Over staying out of the UK due to COVID

[shaniuk]

Hi there,
My wife is applying for naturalisation on a spouse of a British citizen route.

I (husband) became a British citizen in December 2019, and she (wife) received her ILR on October 2019. We have been married and living in the UK since 2014.

I have following two questions regarding her application:

1 - Due to COVID travel restrictions, my wife has stayed out of the UK for around 120 days (March to August 2020). Hence, does not on fulfil the 90 days requirement, as a result, residence requirements are not met. Can she provide justifcation that flight operations were completely restricted, hence inbound flight was not possible?

2 - It's been less than a year since I became a British citizen, based on that can she apply for naturalisation on a spouse of a British citizen route.

Best regards,
Shani

[Zerubbabel]

2 - It's been less than a year since I became a British citizen, based on that can she apply for naturalisation on a spouse of a British citizen route.

She can apply as soon as you sign your naturalisation certificate provided you have been married for 3 years.

[alterhase58]

1. There are no specific concessions for excess absences due to the pandemic. Naturalisation is an optional application and the easiest way is to wait until absences for the 12 months prior to application are down to around 90 days.
2. Wife could have applied already in October 2019 as soon as she received ILR. So she could apply as soon as she meets all the requirements, including absences.

[CR001]

2. Wife could have applied already in October 2019 as soon as she received ILR. So she could apply as soon as she meets all the requirements, including absences.

Correction. Wife could have applied in December 2019 as the OP only became British in December 2019.