5 year or 3 year for citizenship - PLEASE clarify

[menwall]

Hi all,

Was hoping that someone could please clarify the following:

1. Are citizenship/naturalisation the same thing and do they both result in a UK passport?

2.My Thai fiance will come to the UK and after marriage we will apply for FLR(M). I have been reading today and it says we can apply for citizenship after 3 years (I used to think it was 5 until I saw exemptions for spouses to UK citizens). If she is a spouse holding FLR(M), can she apply for citizenship? Or can she skip having to apply for FLR(M) twice and go straight to ILR?

i.e can we do FIANCE -> FLR(M) -> Citizenship OR FIANCE -> FLR(M) -> ILR(SET(M)) -> citizenship? I'd really like the route clarified please.

3. When we get married and are applying for citizenship eventually, can we opt for her British passport to be in her married name (and using a marriage certificate as proof of name change)?

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

C

[geriatrix]

Are you a British citizen?

[menwall]

I am a british citizen yes. My fiance who will be coming to the UK is Thai...

[Amber]

Your wife to be would need to be settled have ILR to naturalise as British and although the residential requirement is 3 years, the route to settlement is now 5 years so it'll be after she is granted ILR in 5 years.

She can put her married name on her passport (in 5 years).

[menwall]

Your wife to be would need to be settled have ILR to naturalise as British and although the residential requirement is 3 years, the route to settlement is now 5 years so it'll be after she is granted ILR in 5 years.

She can put her married name on her passport (in 5 years).

Thanks alot. Just one more question...when you say she can put her married name in her passport, does that mean on the form for naturalisation we can put her married surname and supply the marriage certificate and request it that way or does it have to be changed via deed poll and submit that with the application for naturalisation?

Thanks

[Amber]

See Change of name (click)

If you change your name when you get married or when you register a civil partnership, a copy of the marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate will usually be enough evidence that you have changed your name.

[menwall]

Thanks again - the problem lies in the fact that although the marriage certificate can be used as proof of a name change, she would need to renew her Thai passport after the marriage but before we apply for UK naturalisation (because her Thai passport would simply expire in this time).

We would want to keep her name in her Thai passport as her maiden name until we have UK citizenship then we can see about changing her name in Thailand (quite a complicated process due to ID card/passport/housebook). If we state on the naturalisation form that her name is 'Mrs xxxx MySurname' even though her Thai passport has been renewed since the wedding as 'Miss xxxx Thainame', would the UKBA still accept the name change provided we supply the wedding certificate with the naturalisation application and state in the space provided that we simply wanted to wait until after citizenship to change her thai passport to have my surname as well?

I hope that is clear...perhaps I am overthinking it though? I really appreciate your help, im just a worrier!

[Amber]

I wouldn't think about it until closer to the time.