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is it possible to get b.citizenship without ILR?

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 6:51 pm
by qazplm
My husband (non EEA) came to UK in 2006.
We got married in August 2007.
He got residence card as a EEA family member in September 2008.
I've got British citizenship since July 2012.

Can he apply straight for BC, or first ILR? Which application form do we need?

Thank you for your help.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:04 pm
by fomsand1
The answer to your question is a capital NO!

He will need to apply for ILR first and thereafter naturalization.

The form to use for his ILR application is SETM which you can find easily on the UKBA website.

Regards

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:19 am
by vinny
If he qualifies for PR automatically, then he will not need to apply for ILR.

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:43 am
by aledeniz
fomsand1 wrote:The answer to your question is a capital NO!

He will need to apply for ILR first and thereafter naturalization.

The form to use for his ILR application is SETM which you can find easily on the UKBA website.
From qazplm's brief description, I'd have thought the answer to her question is probably "possibly yes", and in that case, to confirm PR, the form to use would have been EEA4.

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:54 pm
by qazplm
[quote]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.

Does it mean, that my husband can apply for naturalization after 5 + 1 years exercising treaty rights? Or after 3 years, as I am now British?

Thank you for your responses.

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:02 pm
by Jambo
See Q1 & Q5 in Citizenship FAQs - Common Questions - Read before posting.

He will need first to obtain PR which is obtained after 5 years. He can apply for naturalisation without waiting 12 months as he is married to a BC. The qualifying residence period for naturalisation (for absences outside the UK etc) would be 3 years.

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 4:56 pm
by aledeniz
qazplm wrote:Does it mean, that my husband can apply for naturalization after 5 + 1 years exercising treaty rights? Or after 3 years, as I am now British?
Your husband, being non EEA, cannot exercise treaty rights on their own. It is the EEA citizen, in this case you, who may exercise treaty rights.

I could give you my own case as an example of a(n hopefully) straightforward case: I am an EEA citizen, and I did exercise treaty rights for more than 7 years. I did marry, and my non EEA wife has been living with me in the UK for more than 5 of those years, during which time I was continuously exercising treaty rights as a worker. My wife, from the day after the 5th year of (her own) continuous residence has been completed, has achieved PR status, albeit not yet certified through an EEA4 application. Given that she has got PR, if I get BC, she may apply for BC as well straight away (and obviously she should pass the LITK test, she has not been many days abroad, ...).

So the answer to your question is "possibly yes", as it does (also!) depend from your activities (not his!) regarding exercising treaty rights during the period of time on which he has been living in the UK with you.

I have to add that, given the recent changes to the immigration rules, specifically the implementation of the master nationality rule (the definition of EEA citizen has been restricted so that dual nationals who are British citizens, your case, are not anymore EEA citizens), I am not really sure your husband's is going to be a straightforward case, albeit I hope the legislator or the Home office may have left in place some arrangements for such cases, which I am afraid I don't know much about (to avoid any such issue, I did actually wait to apply for BC until my wife had achieved PR status).

On the other hand, if you manage to get your husband's PR status certified through an EEA4 application (which is free), I would imagine he could then apply for BC the next day (as long as the other requirements are fullfilled).

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 6:08 pm
by qazplm
Thank you all for your advice.

One more question:

When my husband is going to obtain PR - after 5 years from the date we got married (despite he was illegally in UK) or since he got the residency card.