Polish wife to UK resident

[ponglish]

My wife is a polish national. She's been in the living and working in the UK for 3 years.

What does she need to do to gain a British passport (and stop worrying about what may or may not happen if the UK votes to leave the EU)?

[Casa]

She needs to have qualified for Permanent Residence (PR) first and have formal confirmation of that before applying for BC. This requires 5 years of exercising her Treaty rights in the UK + a further 12 months of residence. If you are a British citizen she can apply immediately after qualifying for PR without waiting an additional 12 months. Is she employed at present?
A passport application can only be submitted once British citizenship has been approved and the citizenship ceremony has taken place.

[ponglish]

Yes, She has always worked (legally). She's only lived here, i.e she's never filled in any official documents to be a PR as we never thought that was necessary, being a EU citizen.

[Casa]

After only 3 years your wife wouldn't qualify for PR yet. This requires 5 years as mentioned in my previous post. The rules have changed for EEA nationals applying for BC and formal confirmation of PR is now mandatory. Here's a link to the current form, but bear in mind that this may well change before your wife is ready to apply for PR.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... orm-eea-pr

[ponglish]

Thank you for your advice.

Would she be able to be a PR in the UK whilst holding Polish passport too?

[Casa]

Of course, once she has completed 5 years 'exercising her Treaty rights', at which point she will automatically have PR but she needs confirmation of this in order to apply for BC. The information is in the link I posted.

Edit: You should be aware that until your wife has completed 5 years in the UK, for any period without employment she will need to have Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) in place, to cover her as being self-sufficient.

[ponglish]

That's good advice too. We didn't know about that. She's worked the whole three years since being here but you never know what the future holds.

I have noted all your advice, thanks again

[Casa]

You're welcome. Just continue to post along the way if you need any updates. Your wife might like to bear in mind that for BC under current rules, she will need a pass in the Life in the UK test and B1 level English. The Life in the UK test has no expiry date and can be taken at any time.