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Submitting online application early

A section for posts relating to applications for Naturalisation or Registration as a British Citizen. Naturalisation

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zeroday
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Applying for Naturalisation while being unemployed

Post by zeroday » Fri Oct 18, 2024 12:27 pm

Hello,

I am currently on ILR and will be applying for naturalisation next month. I have been made redundant by employer about 5 months ago and I've been living with the compensation package they provided to me so far.

Although I made lots of job applications, I have not been able to find a job in the area of my specialism.

In the naturalisation application form, there is a question about employment and I was wondering if there are any cases of people here who have been successful with naturalisation application while choosing unemployed in the application form?

My concern comes from the fact that under the "Section 6(1) applications: applicant is not married to, or in a civil partnership with, a British citizen" the following is noted:

"if successful, intends to have their main home in the UK or enter into or continue in any of the following:
- Crown service under the government of the UK
- service under an international organisation of which the UK or the UK government is a member
- service in the employment of a company or association established in the UK"

Kind regards

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Re: Applying for Naturalisation while being unemployed

Post by alterhase58 » Fri Oct 18, 2024 12:37 pm

Don't confuse the employment aspect with the "future intentions" requirement!

Firstly, employment is not a requirement, anyone can apply, unemployed, housewife, pensioners, etc.
Also, there's no requirement for an employment history or having to justify why not employed.

Secondly, the "future intentions" requirement is a separate requirement, whether employed or not.
This is just my opinion as a member of this forum and does not constitute immigration advice.
Please do not send me private messages asking for advice.

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Re: Applying for Naturalisation while being unemployed

Post by zeroday » Fri Oct 18, 2024 1:24 pm

Thanks for the reply.

Can being unemployed cast a doubt on future intentions?

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contorted_svy
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Re: Applying for Naturalisation while being unemployed

Post by contorted_svy » Fri Oct 18, 2024 1:53 pm

No. You can declare in a cover letter that you have intention to keep living and eventually working here.

From the guidance:
Future intentions requirement
This section tells you about the future intentions requirement for those applying for naturalisation under section 6(1).

The main purpose of the requirement is that those wishing to be naturalised as British citizens should not already have decided, or intend, to break their links with the UK. The clearest indicator of this will be past behaviour. If that suggests that the requirement is met, and there is no reason to think this will not continue, the applicant’s statement about future intentions may be taken at face value.

A person must intend, if naturalised, to either:

have their principal home in the UK

enter into, or continue in either:

Crown service under the government of the UK

an international organisation of which the UK or HM Government is a member

a company or association established in the UK

Principal home in the UK
If applicants say their intention is to have their principal home in the UK, you should accept that they meet the requirement if they:

meet the residence requirements, without the need to exercise any discretion over excess absences other than up to 30 days

have an established home here

have been, or intend to be, absent from the UK for not more than 6 months

the absence was, or will be, clearly temporary

if it is an intended absence, we are satisfied they intend to return to the UK

they have maintained an established home here where any close family who have not accompanied them abroad have continued to live

there is no information to cast doubt on their intention, for example, either:

a partner who is or intends to live outside of the UK

a recent absence from the UK for a period of 6 months or more

Where it is proposed to exercise discretion to waive excess absences, you must be satisfied that the applicant has an established residence, family and a substantial proportion of any estate here. You should normally accept that situation will continue, and that the future intentions requirement has therefore been met, unless you have information that, since the date of the application, the applicant or their partner no longer has an established residence here or is planning to move abroad.

Where it is not certain that a residence has been established you must make enquiries to see whether there is evidence of a principal residence outside this country including whether the:

applicant or their partner owns property abroad

applicant’s family live abroad, either in the family home or elsewhere

Where there is such evidence, or your doubts cannot be resolved satisfactorily, you must refuse the application.

Information may also come to our attention that HMRC regard an applicant as domiciled abroad for tax purposes. In such cases, you must request the applicant’s permission to contact the HMRC. You should then ask the HMRC to provide us with a copy of the applicant’s completed ‘Domicile Enquiry’ questionnaire, which may throw some light on future intentions. If the applicant refuses permission, you must refuse the application.

The fact that an applicant’s spouse or partner is not applying for citizenship should not, of itself, be taken as evidence that the requirement is not met. In such a case, however, you should make enquiries of the applicant - whether the spouse or partner is resident abroad or whether there is any evidence that the spouse or partner intends to move abroad. The fact that a spouse or partner is living, or will shortly be living, abroad should not normally be taken as evidence that the requirement is not met if any of the following apply:

the couple are separated

the spouse or partner has applied for, and is awaiting, an entry clearance

you are otherwise satisfied that the spouse or partner intends to join the applicant here

it is clear the couple are content to live apart for the foreseeable future

If none of these reasons apply, and the information suggests that any applicant maintains, or intends shortly to maintain, their principal residence abroad, spends substantial periods with their spouse or partner and children abroad, the application should normally be refused.

You have lived in the UK consistently. Employment is not a requirement. It would be a lot worse if you, say, were about to leave for six months or were accepting a job abroad.
All advice comes from personal research and experience and should not be regarded as professional opinion.

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Submitting online application early

Post by zeroday » Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:08 pm

I will complete the required residency period for naturalisation on mid Novemeber.

I was wondering if it is possible to submit my naturalisation application form now, make the payment and book an appointment for mid-November - the day when I'm eligible?

The reason why I want to do this is that I know finding a biometric appointment is quite difficult at the moment and I want to make sure that I complete the process before Christmas due to my travel plans.

Is this something I can do?

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by CR001 » Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:26 pm

You should only apply online, submit and pay when you meet the requirements.
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zeroday
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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by zeroday » Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:36 pm

Thanks.

In the declaration page of the application submission, it says the following:

"I understand the date of my application will be the date the Home Office receives it and calculations will normally be made on that basis. I understand that the Home Office will use a later date to make calculations where this would benefit my application rather than refusing it. I understand this may delay my application until I can meet the statutory requirements and it may result in me having to pay an additional fee should application fees increase in the meantime."


Does this not mean that I can technically submit my online application before I am eligible given that by the time I attend my biometric I will be eligible? I thought Home Office receives the application after the biometric appointment no?

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by alterhase58 » Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:59 pm

No - this relates to applications where applicant wasn't physically in the UK on the day 5/3 years back from the applications date. This is a discretionary concession, they could (and do sometimes) refuse the application outright as it's a statutory requirement. It's not for fitting your application around your travel plans. Suggest you don't make any firm travel plans, processing could take longer than you expect. The appointment date is not a key date.
This is just my opinion as a member of this forum and does not constitute immigration advice.
Please do not send me private messages asking for advice.

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by contorted_svy » Wed Oct 23, 2024 5:10 pm

There is the possibility to ask for discretion if you haven't completed a year on ILR, but you would need to justify it. Why risking it when writing a few more weeks will do the trick? Appreciate you want to plan your holidays, but if that is your priority you could also wait and submit in January once you are back. note that there are issues with the eVisa system currently so it is a gamble to return after the 31/12/2024.
All advice comes from personal research and experience and should not be regarded as professional opinion.

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by zeroday » Wed Oct 23, 2024 5:51 pm

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I had similar question about a year ago when I applied for ILR and I was advised that the date of biometrics is the day when Home Office considers application submission date.

I was just curious if the same logic could be applied here, and if not understand the rationale.

https://www.immigrationboards.com/viewt ... 5&start=25

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by contorted_svy » Wed Oct 23, 2024 6:02 pm

ILR and citizenship are separate processes with different requirements sitting under separate legislation - what applies to one doesn't necessarily translate to the other. For citizenship the relevant date is submission not biometrics.
All advice comes from personal research and experience and should not be regarded as professional opinion.

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by zeroday » Wed Oct 23, 2024 6:04 pm

This is quite helpful. Thanks for your response.

I had Skilled visa in the past, and My ILR got approved on 9 November 2023, so technically the earliest date would be 9 November 2024? Is this correct?

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by contorted_svy » Wed Oct 23, 2024 6:13 pm

Yes.
All advice comes from personal research and experience and should not be regarded as professional opinion.

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by zeroday » Sun Nov 03, 2024 10:34 pm

Does the time of submission matter here or is it irrelevant as long as it is submitted on 9 November?

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by alterhase58 » Sun Nov 03, 2024 10:43 pm

As long as it's dated on the day there's no issue.
However, one should be careful when trying to meet a particular date in case errors creep in. There's no deadline to meet for naturalisation. You can apply in 30 years' time if you still satisfy the requirement.
This is just my opinion as a member of this forum and does not constitute immigration advice.
Please do not send me private messages asking for advice.

zeroday
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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by zeroday » Mon Nov 04, 2024 2:17 pm

Thank you for the response.

I was wondering if there is any official guidance supporting this? I checked the website but couldn't find anything in relation to the time.

Just want to be sure before making any decision.

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by alterhase58 » Mon Nov 04, 2024 2:27 pm

There's no official guidance on this. Use common sense - I always suggest not to go for the first possible date, take it slowly, avoid errors.
This is just my opinion as a member of this forum and does not constitute immigration advice.
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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by contorted_svy » Mon Nov 04, 2024 6:43 pm

Time of day doesn't matter (as far as it's after midnight British time I suppose). Personally I waited until one day after the anniversary of my ILR grant to apply to avoid doubts. Where is your concern coming from?
All advice comes from personal research and experience and should not be regarded as professional opinion.

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by zeroday » Mon Nov 04, 2024 7:52 pm

I wanted to book the biometric appointment ASAP as there seems to be a lot of backlog at the moment, but given the points mentioned, I'll apply on 10 November.

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Re: Submitting online application early

Post by contorted_svy » Mon Nov 04, 2024 8:03 pm

I doubt one day would make a massive difference in clearing the backlog, though i understand the anxiety.
All advice comes from personal research and experience and should not be regarded as professional opinion.

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