Possibility of delays & complications due to reporting different UK address for spouse in naturalisation application?

[anonvtic]

Asking for a friend who completes his 12-months ILR qualifying period soon & intends to submit their naturalisation application in about 20 days time. He is filling up the application form currently, and has a few questions given the current complicated personal situation described below.

My friend & his spouse are having some relationship issues, and they are currently living apart (since March 2023) in the hope that this will just be a temporary separation while they seek to work things out between them. They have a 17-month old UK born daughter who was MN1-registered as a British citizen & subsequently issued a British passport in Oct 2022 (eligibility based on my friend's ILR status).

Since the child lives with friend's spouse (mother), for ease of seeing the baby at the local nursery, my friend has rented a small flat (with a easy break clause) since March 2023, in the same neighbourhood/next street (i.e. same council) as the family's rented flat (where the spouse continues to live). They have not legally separated, but as a family friend, I know that both of them have informally vacillated between applying for a divorce imminently and waiting it out until things get better. At present, there is some discontent with my friend about the informal childcare & viewing arrangements agreed. Hence, my friend has also wondered a few times about applying for C100 court order or other legal/formal childcare arrangements, but since his current flat is pretty barebones without much facilities etc suitable to raise a baby with a decent quality of life, I don't know if he will fully go through such formal processes now. The last I spoke to the spouse, she seemed to consider applying for a divorce (although she also appears to vacillate between various decisions & being quite emotional, it was unclear to me if she would indeed make a decision to change the status quo).

My friend's spouse is on a Tier 2 dependent visa and has submitted a 3-year extension application to renew it last month (mid July 2023) and is awaiting BRP. She is currently doing a PhD in the UK with an expected completion date of April 2024, and has a monthly bursary and is using money provided from her parents in home country to sustain herself. Considering the negative impact of the financial situation for both of them which further impacts the baby, my friend is mostly keen to retain the status quo until after her studies i.e. April 2024, to avoid stressing her further in an already tough situation for all of them.

For my friend's naturalisation application, the questions are:

• On the application, should he list his current address (where council tax with single person discount is being paid since March 2023), or retain his former address where his spouse lives (where my friend retained his bank, credit card & GP address just in case they sort out issues are reunite)?

• Should he list his marital status as 'married' or 'separated'?

• If he lists as 'married', the form asks for the address of his spouse. Since he wishes to reunite with the family as soon as things work out, is it reasonable to list both their addresses as the same? If he lists two separate addresses, will this introduce needless delays in his naturalisation application if the caseworker decides to probe things further?

• Are there any other general advices or considerations from the senior members and moderators here that may be relevant and helpful to my friend's naturalisation application?

[alterhase58]

For my friend's naturalisation application, the questions are:

• On the application, should he list his current address (where council tax with single person discount is being paid since March 2023), or retain his former address where his spouse lives (where my friend retained his bank, credit card & GP address just in case they sort out issues are reunite)?

Personally I would show the address where I'm living, receiving mail and where I'd like to attend the council citizenship ceremony.

• Should he list his marital status as 'married' or 'separated'?

As friend is still legally married, and not separated under a legal arrangement, select "married".

• If he lists as 'married', the form asks for the address of his spouse. Since he wishes to reunite with the family as soon as things work out, is it reasonable to list both their addresses as the same? If he lists two separate addresses, will this introduce needless delays in his naturalisation application if the caseworker decides to probe things further?

Caseworkers are not delving into marital arrangements, or pass judgement on them. State the current facts.

• Are there any other general advices or considerations from the senior members and moderators here that may be relevant and helpful to my friend's naturalisation application?

Try not to overthink. Collate all documents and facts as they are at time of application.

[anonvtic]

• If he lists as 'married', the form asks for the address of his spouse. Since he wishes to reunite with the family as soon as things work out, is it reasonable to list both their addresses as the same? If he lists two separate addresses, will this introduce needless delays in his naturalisation application if the caseworker decides to probe things further?

Caseworkers are not delving into marital arrangements, or pass judgement on them. State the current facts.

Thank you alterhase58. Apologies. I shall clarify further. I think there was a major omission in my already long background post of their family situation.

The basis of this specific question stems not from a caseworker making a personal judgment, but based on the guidance issued by Home Office to caseworkers regarding "further intentions" (https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark19) which states:

If you meet the absence requirements set out above, this will usually be sufficient to demonstrate that the UK will be your principal residence, as long as there is no information that casts doubt on your intention, such as:

• a partner who is living, or who intends to live, outside the UK

Now, here is the crucial information. Because it is so expensive for the friend's spouse to sustain by herself such a high living cost here in the UK on a student bursary (even though my friend is sharing baby's nursery fees), if it becomes too difficult to manage and she cannot make job applications in the UK around the completion of her PhD, she might be forced to move back to her home country (which is also my friend's home country) although they haven't worked out how both will retain access to the baby. My friend intends to live in the UK, whilst his spouse is open to either living here only if she gets a well-paying job or moving back to the home country with the baby (which obviously will be problematic for raising the child and not acceptable to him).

My friend intends to make the UK his permanent home, but it is unclear and unsure what is spouse's long-term place of living will be. Until at least April 2023, she will live in the UK, but after her viva in late April 2023 when the PhD bursary too gets cut out, it is unclear if she can afford to continue in the UK. If this is the only source of contention, considering high childcare costs and lack of family support here in the UK, my friend has mentioned once or twice that he might compromise career for the sake of family if in the long run, it leads to a happier childhood for the baby with both parents being around. However, as an outsider, it is not quite clear to me that this is their only issue and both parties vacillate on their thoughts each time I meet with either of them.
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Regarding the clause about the close family's long term intentions, nothing is certain even to the couple themselves. For now, they maintain the status quo, but it could all change very quickly whilst the naturalisation application is in progress. The fact that his spouse recently applied for a 3-year extension of T2 dependent status might be viewed positively regarding his long term intentions in the UK, however that was purely out of necessity since it was close to the expiry date of her initial T2 dependent visa. Note that for the recent T2 extension application in July 2023, the spouse used their joint bank account statement as a supporting document as proof of living together (even though my friend was already living in a separate rented accomodation since March 2023). The spouse's extension BRP will likely be granted well before a caseworker reviews my friend's naturalisation application, and they are likely to be reviewed by two different teams since the spouse's is an immigration application and the friend's is not.
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In light of all the above new information and considerations, please allow me to repeat the question and I request a deeply-considered opinion from the senior members on his behalf.

If he lists a separate address for his spouse, will this introduce needless delays in his naturalisation application, if it triggers the caseworker's policy to require to probe things further regarding the spouse's future intentions of remaining within the UK?

[anonvtic]

Gentle bump.