ILR and naturalisation

Marco 72 · Post by **Marco 72** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 1:13 pm

I am an Italian citizen with ILR, my wife is a US citizen with a recently obtained 5-year EEA family permit. Under the current circumstances she can apply for ILR in four years' time. If I were to become a British citizen next year, would she able to apply for ILR sooner than in four years?
Thanks,

Marco

Post by **John** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:14 pm

Marco, I think the strict answer to your question is no! However that is most certainly not the end of the story.

Because you already have ILR you are said to be "settled" in the UK. Accordingly your wife could apply for a two-year spouse visa to replace her EEA Family Permit. The application fee for that would be £335 by post or £500 in person at a PEO.

Then near the end of that two-year spouse visa your wife could apply for ILR.

Next step .. if you do become a British Citizen then ... surprise surprise ... your wife is married to a British Citizen! Then as long as she has her ILR, as soon as it is more than three years after she first arrived to live in the UK she could apply for her own naturalisation.

But is there another way to play all this? Isn't it the case that after the two of you have been married for three years then your wife can apply for Italian citizenship ... without there being any requirement to live in Italy at any stage. If that is the case, well as soon as she has her own Italian passport then she has a right to live and work in the UK or anyway in the EEA or Switzerland.

How long have the two of you been married?

Marco 72 · Post by **Marco 72** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:32 pm

Hi John, thanks. We got married in July and we just got our passports back (mine with an ILR and hers with a five year EEA family visa). We want to stay here long term and I thought it might be better for her to have ILR because that way after 3 years she would be able to attend university courses without paying overseas fees.
The main problem with her applying for an Italian passport is that we would have to live there in order to qualify. Even if we managed to fool them into thinking we did, Italian bureaucracy is incredibly slow, much more than the Home Office. A Mexican friend of mine married an Italian colleague and moved to Italy in September 2001, but she is still waiting for her citizenship

Post by **John** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:22 pm

Marco 72 wrote:The main problem with her applying for an Italian passport is that we would have to live there in order to qualify.

Marco according to say this website she either needs to be living in Italy for six months following the marriage or else married for three years to an Italian citizen, and not living in Italy. But I certainly take the point about the Italian process taking a long time.

As regards your wife getting ILR as soon as possible, do you now intend her to apply for a spouse visa now that you have your ILR. That way near the end of that two-year spouse visa she could apply for her ILR.

And do you intend to apply for British Citizenship once you have held your ILR for one year? Clearly by then you will have been living in the UK for at least five years, given that you would not have got your ILR now if you had not been here for four years already.

And your wife? When did she first start living in the UK? If she has already been here for at least a year or so, then assuming you have already got your British Citizenship, your wife would be able to apply for hers as soon as she gets her ILR.

Marco 72 · Post by **Marco 72** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:23 pm

By the way, does ILR make any difference whatsoever to an EU citizen who holds it, apart from it being a prerequisite for naturalisation? For example, does it entitle one to some sort of UK government assistance abroad, in a similar way to a US 'green card'?

Post by **John** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:39 pm

Marco 72 wrote:does ILR make any difference whatsoever to an EU citizen who holds it, apart from it being a prerequisite for naturalisation?

It certainly does not give you any right to any assistance from the British Government.

But as well as assisting with naturalisation, as you say, it also confirms that you are "settled" in the UK and thus there are no limitations ... for example the Public Funds restriction does not apply. But as an EEA citizen already you already had lots of rights anyway.

ppron747 · Post by **ppron747** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 11:35 pm

Marco 72 wrote:By the way, does ILR make any difference whatsoever to an EU citizen who holds it, apart from it being a prerequisite for naturalisation? For example, does it entitle one to some sort of UK government assistance abroad, in a similar way to a US 'green card'?

Probably of most interest is the fact that children born in UK to a parent with ILR (="settled") will automatically be British citizens, and will be able to transmit that status to their children, whether born in or out of the UK. So the children would be entitled to British consular assistance, even though the parents wouldn't.

Marco 72 · Post by **Marco 72** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:16 pm

Thanks for the replies! By the way, I have another question. According to

http://www.workpermit.com/uk/naturalisation.htm

it seems that my ILR is not required as a prerequisite for naturalisation for the spouse of a UK citizen. So if I applied for naturalisation next year, would my wife be able to apply for her own naturalisation after three years of residence while still on an EEA Family Permit?
Thanks,

Marco

Post by **John** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:51 pm

Marco, with respect, the page you quote does not say that at all! Indeed as regards a spouse of a British Citizen it says :-

On the date that your application is received in the Home Office, you must have permanent residence/ ILR in the UK

So the difference is that ILR needs to be held by such an applicant ... but there is no need for it to be held for any particular length of time.

So if you want your wife to become a British Citizen as soon as possible, will you be investing in a two-year spouse visa for her?

Marco 72 · Post by **Marco 72** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:57 pm

Sorry I should have read more accurately

I don't think I'll invest in a two year residence permit for my wife, it doesn't really seem to be worth it to gain just an extra year

Post by **John** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 2:20 pm

Marco, I can well understand it. Accordingly after four years in the UK, and assuming by then that you are British, she will be able to apply for naturalisation as soon as the ILR is in her passport.

If you are not British by then, she will need to hold ILR for one year before making the application.

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ILR and naturalisation

ILR and naturalisation