Document clarification for BC

[poppets]

Hi

I'm a German citizen wishing to apply for British Citizenship.
I have been here over 10 years so qualify .

Can someone please clarify the following:

1. I dont have 5 years worth of P60's but have heard that the UKBA will accept an employment history for this time to cover that.

2. If HMRC dont provide this for some reason, will letters from employers over this time be sufficient and what do sort of info needs to be in it.

3. I'm going to be getting married in June so will they need my marriage certificate?

thanks for your help

[Jambo]

1. True.
2. Don't see a reason why HMRC won't provide this. Letters from employers (stating your name, NI, start and end date of employment) are also acceptable.
3. Is your wife British? This might change things depending on your circumstances.

See Q1 & Q5 in Citizenship FAQs - Common Questions - Read before posting.

[poppets]

1. Thats great

2. Getting a new letter is a pain in the butt, so would sending in the letter along with a payslip be ok in place of this?

3. yes, my husband to be is British. But I was told that I wouldnt be able to apply for citizenship through marriage as I will have to claim it under my own right. I was born in New Zealand and have only ever been here on my German passport other wise I would have had to apply for a visa to come and work here, so claiming through that is not an option.


The information on the UKBA website is not clear at all and the way that they have worded things can be interpreted many ways.

for example when they say a letter from my employer they dont say what information needs to be in it- I would have said that all the employer needs to say is that I worked for them from x date to x date and that would be it along with my name.

[Jambo]

If you are not in a rush to get a BC, you can apply first for confirmation of your PR status using form EEA3 and not apply directly for a British citizenship. The advantage of doing so is that application under EEA regulations are free and it will flush out any issues you have in your employment history without risking losing a fee.

Once you get your PR Confirmation card (2-3 months for a EEA national) and you are married to a British citizen, you can apply with the PR confirmation without the need to prove your employment history again. The PR card would be enough.

If you are married to a BC, you can apply for BC through marriage (if you wish). What you can't do is apply for settlement/Permanent Residence through marriage as you have not been living in the UK under a spouse visa.

[poppets]

Apart from doing the permanent residence card ironing out any issues there is no benefit from doing so as I would still need all the necessary paperwork for that and the citizenship .

I would rather go straight to citizenship as that is the aim of the exercise rather than having the UKBA have my passport as I need it for my honeymoon in august. I'm not willing to run the risk of it not being done in time and having to fight to get my passport back.

British citizenship is the aim of the game here and I would rather go straight to that than muck around with the permanent residence letter. I heard that there will be a charge for this in the next 6 months so why pay for that when I can pay for citizenship and be done with it.