Immigrationboards.com

Hi all,
I came across this site after a good search looking for answers on the subject of British Citizenship. My wife is a Spanish National and wishes to apply.
She is fluent in English and gained her ESOL certificate a number of years ago.
We have been married since 2012 but lived here (UK) well before then.
Her ID name is still in her original name as the Spanish authorities do not recognise a name change through marriage.
I believe she must complete a Skills for Life course, is this correct? The Trinity College site quotes 150 pounds, if I need it can I get it cheaper?
Now I’m sure this has been asked a million times although I could not find anything relevant, so a link or a quick checklist reply would be great.
Thank you, Steve.

The steps are :

1. She needs a document certifying she has permanent residency (PR). If she does not submit this, her application will be refused. She acquires PR after exercising treaty rights for 5 years as a qualified person. What has she been doing since living in the UK?

2. ESOL is not longer accepted. She needs B1 English from one of the approved HO test providers.

3. She needs Life in the UK test (£50). This is different to the English test.

For a Spanish (and other EU/EEA) national to apply for citizenship she needs to get a document certifying permanent residence (DCPR) before she can apply. For this she must have exercised treaty rights either as a worker, self employed or as a student / self sufficient person (the latter two need to be covered by comprehensive sickness insurance / CSI or a Spanish EHIC) for 5 continuous years.

You are also mixing up the Life in the UK test (which everyone has to pass unless they are very young or over a certain age) with the Trinity language certificate (which people who haven't got a degree studied in English or are from a majority English speaking country etc need)

Those are two separate things. English certificates are only accepted from very limited providers these days so chances are her ESOL won't count.

Thank you for your super fast reply.

I have provided for her through my income, although she has worked for around 6 months and also claimed JSA for a short period some years ago. She is now a full time mum to a 2 year old and named on tax credits.

Unless she was covered by some sort of comprehensive sickness insurance it doesnt look like there has been any 5 year period that would have counted for PR.

How did she come to the UK, did she come with family (in which case she could possibly have attained PR as a dependent some years back).

She came to the UK with me. I was resident of Spain when we met, but decided to move back to my home country in 2010.

Noetic is correct. It's immaterial what you've been doing in the 5 year qualifying period. Unless your wife entered under UK Immigration Rules as your spouse (which it appears she didn't), any period of unemployment would have to be covered by Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) or a Spanish EHIC card as a self-sufficient EEA citizen exercising their Treaty rights.

stevecosta wrote:She came to the UK with me. I was resident of Spain when we met, but decided to move back to my home country in 2010.

Are you British

Have you completed a Surinder Singh sojourn by exercising treaty rights (by living and working) in Spain
(that is, with your wife living there with you).

Its a longshot but if you happen to be a BC and a SS returnee to boot then your wife may qualify as your direct family member/dependent.
If that is the case (& it woud be quite unusual as she is a Union member too) then she may have acquired PR vicariously through you (just by residing in UK for 5 years)

As a BC (and SS returnee) you don't actually have to have been doing anything in UK either. But if you have been working then all good.

However I'm not sure. It seems you returned to UK in 2010(?) and only married (here in UK?) in 2012(?).
A fiance/fiancee or bf/gf type relationship back in Spain won't cut it for SS as HO plays hard ball in this area.

So...otherwise, if none of the above applies, then it appears your wife does not have proper status in UK and would be advised to regularise it asap.

Having British child(ren) helps as, worst case, she should qualify for derivative rights due to them;
- however be aware that won't lead her to the privilege of citizenship via settled status (PR).

Ah! I missed the SS option Noajthan.

Casa wrote:Ah! I missed the SS option Noajthan.

Well its an edge case.
Let's see if it actually kicked in in this case. Not sure.