Immigrationboards.com

Hello Everyone

Me and my wife are planning to apply for Naturalisation as a British Citizen in the month of April. My families current passport and ILR status are as follows

Myself: On ILR since October-2010 (already eligible for Naturalisation since October-2011)
Wife: On ILR since March 2013 (will become eligible for Naturalisation by end of March-2014)
Daughter: British Citizen (born on 30.09.2013 and has her British Passport)

My Question is:

On the booklet guidance for AN form, it says that, my wife is eligible under the following categories of residence requirement

Category 1
========
- If you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen (section 6(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981)
-- Have lived in the UK for a minimum of 3 years before you apply and meet the following residence requirements

OR

Category 2
========
- If you are NOT married to or the civil partner of a British citizen (Section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981)
-- Have lived in the UK for a minimum of 5 years before you apply

Now this is a bit confusing, I am pretty sure my wife falls under the first category and we can apply together in a joint application. But by basic understanding I ideally fall under second category as of today since I do not have a BC yet. I hope it does not mean I have to apply for BC first and then my wife can apply later just to fall under category 1.

Any clarification will be deeply appreciated.

Kind Regards
Siddharth

It's very simple. Are you British now or not? Then 1 or 2 apply.
See the FAQ (link below) for more details.

Thanks a lot for the reply. But I seem to be still in a quandary.

According to FAQ Q1, my wife is eligible as she has completed 1 year after getting an ILR so she can apply, but according to Q2. she might have to wait until I get my BC.

Sorry if I am sounding confused, but it is necessary for me to get this correct, which at present seems a bit ambiguous to me.

Regards
Siddharth

In Q1 there is also a link to the other requirements which require 5 years of residence in the UK. If she meets that, she can apply the same time as you (individual applications, joint reduced fee). If she has not completed 5 years of residence, apply first and once you are BC, she can apply (if completed 3 years of residence).

Thanks a lot jambo.

Much appreciated

I will apply first and then she can apply after I get the BC. So in all she will have to wait for a few more months. I was really under the impression that we both have ILR > 1 year so it must have sufficed. But really missed that she also needed to have 5 years instead of 3 years for non-BC spouse.

Thanks again