British nationality for EU citizen?

[WH431]

Hi all,

i am a german national want to apply for British nationality. I'm living & working in UK for 4 years and also married to a Bristish national for last 7 years (3 from them spent in Germany).

The question is when am i eligible?

1. After 3 years stay in UK (as spouse of a Brit national)
2. After 5 years as an EU national

I'm living in UK exercising my treaty right but have never applied for EU nationals registration card (since i dont relly had to). but can prove the duration of stay, as have been paying NI contributions + Tax for last 4 yrs.

The main reason for giving up german nationality is that they dont allow dual nationality and brits do..

Thanks for your help

WH

Here is where i found the info: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/

[John]

In order to apply for Naturalisation you need to have PR status .... Permanent Residence. But you need 5 years of exercising EU Treaty Rights in the UK in order to get PR status.

Under the terms of the EU Directive, PR status will be acquired automatically on the 5th anniversary of you starting to exercise EU Treaty Rights in the UK. Given that you are married to a British Citizen, you are then eligible to apply for Naturalisation as soon as you have PR status.

So you have your employment records since you arrived in the UK? Once you have those records for 5 years ..... apply for Naturalisation .... and supply that proof with your application.

3 years? That would only have applied if you had been granted a spouse visa under UK immigration law, and then later ILR. But you have not gone down that route.

[WH431]

Thanks John but its a little confusing here:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... ofcitizen/

as it mentions this and nothing abt ILR..

"Residential requirements

In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:

have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and ...."

perhaps i should just wait another year to be sure..

[John]

I repeat, you are not in the UK on the UK immigration route, so what you have posted does not apply.

[Obie]

16. EEA National Spouses of British Citizens and Settled Persons
An EEA national who is the spouse of a British citizen or settled person may make a
charged application under the Immigration Rules for leave to remain despite the fact
that they are not required to obtain leave to remain.
The primary reason why an EEA national may choose to do this is so that s/he can
obtain permanent residence within 2 years rather than within 5 years. This will then
allow him/her to make an application for British citizenship at an earlier stage.

Just to reiterate John's perfect point.

[WH431]

Thankyou both.

[Wanderer]

Another wee point worth mentioning is that as u will be assuming the nationality of another EU state you won't lose ur German Citizenship, as you would normally, Germany not allowing dual-nationality.