Immigrationboards.com

Hi everyone,
i (non eu spouse of eu national) came to uk in Feb 2019 and received the BRP in March and the pre settled status in June 2019. Next March i would have completed 4 years and i am in a unique predicament.

Context - My job requires me to move to another country. Wife (EU) and kids will stay back (education, etc) in UK.
- I am c 12 months away from settled status and 24 months away from citizenship both of which are valuable. There is a massive monetary value to the posting and hence the dilemma.

Could I
1./ Go in and out of UK and stay more than 180 days, pay tax and get settled status in 2024.
2./ Once i get settled status - can i come back in say 3-4 years and get a citizenship in 12 months or the prior 5 year stay (2019-24) gets discounted. Does the clock reset on citizenship. Do these 5 years have to be immediate prior years?
3./ My wife and kids should hopefully be able to get the citizenship by 2025 - does that make the clock any bit easier for me if it resets.

Point 2: You need to have full Settled Status/ILR to apply for naturalisation. Required residency period is always counted back from the date you apply for naturalisation. You can't pick a particular period. There's no "clock reset" - you apply when you satisfy the requirements - see the guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... n-guidance

Point 3: There's no reset - the only advantage from your wife being British would be that you could apply as spouse of British citizen without waiting for 12 months after gaining Settled Status/ILR, and satisfying all other requirements.

Point 1: Someone else will comment on the Settled Status aspects.

Apart from Settled Status, keep in mind that the absence requirements for naturalisation are stricter and more specific. Just because more absences are allowed for Settled Status does not mean that you would qualify for naturalisation if you have long absences from the UK.

As your spouse is not a British citizen, you will need to meet the following requirements.
(a) Absences of no more than 450 days in the five years immediately preceding the date of application,
(b) Absences of no more than 90 days in the year immediately preceding the date of application,
(c) Being physically present in the UK (i.e. not being abroad) at the start of the five year period (i.e. on the day following the same date five years ago).

After your wife naturalises, the requirements change to
(a) Absences of no more than 270 days in the three years immediately preceding the date of application,
(b) Absences of no more than 90 days in the year immediately preceding the date of application,
(c) Being physically present in the UK (i.e. not being abroad) at the start of the three year period (i.e. on the day following the same date three years ago).

At least for the final year before naturalisation, you will need to make sure that you are not absent from the UK for more than 90 days. And that requirement remains whether or not your spouse becomes a British citizen. Plan accordingly.

In addition, you will need to meet the English language and Life in the UK test requirements.

Thank you,
That's very helpful.
I had 2 medium term objectives and it seems i should not bother about settled status and actually try to maximumize tax efficiency.

1./ Be able to move back to UK at some point in future if needed - i guess with a British spouse that will remain an open option anyway post naturalization.

2./ Option for naturalization - This would not be impacted by whether i had settled status or not as the clock would be dicated by the spouse route and would reset anyway to 3 years when i come back, if ever.

However the document seems to suggest that i could manage with 150 odd day absences in each of the next 2 years on an exceptional basis as i am leaving on account of professional reasons. How likely are these exceptions to be considered and any insight into when these are allowed (family would still be in UK, kids in school).

This becomes a high stakes gambit - pay full taxes and not know how the fate swings - how should one consider the probabilities.

As I understand it, discretion can be used to waive one requirement if that is not met.

Keep in mind that absences in the five years prior and in the one year preceding the date of applications are two separate requirements. So one of them can be waived at discretion, not both.

Re taxation status as a non-dom and naturalisation, see this discussion thread. I personally think that they are contradictory. But I am not a lawyer. You would want to consult a lawyer or law firm that specialises in both tax law and naturalisation.

I had another technical query on dates
From pre settled to settled - one can apply on the day one came to UK under the EUSS route - correct?
However from settled status to citizenship COE one can only apply after 12 months of settled status grant?

I came to UK mid Feb 2019 so i could apply for settled status in mid Feb 2024 but for citizenship only 12 months after the settled status grant date (which may be say April or May 2024)? or that can be mid Feb 2025?

The 12 months wait period is from the EUSS/ILR grant date.
Not from the date you could qualify for settled,