Help sense-check citizenship naturalisation eligibility (EU pre-settled)

[apanskov]

Good afternoon,

Would appreciate if anyone here is able to please help with checking eligibility for citizenship for my wife. We plan to apply in June 2025.

Timeline
1. Sep 2015 - she arrived in the UK on a tier-4 student visa. She is non-EU; I am EU - arrived at similar time.
2. Jun 2020 - I began working full-time.
3. Oct 2020 - she was granted a 'family member - EU residence' residence card as an unmarried partner (family) of an EU citizen (me).
4. Nov 2020 - she was granted pre-settlement under the EUSS as a family member of an EU citizen.
5. Aug 2021 - we get married
6. Sep 2021 - my wife began working full-time.
7. [Future] Nov 2025 - she will be eligible for settled status.

Looking at GOV.UK the requirements under pre-settled for her are:
(A) YES - you have pre-settled status
(B) YES - you’re from the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 (or you’re their family member)
(C) YES - you’ve lived in the UK for 5 years in a row and in that time you’ve been working (or looking for work for up to 3 months), studying or you’re self-sufficient

Under point (C) above, we would have to rely on her being self-sufficient between June 2020 and September 2021; I have been working since finishing university from June 2020 which will mean we can apply for her citizenship in June 2025.

Requirements for self sufficiency that I have found are:
{a} CSI - as I understand this has been dropped now as we were ordinarily resident in the UK (?).
{b} Sufficient funds

For {b} above as I understand the basic check performed is eligibility under the benefits cap. My NET income at the time was ~2200/mo. The current highest benefit cap is in London for a couple @ 2,110.25; as I understand we also pass this criteria. From September 2021 until present she had been working full time which also passes the requirement (C).

Questions:
Is my understanding correct based on all the above that she is indeed eligible for citizenship?
Does anything above change once I get granted British Citizenship? I have recently applied myself.

[contorted_svy]

Why not wait until Nov 2025 once she gets granted settled status and you will probably have received your citizenship outcome? Much less hassle to apply then.

[secret.simon]

The Gov.UK site uses simple language to give a broad overview of the requirements. It is not the detailed rules.

you’ve lived in the UK for 5 years in a row and in that time you’ve been working (or looking for work for up to 3 months), studying or you’re self-sufficient

This sentence should state "you’ve lived in the UK for 5 years in a row in that capacity".

For instance, if a non-EEA citizen moved to the UK on a work or student visa and then acquired EEA citizenship, the clock would start from when they acquired EEA citizenship, not from the date they moved to the UK. Similarly, for non-EEA family members, the clock would start from when they became a family member of an EEA citizen. Their previous time on other visas won't count.

This essentially preserves the situation as under the EEA Regulations and EU law pre-Brexit, where the EEA Regulations/EU law kicked in on acquisition of EEA citizenship and/or on becoming a family member of an EEA citizen. The time spent in the UK before that status under the EEA Regulations was acquired did not count for the purposes of acquiring permanent residence under the EEA Regulations.

Your spouse only became a family member of an EEA national in October 2020, when she was issued an EEA family member Residence Card. So essentially her time before that does not count for the purpose of settlement. Her time on a Tier 4 student visa definitely does not count as it is not even a visa that leads to settlement in the usual course.

And your spouse, like all applicants, needs to have Settled Status in the UK before applying for naturalisation. As the caseworker guidance for naturalisation states:

There is discretion to waive the residence requirements except that the applicant must be free from time restrictions under immigration law at the time of their application.

The underlined section of the sentence is the bit which essentially translates to the applicant needing to have either ILR or Settled Status at the time of the application. So, essentially, your spouse needs to have Settled Status before applying for naturalisation as there is no discretion to disregard that requirement.

So, she needs to wait till October 2025 to apply for Settled Status. Then once granted Settled Status, she can apply to naturalise.

As an aside, if you have already naturalised as a British citizen (i.e. you have attended the citizenship ceremony), then (a) she will need to apply for Settled Status under the Lounes route on a paper form, which means that may take longer to process, but (b) once granted Settled Status, she can apply immediately for naturalisation.

Keep in mind that if your spouse applies before they have Settled Status, the naturalisation application fees will not be refunded in case of a refusal.