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I am French and came to the UK in 2002, and I lived here continuously until 2013. I married a UK citizen in 2008. From June 2013 to December 2015 I lived in the USA. I moved back to the UK in December 2015. Given that I was absent from the UK for more than 2 years, I understand that I will have lost my right to apply for Permanent Residence from my 11 years previous residence.

My question is whether my marriage to a UK citizen means that I can apply for PR any sooner than 5 years after my return to the UK in December 2015? I can see that for a naturalisation application, the residence period is shortened to 3 years with a UK spouse. However, I cannot find any similar shortening of the period for PR applications.

Many thanks.

My question is whether my marriage to a UK citizen means that I can apply for PR any sooner than 5 years after my return to the UK in December 2015?

No you cannot.

I can see that for a naturalisation application, the residence period is shortened to 3 years with a UK spouse.

Citizenship laws are completely independent of EU rules and UK immigration rules. For anyone to qualify for citizenship they need PR or ILR and both of these require 5 years residence to qualify for PR or ILR.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:18 pm

My question is whether my marriage to a UK citizen means that I can apply for PR any sooner than 5 years after my return to the UK in December 2015?

No you cannot.

I can see that for a naturalisation application, the residence period is shortened to 3 years with a UK spouse.

Citizenship laws are completely independent of EU rules and UK immigration rules. For anyone to qualify for citizenship they need PR or ILR and both of these require 5 years residence to qualify for PR or ILR.

Thank you very much.