Applying for British Citizenship for a 62 years old person without English Knowledge

[Tivenin-susan]

Hi everyone everyone, hope you all doing well ?!
First of all, I want to thank you for your precious help throughout my BC process which has been successful

Today, i am seeking for your help once again regarding my Best Friend's Mother. She wants to apply for the BC. She is 62 years old and has been living legally in the Uk for more than 20 years.

She holds the ILR and her Husband and 3 children are a British citizens.

The problem now is that she doesn't have British Language knowledge, so she can't take the English test and the Life in the Uk test

I just want to mention that when she got her ILR many years ago, there was no english test and life in the uk requirement.

She suffers from multiple health issues so she has to travel a lot due to her health condition and as you know, it takes months to get a visa appointment to the majority of destinations, especially to the Europe. The British passport will help her a lot in this case.

Could you please tell me if she can apply for the BC and if there is a chance to avoid the refusal if she applies.

Thank you in advance

[alterhase58]

One option is to wait until she is 65 - then she would be exempted automatically from both tests.
Other option is applying for an exemption with the application.
See below:

Quote from https://www.gov.uk/english-language/exemptions:
"Who does not need to prove their knowledge of English
You do not need to prove your knowledge of English if you’re either:
- aged 65 or over
- unable to, because of a long-term physical or mental condition
You must provide a completed exemption form from a doctor confirming your physical or mental condition. You must include original copies of current relevant medical reports with your form."
Link to form
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -condition

Note, husband and children being BCs has no bearing on this.
We couldn't say whether this would be successful or not.

[contorted_svy]

From the guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark20

You must demonstrate both knowledge of language and life in the UK unless you are aged 65 and over or have a long-term physical or mental condition that prevents you from doing so.

If she waits for 3 years she won't have to demonstrate these. If she wants to apply before then she must get documents from her GP/hospital to demonstrate it is impossible for her to sit for the exams.

Review also this guidance https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... +in+UK.pdf especially pages 8-12. It explains what you need to do and the proforma the doctor needs to prepare to certify she can't sit for the exams.

[Tivenin-susan]

Thank you very much for the clarification

I know for the tests exemption for people over 65 years old but was hopping there is something to do for this case.

The problem is, this person can provide her health history but mainly not from the uk doctors as she is visiting doctors from an other country as already mentioned.
I don't think , they will accept a medical record from an other country although she has a medical record in the uk as well

Thank you again for all your efforts, really appreciate it

[CR001]

Her medical conditions would have to be exceptional to get an exemption. If she is able to travel internationally, then her medical health is likely not as serious or extreme, thereby disqualifying her from the exemption. Her medical condition and records must be able to be verified by UKVI.

People have been refused exemption even with very serious medical conditions.