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Hello,

I'm in the process of putting together my citizenship application.

One of my British friends is going to sign for the referee that must be a citizen, but I am a bit stuck on the professional referee. I know several lawyers & registered nurses personally but none of them live in the UK anymore.

Can I put a person who lives in Canada as the professional referee? Or must they currently be resident in the UK?

Any help appreciated!

Wehi wrote:Hello,

I'm in the process of putting together my citizenship application.

One of my British friends is going to sign for the referee that must be a citizen, but I am a bit stuck on the professional referee. I know several lawyers & registered nurses personally but none of them live in the UK anymore.

Can I put a person who lives in Canada as the professional referee? Or must they currently be resident in the UK?

Any help appreciated!

Although, the guide doesn't say, if applying in the UK, you must nominate uk based referees, can you use your gp?

I sent me application off last week and one of my referees is a medical professor resident in Germany.

I hope this does not cause any problems with my application. If it does, would UKBA ask me to provide another referee or would they refuse the application and I forfeit the fee?

psb wrote:I sent me application off last week and one of my referees is a medical professor resident in Germany.

I hope this does not cause any problems with my application. If it does, would UKBA ask me to provide another referee or would they refuse the application and I forfeit the fee?

The caseworking instructions say:

6.3.7.12 If it is clear from any information we may have that a referee does not meet one or more of the criteria in paragraph 6.3.7, the applicant should be asked to provide an additional referee. This should be done by sending a REFEREE - ADDITIONAL letter together with a printout (from the UKBA website) of the appropriate page from the relevant application form.

It seems (to me) that you can only cite a non-UK resident if you are currently living outside the UK.

6.3.7.7 If the applicant is living abroad and does not know a British citizen passport holder who is a professional person or over the age of 25, a Commonwealth citizen or citizen of the country in which he or she is residing may complete and sign the form, provided:
 he/she is over 25 or has a professional standing in that country and
 has known the applicant for three years, and
 the Consul considers his/her signature to be acceptable.

The rules do not expressly state that a referee must be a UK resident.

Hopefully the UKBA will accept my referee, if not I will just have to find another one.

psb wrote:The rules do not expressly state that a referee must be a UK resident.

Hopefully the UKBA will accept my referee, if not I will just have to find another one.

The HO will not write to referees outside the UK if the naturalisation application is in the UK, you'll likely be sent another referee form to complete.

I searched on the internet and found this:

http://www.uklgig.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopi ... 35&start=0

Spoke to the Home Office today, they said one Referee could be a professional from any nationality and does not have to reside in the UK.

The other referee does not have to be a professional but does need to be British citizen.

It appears that one referee could be a non-UK resident.

psb wrote:I searched on the internet and found this:

http://www.uklgig.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopi ... 35&start=0

Spoke to the Home Office today, they said one Referee could be a professional from any nationality and does not have to reside in the UK.

The other referee does not have to be a professional but does need to be British citizen.

It appears that one referee could be a non-UK resident.

Well the NCS will not accept overseas referees or at least that is what I have been told by numerous people who applied at NCS. If you have been told different then that is good for you though, I would err on the side of caution.

Thank you D4109125.

I agree with you that I have to err on the side of caution. It's a matter of wait and see now.

I will keep you informed about the outcome.

My non-UK based professional referee was accepted by the Home Office and my application has been successful.

psb wrote:My non-UK based professional referee was accepted by the Home Office and my application has been successful.

Did the HO contact your referee?

The Home Office did not contact my referees. I assume that the Home office contact referees when there is doubt about the character of the applicant.

Wehi wrote:Hello,

I'm in the process of putting together my citizenship application.

One of my British friends is going to sign for the referee that must be a citizen, but I am a bit stuck on the professional referee. I know several lawyers & registered nurses personally but none of them live in the UK anymore.

Can I put a person who lives in Canada as the professional referee? Or must they currently be resident in the UK?

Any help appreciated!

Yes you can but how you will get signature ? You have to send the form to Canada then Ask your GP or work manager if it is Limited company. I am a member of BCS and I have signed for others people . And im not british yet but those application was successful and apart from 3 application only once they sent me letter and aparently that application was refused due to other reason. If you know someone who work for civil service or professional member they can sign your application. Or if you got kids their school teacher or your bank manager.

psb wrote:The Home Office did not contact my referees. I assume that the Home office contact referees when there is doubt about the character of the applicant.

Perhaps or perhaps they do random checking? The only concern I would have would be whether they would write to an overseas address. Though, if they're not satisfied they could write to the applicant for another referee.

D4109125 wrote:

psb wrote:The Home Office did not contact my referees. I assume that the Home office contact referees when there is doubt about the character of the applicant.

Perhaps or perhaps they do random checking? The only concern I would have would be whether they would write to an overseas address. Though, if they're not satisfied they could write to the applicant for another referee.

They can send email if they want. Any British person can be act as an refree if he or she is 25+ even unemployed. Not a big deal.

What if the referee lives in Timbuktu, does not have internet access to check email, no phone, or even a proper address?

psb wrote:My non-UK based professional referee was accepted by the Home Office and my application has been successful.

Thanks for posting that - very much worth knowing!

A bit more info on this, as it might be useful to people - we applied by post with a professional referee, an American, who lived in the US, and it was fine. We got the approval letter exactly two weeks after posting.

Also, over a month ago I emailed the UKBA asking this question, and they finally replied today - they say it IS OK for a professional referee to live abroad. My local NCS, on the other hand, said it's NOT OK.

So essentially, it is fine if you're applying by post - I can only imagine it ever causing an issue if the HO need to contact them, which seems to be very rare. But if you're applying through an NCS, it's hit and miss - some let you, some don't, depending on which person at the HO they get on the phone that day!

Sorry for bumping again, but again, this might be useful - I emailed the UKBA at one of their citizenship accounts, and they confirmed that it IS OK for the professional referee to live overseas.