extended absence?


3) My main travel document (passport) is nearing it's expiry date (3 months) and unsure what to do, because I contacted my country's embassy and they warned me that because of the current situation, the waiting time for a renewal stands anywhere from 2 to 7 months if I were to apply today, whilst If I renew it at the source (in my country) it will take a max of 2 weeks to have a new passport.

4) Finally, I recently found out that I hold a secondary nationality, but don't have a valid document to show for it, since I used my EU one all my life. In this case, do I still have to declare it?

FearlessTraveller wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 2:35 am

2) The second major hurdle is the 90 days rule. Currently, I spent 60 days outside of the UK for a summer Holiday, but now I find myself 'trapped' abroad, because of a national lockdown and closure of all land border.

If I present my case for the extended absences, will the Home Office show some leniency or will my application be rejected on the grounds of extended absence?

In February 2020, you also asked about all your absences for British citizenship.
british-citizenship/help-regarding-natu ... l#p1882322

And now you have exceeded the 90 days again in the last 11 months?

FearlessTraveller wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 2:35 am

4) Finally, I recently found out that I hold a secondary nationality, but don't have a valid document to show for it, since I used my EU one all my life. In this case, do I still have to declare it?

You said here you later acquired European citizenship after moving to the UK.

I was born in Mozambique, in the same town where mum was also born and briefly lived there before moving to the UK, where I later acquired European citizenship.
other-countries/mozambique-citizenship-t300386.html

FearlessTraveller wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 2:35 am

Now with all this confusion, I am unsure whether or not our existing Permanent Residence Documents are still valid to use as proof of residency.

I believe that PR is lost after two years if you do not reside in the UK. According to your post in June 2020, it seems that you have been living in Portugal for nearly 5 years and that you were going to apply for Portughese citizenship.
europe-immigration-forum/portughese-nat ... l#p1909312

FearlessTraveller wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 2:35 am

1) The first hurdle Is regarding the proof of residence. As an EU citizen, I was granted permanent residency in 2006, after my dad was able to prove that me, my dad and my mum at the time were exercising the EU treaty rights.

Now with all this confusion, I am unsure whether or not our existing Permanent Residence Documents are still valid to use as proof of residency.

If your PR is from 2006, you may also be asked to prove that you have not been absent from the UK for any period exceeding two years, as @JB007 has mentioned above.

So you will not only have to prove your residence for the past five years, but the past 15 years.

I'll cc @Frontier Mole into this conversation as they are more knowledgeable in these matters.

Hmmmm - thanks Secret Simon...

EU settlement in the UK had a completely different set of rules applied to access ILR and by default the individual always had the right to return to the UK regardless of a stay outside of the UK for more than two years. Having EU residency allowed free movement and wither the ILR was valid or not it made no difference. The lack of entry stamps in the passport would make it very difficult if the individual stayed in the common travel area to prove they were in fact out of the UK.

That then poses the next point to consider - does ILR lapse for EU citizens and is that stated in law? My reading suggests that the two year rule applies therefore in your case it has lapsed.

The next point to consider - would you be able to apply for ILR again due to previous residency or as a concession as a returning resident.

Thank you for reverting on this point.

The approach I am taking builds on that of @JB007 above.

Note that the OP does not have ILR under the EU Settled Status (EUSS) scheme, but PR (another form of settled status) under the EEA Regulations. To the best of my knowledge (and correct me if I am wrong), ILR under the EUSS scheme has to be applied for and is not automatically acquired as PR used to be.

The OP acquired PR under Regulation 15 of the EEA Regulations, which also states in sub-section (3) that "The right of permanent residence under this regulation is lost through absence from the United Kingdom for a period exceeding two years."

So, if PR is lost by action of law (before 31st December 2020) by the applicant having been absent from the UK for a period of more than two years, does the naturalisation process investigate whether the applicant had PR at the time of application or does it presume that PR once acquired is not lost?

I could not find anything in the naturalisation guidance on either point (whether a PR older than the 5 years already required for naturalisation was investigated further or was assumed or indeed, that discretion is exercised by default to make that assumption).

My working assumption, as reflected in my advice above, is that the applicant must not only prove PR was acquired (by means of a vignette or DCPR or PR Card), but also given the age of the PR, that it was not lost subsequently. As an aside, that would be my assumption also if the applicant had ILR for more than five years, but it would be much easier to prove that by means of passport stamps.

Indeed, this flows back to the OP's original question.

FearlessTraveller wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 2:35 am

The first hurdle Is regarding the proof of residence. As an EU citizen, I was granted permanent residency in 2006, after my dad was able to prove that me, my dad and my mum at the time were exercising the EU treaty rights.

Now with all this confusion, I am unsure whether or not our existing Permanent Residence Documents are still valid to use as proof of residency.

At this point, I am merely musing aloud on these forums, to draw out thoughts and invite comments. I look forward to hearing alternate interpretations.

Note EU PR card can be used until 30 June 2021 for naturalisation applications, subject to residency requirements.

I am confused about one point and it is material- when was the last time the OP was last resident in the UK?
That date may well give access to ILR status in its own right under EUSS. So is a solution that avoids the loss of EU PR.

The other question is how long was the OP in the uk prior to his last departure from the UK

Frontier Mole wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:35 pm

I am confused about one point and it is material- when was the last time the OP was last resident in the UK?
That date may well give access to ILR status in its own right under EUSS. So is a solution that avoids the loss of EU PR.

If the OP does apply for and get ILR under the EUSS, they will have to wait for a further year before a naturalisation application, with most of that year being spent in the UK. I suspect that the OP is trying to avoid any further delay in applying for UK naturalisation.

Am I correct in stating that there is a deadline of 30th June 2021 to convert PR status into ILR under the EUSS?

To the OP: were you physically in the UK five years ago? Keep in mind that one of the requirements for naturalisation is that the applicant was physically in the UK at the start of the five year period immediately preceding the date of application (over-simplified, date of application - 5 years). This is a mandatory requirement that the Home Office has no discretion to disregard.

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:56 pm

Frontier Mole wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:35 pm

I am confused about one point and it is material- when was the last time the OP was last resident in the UK?
That date may well give access to ILR status in its own right under EUSS. So is a solution that avoids the loss of EU PR.

If the OP does apply for and get ILR under the EUSS, they will have to wait for a further year before a naturalisation application, with most of that year being spent in the UK. I suspect that the OP is trying to avoid any further delay in applying for UK naturalisation.



Am I correct in stating that there is a deadline of 30th June 2021 to convert PR status into ILR under the EUSS?

To the OP: were you physically in the UK five years ago? Keep in mind that one of the requirements for naturalisation is that the applicant was physically in the UK at the start of the five year period immediately preceding the date of application (over-simplified, date of application - 5 years). This is a mandatory requirement that the Home Office has no discretion to disregard.

I have been living in the UK for a total of 20 years, and yes, I was in the UK physically for the last 5 years