Question on British Passport Application

[arun_av]

Hi,
I had my ILR stamped in Oct'04 but i left the country for a change of career back to India in Dec'04 (06-12-04 to be exact). I then came back to the UK on 12-Jun-2005 and since then i have been working here with just a 3 week visit to India last month. Am I now eligible to apply for a British Passport? My wife and kid were also granted ILR at the same time as me and they have been out of the country from 23-12-2004 to 04-Jul-2005. Could you please let me know if they can also apply for a British Passport. What is the fees for each application?

[John]

Am I now eligible to apply for a British Passport?

No, certainly not, you are not British! But you are asking the wrong question! You should be asking "Am I now eligible to apply for Naturalisation as British?". Once you have British Citizenship, getting a British Passport is a simple form-filling exercise (at the moment, but soon they are introducing interviews for first-time applicants.)

Let's quickly review the rules for naturalisation :-

• You have had ILR for at least one year
• in the five years prior to IND receiving your naturalisation application you have not been out of the UK for more than 450 days
• in the one year prior to IND receiving your naturalisation application you have not been out of the UK for more than 90 days
• you were physically in the UK exactly five years before IND receive your application
• you have passed the Citizenship Test

There is a bit of leeway on those 450 and 90 day numbers, but not a lot.

You give insufficient information to say whether you meet all those requirements. You will to do all your own calculations.

Your wife and child? Exactly the same requirements for your wife. Did she come to the UK at the same time as you, or later?

Your child? How old now?

By the way, have you and your wife passed the Citizenship Test?