Post
by batleykhan » Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:57 pm
Standard requirements for naturalisation
Naturalisation
This page provides details of the requirements you must meet before we can naturalise you as a British citizen. If you are married to or a civil partner of a British citizen, the requirements you need to meet are different; you should read the Spouses and civil partners page for more details.
There are seven requirements you need to meet before you apply:
You must be aged 18 or over.
You must be of sound mind.
You must intend to continue living in the UK, or to continue in Crown service, the service of an international organisation of which the UK is a member, or the service of a company or association established in the UK.
You must be able to communicate in English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic to an acceptable degree.
You must have sufficient knowledge of life in the UK.
You must be of good character.
You must meet the residential requirements (see below).
Residential requirements
To demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation, you must have:
been resident in the UK for at least five years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
been present in the UK five years before the date of your application; and
not spent more than 450 days outside the UK during the five-year period; and
not spent more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months of the five-year period; and
not been in breach of the Immigration Rules at any stage during the five-year period.
When does the residential qualifying period start?
The residential qualifying period is calculated from the day when we receive your application. Most unsuccessful applications fail because the applicant was not present in the UK at the beginning of the residential qualifying period. You must make sure you meet this requirement before you make your application. For example, if we receive your application on 25 March 2010, you must show that you were in the UK on 26 March 2005.
If you have spent time in the UK while you were exempt from immigration control, you cannot include this time as part of the residential qualifying period. If you were in the UK as a diplomat or as a member of visiting armed forces, or if you were in any place of detention, you are considered to have been exempt from immigration control during that time. This time is treated as absence from the UK when we assess your application.
