Advice for couple naturalization application

[tommylu]

Hello everyone,

I would like to thank anyone in advance for their advice and guidance. I have found this forum very useful while preparing the application and to understand the process.

Me and my wife, both EU nationals, no children and married prior to obtaining our EU pre-settled status, are looking to put forward a joint application for naturalisation and there are a couple of questions that we do not have answer to yet.

This is our circumstances:

Husband:
First arrived in the UK - October 2016
Pre-settled status granted - April 2020
Settled status granted - March 2022
Proof of language - UK MSc degree
Proof of knowledge of UK - Passed the LITUK test

Continuously tax resident in the UK since October 2016. Although until from Oct 2016 to Oct 2017 I have been a student and I started being employed in Feb 2018.
Currently full-time permanent employee.
Number of absences in the 5 year qualifying period - 421 days (232 of which from Mar 2020 to Nov 2020 due to covid, no employment proof during this period)
Number of absence in the last 12 months - 58 days

Wife:
First arrived in the UK - January 2017
Pre-settled status granted - April 2020
Settled status granted - May 2022
Proof of language - UK MSc degree
Proof of knowledge of UK - Passed the LITUK test

Continuously tax resident in the UK since Jan 2017. Although there is a 1 year gap in employment from Sep 2022 to Dec 2023 due to full-time studying here in the UK.
Currently full-time permanent employee.
Number of absences in the 5 year qualifying period - 514 days (318 of which from Mar 2020 to Jan 2021 due to covid, no employment proof during this period)
Number of absence in the last 12 months - 61 days

We would like to apply under discretion for my wife number of absences in the 5 year qualifying period. I understand that in order to achieve that we would have to look a 2 further years of residence prior to the qualifying period (which she can prove with P60s) and to demonstrate that she has established her home, family, work and finances in the UK.

Our questions at the moment are:

1) How can we demonstrate that my wife has established her home, family, work and finances in the UK?

2) We noticed that both the application date and the approval date for the pre-settled status is when we were abroad during the covid absence. If I remember correctly it was a requirement to be in the UK at the moment of the application. Will the Home Office back track and possibly remove our status as we could have possibly been here unlawfully?

3) In order to prove our living here in the UK, in absence of P60 during the study periods, do we have to request formal letters from the University confirming the start and end dates of the courses?

4) finally, for the referee forms, on top of getting them signed, do we have to attach a countersigned photo on them prior to scanning them?

Thanks again to everyone.

[contorted_svy]

Hello everyone,

I would like to thank anyone in advance for their advice and guidance. I have found this forum very useful while preparing the application and to understand the process.

Me and my wife, both EU nationals, no children and married prior to obtaining our EU pre-settled status, are looking to put forward a joint application for naturalisation and there are a couple of questions that we do not have answer to yet.

This is our circumstances:

Husband:
First arrived in the UK - October 2016
Pre-settled status granted - April 2020
Settled status granted - March 2022
Proof of language - UK MSc degree
Proof of knowledge of UK - Passed the LITUK test

Continuously tax resident in the UK since October 2016. Although until from Oct 2016 to Oct 2017 I have been a student and I started being employed in Feb 2018.
Currently full-time permanent employee.
Number of absences in the 5 year qualifying period - 421 days (232 of which from Mar 2020 to Nov 2020 due to covid, no employment proof during this period)
Number of absence in the last 12 months - 58 days

Wife:
First arrived in the UK - January 2017
Pre-settled status granted - April 2020
Settled status granted - May 2022
Proof of language - UK MSc degree
Proof of knowledge of UK - Passed the LITUK test

Continuously tax resident in the UK since Jan 2017. Although there is a 1 year gap in employment from Sep 2022 to Dec 2023 due to full-time studying here in the UK.
Currently full-time permanent employee.
Number of absences in the 5 year qualifying period - 514 days (318 of which from Mar 2020 to Jan 2021 due to covid, no employment proof during this period)
Number of absence in the last 12 months - 61 days

We would like to apply under discretion for my wife number of absences in the 5 year qualifying period. I understand that in order to achieve that we would have to look a 2 further years of residence prior to the qualifying period (which she can prove with P60s) and to demonstrate that she has established her home, family, work and finances in the UK.

Our questions at the moment are:

1) How can we demonstrate that my wife has established her home, family, work and finances in the UK? Attach marriage certificate and state that spouse lives in the UK. You can attach proof of employment to show you work in the UK and tenancy agreement/mortgage report in her name. Can also provide a bank statement to show her finances are here. This could be a bit of a problem if she owns property or has foreign bank accounts.

2) We noticed that both the application date and the approval date for the pre-settled status is when we were abroad during the covid absence. If I remember correctly it was a requirement to be in the UK at the moment of the application. Will the Home Office back track and possibly remove our status as we could have possibly been here unlawfully? For citizenship, you need to have been in the UK and not travelling on the day you applied minus 5 years (for example if you apply on the 1 July 2024 you have to have been physically in the UK on the 2 July 2019.

3) In order to prove our living here in the UK, in absence of P60 during the study periods, do we have to request formal letters from the University confirming the start and end dates of the courses? Yes. Or you can request a SAR from the Home office, free of charge.

4) finally, for the referee forms, on top of getting them signed, do we have to attach a countersigned photo on them prior to scanning them? No. That is a relic from pen and paper days. The referee form can be entirely digital as far as the signature that appears is consistent with what appears on referee's passport.

Thanks again to everyone.

May I ask under what circumstances you applied for pre-settled status while out of the UK - why didn't you do it earlier? And are you sure it was required for you to physically be in the UK when you submitted your application, and if so, why did you disregard this?

[contorted_svy]

From what I can see, it doesn't seem that being in the UK at the time of application for pre-settled status was necessary. However, you need to remember if you declared you were abroad or not as that would be lying to the HO and that rarely ends well. Other members with more experience in the details of the EUSS may help, possibly a query for that subforum, but ultimately this is something you have to remember yourself.

[tommylu]

May I ask under what circumstances you applied for pre-settled status while out of the UK - why didn't you do it earlier? And are you sure it was required for you to physically be in the UK when you submitted your application, and if so, why did you disregard this?

Thanks for your reply.
I am not 100% sure it was a requirement to physically be in the UK, but the doubt now has been killing me.
We were planning on applying earlier but when covid arrived it sent all in fumes as we had to go abroad almost overnight. We later submitted the application a few weeks after exiting the UK.

Reading now the pre-settled grant letter it states :"If you were within the UK on the date of your application, you have been granted Limited Leave to Remain. If you were outside the UK on the date of your application, you have been granted Limited Leave to Enter."

So it looks like the system was set-up to also work from overseas?

[contorted_svy]

I think that is correct - it was/is possible to apply also from abroad. So I would say no need to worry about that as long as your declarations were truthful.

[tommylu]

I think that is correct - it was/is possible to apply also from abroad. So I would say no need to worry about that as long as your declarations were truthful.

Thanks for advice. Is straightforward that if declarations were aligned is not an issue, but in the case these were not aligned what could be the HO action?

[tommylu]

1) How can we demonstrate that my wife has established her home, family, work and finances in the UK? Attach marriage certificate and state that spouse lives in the UK. You can attach proof of employment to show you work in the UK and tenancy agreement/mortgage report in her name. Can also provide a bank statement to show her finances are here. This could be a bit of a problem if she owns property or has foreign bank accounts.

May I ask under what circumstances you applied for pre-settled status while out of the UK - why didn't you do it earlier? And are you sure it was required for you to physically be in the UK when you submitted your application, and if so, why did you disregard this?

In regards to demonstrating my wife establishment in the UK. We have proof of current employer and marriage certificate.

She is named on the tenancy agreement as permitted occupier, while myself as tenant. Can this be sufficient?

She has UK bank account and savings accounts but she also has one account left abroad where her family usually put some funds in every now and then. The account held abroad is specific for people not resident in that country. Could this cause problems?

[contorted_svy]

If she can show that the MAJORITY of her finances are in the UK, what you outlined should be fine.

[contorted_svy]

I think that is correct - it was/is possible to apply also from abroad. So I would say no need to worry about that as long as your declarations were truthful.

Thanks for advice. Is straightforward that if declarations were aligned is not an issue, but in the case these were not aligned what could be the HO action?

Hard to know. I tried to go through a mock pre-settled status application and it asked me explicitly if I am in the UK or not and it let me progress when I answered I am not in the UK. So I would imagine you had the chance to answer truthfully, and at that point why would you have lied? Unfortunately I can't answer this, but I would go with Ockham's razor here and assume it should all be OK. The HO doesn't look at lawful residence in the 5 years preceding your ILR grant.

[maidy]

Hi, can we use one professional referee for both applicants (Husband, wife) if referee is our family friend e.g neighbour?

[Ticktack]

Hi, can we use one professional referee for both applicants (Husband, wife) if referee is our family friend e.g neighbour?

Yes you can use same person for the pair of you.