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Leaving UK after British citizenship / PR

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 9:53 pm
by saira1983
Hi all
Getting straight to the point :
If a person's circumstances change after acquiring the privilege of British citizenship, and they wish to leave UK for a few years to go and live somewhere else, say Australia, due to a very good job offer or any other reason - will their British citizenship be revoked after a certain time ? If yes, what is such time frame ?
In this case, would it be better to just stay on PR, and not apply for the privilege of British citizenship ? Then, can a person get PR and go and live abroad for a few years and then come back to UK ? Will the PR still be valid when they come back ?
Thanks for any help in advance !

Re: Leaving UK after British citizenship / PR

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:04 pm
by noajthan
saira1983 wrote:Hi all
Getting straight to the point :
If a person's circumstances change after acquiring the privilege of British citizenship, and they wish to leave UK for a few years to go and live somewhere else, say Australia, due to a very good job offer or any other reason - will their British citizenship be revoked after a certain time ? If yes, what is such time frame ?
In this case, would it be better to just stay on PR, and not apply for the privilege of British citizenship ? Then, can a person get PR and go and live abroad for a few years and then come back to UK ? Will the PR still be valid when they come back ?
Thanks for any help in advance !
If circumstances change a Briton can certainly go and live abroad. Many do. Spain is popular, Australia too.
Citizenship is not revoked for such reasons.

If not yet British the dilemma is how to answer the future intentions question in the naturalisation form.

If someone is settled in UK (with either ILR or PR) then that status will be lost after an absence abroad of over 2 years.

:idea: Pro tip: coming back to UK to top up the ILR by making the odd short trip once in a while does not maintain ILR :!:
In such cases ILR can be revoked on the spot by IO at the border.

Re: Leaving UK after British citizenship / PR

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:33 pm
by saira1983
Thanks !
Yes, future intentions question was on my mind, that's why I thought one might prefer to stay on ILR / PR.
Thanks for clearing it up !

Re: Leaving UK after British citizenship / PR

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:53 pm
by LilyLalilu
Yes, much safer to go for BC first, ILR/PR can both be lost through longer absences. BC won't be revoked due to changing future intentions as plans can simply change.

Re: Leaving UK after British citizenship / PR

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:36 pm
by saira1983
Thanks