Northern Ireland (spouse) naturalisation

[sp84]

Hi everyone,

As per the title, I am an Irish citizen and have been living with my US spouse in Northern Ireland for almost 10 years now. I'm hoping to begin her application for naturalisation here soon (as the spouse of an Irish citizen). I am just looking for some clarity around the supporting evidence that we will be required to send if that is ok.

For proof of identity - Her passport (certified) is worth 150 points. So this part shouldn't be a problem.

For proof of residency I was thinking of sending ...

Type A - Bank Statements for each year that we are claiming residency (3 consecutive monthly statements - so that would be 9 in total) - worth 100 points

Type B - annual mortgage statement, worth 50 points.

Is there anything else that is needed? I had a friend go through the process before the point system was introduced and he was telling me that he needed to get a tax residence certificate from HMRC? But I have seen no mention of anything like this in the naturalisation documentation.

Is there anything else I've missed, or is the process really as simple as that?

Thanks

[Ibeeby]

Its a bit more complicated than that in my experience although I am still going through the on-line process as a UK spouse of an Irish citizen living in Ireland. As far as I can tell the new on-line process is far simpler than the previous largely paper process:

You will also have to provide evidence that you have been living together for (I think) three months in the year prior to her application (potentially different bank statements etc) - which I seem to recall meant evidence for both and if you have, say, a joint account you cannot each use the same evidence;

I needed to nominate three referees (although unlike the paper system where they had to write a letter all you need to provide is name and telephone number) - they must be Irish Citizens;

You also need to sign a declaration to support your spouse's application - I think that had to be witnessed.

There are certain differences for those resident in NI so it may be worth you looking at the detailed process set out in the government web site. I don't know whether your spouse will have to go through the reckonable residence process (I didn't as I am a UK citizen already and don't need to prove a right to be here). How that works for NI where the spouse's right to reside is outside of the competence of the Irish authorities I don't know.

It may be that Garda vetting is not required for NI but a police certificate may be. I had to get a UK police certificate a few years ago when I was doing some work for a government agency and it took about 10 days.

I had understood that a tax clearance certificate may be needed but it is not (for me).

You can make some progress on the ISD on-line application form and save to continue later so that may be worth starting. For the evidence I stitched together an array of pdfs to make a couple of files to save spending all weekend uploading files - that seemed to work.

Have a read - there are a couple of detailed documents on the government web site that explain clearly the requirements - just look carefully for the section breaks so that you don't find yourself conflating different requirements.

When you get through the process to the eVetting procedure your spouse will have to declare, with a granularity of a year (ie day and month of move not required) EVERY address he or she has ever lived at. Ever. Since I am in my 60s and have lived all over the world that was not straightforward at all. It is said that the eVetting process can take longer for those applying who have lived in the USA or Australia but I have lived in both and it didn't seem to slow things down - 9 days in my case. But I am thankful that my mother could remember addresses from the 1960s - all I had to do was look up the post-code or zip code.

Hope that helps.

[sp84]

Wow thank you so much for the detailed reply!

She currently has indefinite leave to remain granted by the Home Office (if that means anything).

Funny I was going to ask about the 3 proofs of us living together - she is only named on our joint bank account, so I was wondering if we could use that as proof for us both. Thanks for clearing that up.

I also had no idea about the more detailed version on the main website - I downloaded an evidence pdf and thought it was more straightforward than that.

I'm now wondering if it's easier then for her to apply, not as the spouse of an Irish citizen ... But due to her overall residence here. That way I wouldn't need to send anything?

Hope that makes sense.

[Ibeeby]

I cannot advise you on that - the fee is the same for sure. The residence position would be met in Ireland but can a person who is resident in NI under an ILR qualify for residence on his or her own? I cannot answer that (its almost certainly in the documentation. There is a clear path for a spouse of that I am sure.

Also for the spousal connection, I am sure that I had concluded that the evidence required was lower albeit from both parties in part. I'm afraid I didn't make any notes because in my case I applied 3 years and 2 weeks after moving to Ireland (its a Brexit thing). The evidence that you are living together (the final 3 months) is not as detailed as the other evidence. Its also clear that they accept evidence in the form of bills provided electronically (since its almost unheard of to receive a paper bill these days). They wouldn't accept my Ham Radio licence though as ComReg is not on the stated list of government agencies - nor does a TV licence or Dog licence count:-(

[sp84]

Thank you and I believe you may be right - as in ILR does not automatically mean she can apply for Irish naturalisation, therefore we would have to use the spousal route.

I may have some issues with the final 3 months information, which I suppose is the main reason for my original post - everything else should be fine.

We live quite a consolidated life. What I mean by that is ... we have a joint bank account, both names are on our electric bills (not gas bill because we just use pay as you go for that). The broadband is in my name, as is the TV License.

We will have a rates bill (again both our names) and a mortgage statement (both our names).

We own our home, have 2 children and my wife has been in her current job for 6 years. I was hoping that with all those things combined, that gathering the necessary evidence wouldn't be a problem - but now I'm not so sure if we can't both use things such as our joint bank account for each of us. I also see they accept an employment letter? I assuming that is just a letter from both our employers, saying how long we have worked in our jobs.

I've struggled to find an NI specific document regarding referees, police checks etc

[Ibeeby]

I think that police certification is from ACRO - covers UK & Crown Dependencies so should include NI

[sp84]

Thank you!

I assume the process is something that - if we apply and the case officer needs more information, then this is relayed to us (and the application is not automatically rejected)?

[nisi]

Wow thank you so much for the detailed reply!

She currently has indefinite leave to remain granted by the Home Office (if that means anything).

That's definitely a qualifying type of residency

Funny I was going to ask about the 3 proofs of us living together - she is only named on our joint bank account, so I was wondering if we could use that as proof for us both. Thanks for clearing that up.

I don't see why this would be a problem, nothing states that the documents have to be in a single name. both living off a joint bank account and having other joint bills feels like his evidence of living together.

I'm now wondering if it's easier then for her to apply, not as the spouse of an Irish citizen ... But due to her overall residence here. That way I wouldn't need to send anything?

As a resident of Northern Ireland, not the Irish State the only route available is through marriage to an Irish Citizen. Naturalisation only extends to the whole island of Ireland for spouses of Irish Citizens, anyone else must have been resident in the Irish State.

[nisi]

Thank you and I believe you may be right - as in ILR does not automatically mean she can apply for Irish naturalisation, therefore we would have to use the spousal route.

Correct, she hasn't been resident in the State, so her only route is through marriage and residency in NI.

I may have some issues with the final 3 months information, which I suppose is the main reason for my original post - everything else should be fine.

We live quite a consolidated life. What I mean by that is ... we have a joint bank account, both names are on our electric bills (not gas bill because we just use pay as you go for that). The broadband is in my name, as is the TV License.

We will have a rates bill (again both our names) and a mortgage statement (both our names).

Those all sound like good evidence to me. Read the docs as I'm sure the rules have changed in the last 4 years. You may have to submit different documents for your residency proof and your spouse's, but I don't see why they can't be in both names. I definitely used our joint-named rates bills as one of my proofs (under the old system before the 150 pts system)

We own our home, have 2 children and my wife has been in her current job for 6 years. I was hoping that with all those things combined, that gathering the necessary evidence wouldn't be a problem - but now I'm not so sure if we can't both use things such as our joint bank account for each of us. I also see they accept an employment letter? I assuming that is just a letter from both our employers, saying how long we have worked in our jobs.

Yeah, I asked my HR department for a letter stating how long I'd worked for them and the office I'd been based at.

I've struggled to find an NI specific document regarding referees, police checks etc

Yep the documentation online is annoyingly missing info about NI.

For the police check, they just asked me to submit a form to the PSNI, I forget the exact details but it was simpler and cheaper than the UK-wide ACRO thing. I wouldn't worry about that at this stage, they'll write to you asking for that information when they get to the police vetting stage of your application. They deal with a fair few NI applications so they will know what to ask you for.

I did a paper application a few years ago and did have to get a letter from HMRC stating that they believed I didn't have any outstanding tax owing, but the process may have changed now. I guess see what documents it asks for at the end of the process.

[sp84]

Thanks a lot nisi that's great!

Yea it's mainly the 3 months prior to applying documents that I'm worried about. E.g. my annual mortgage statement, obviously being annual, gets posted to me once per year (and it may not have been within the last 3 months). Same with documents such as the rates bill and things like GP letters. Unless either of us are actively using our GP/hospital at the minute, it's not as if letters just randomly show up. If that makes sense!

I'm sure we could both get letters from the GP stating how long we have been registered with them.

I do believe it is possible to also applying for a tax residence certificate from HMRC - I had a wee look at the HMRC app yesterday and it is something that they administer.