Immigrationboards.com

I am an American citizen and was first here for over two years on a student visa for post-graduate study. As I'm now married to a British citizen, I transitioned to a partner visa as of November 2013, with leave to remain for two and a half years. I have now been resident -- between the student and partner visas -- in the UK continuously for three and a half years.

According to the UKBA site, I fulfill all requirements for application to citizenship, excepting one clause I can't seem to make full sense of -- "you’ve been granted indefinite leave to stay in the UK." This also seems to be referred to in the application guidelines: "If you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen, you will need to be free from immigration time restrictions on the date you make your application."

What does this mean? Does this requirement mean I need to wait to apply for citizenship after being granted 'permanent/indefinite' leave to remain, which, as I understand it, would be a further few years from now? What does that process look like?

Best,
L

One of the requirements when applying for naturalisation is to have to have ILR (indefinite leave to remain).
You need to get it first and once you have it if still married to BC you can apply straight away.

Under current rules, you will qualify for ILR in November 2018, after which as you've already been advised, if you are still married to your British spouse you will be able to apply for British Citizenship. After this first 2.5 year term you will have to apply for a further 2.5 year extension.