Citizenship and residency

[celine13]

Hi All,

I have lived in England since Sept 2003. In Feb 2010, I went to live in Australia for a year, returning in Feb 2011.
I recently decided to apply for my British Citizenship. As the requirement is 5 continuous years spent in the UK (without leaving the country for more than 3 months), I became eligible in Feb 2016.
I discovered that the first step was to get a residency card. I applied and received my card recently. The requirement to get residency is to have been in the UK for 5 years minimum, which means I became a resident in Sept 2008 but only 'officialised' it recently by getting a card.
Now, to be eligible for citizenship, I need residency + 1 year. In my residency application, I only justified my current employment (didn't send any docs for my previous jobs).
Does it mean that I can start applying for the citizenship from:
- now, as I became a resident in 2008 anyway and I have been back from Australia for over 5 years
- May 2017 as that will be one year after 5 years of justified employment.

Can you please advise me on the above?

Thank you!

Celine

[noajthan]

What nationality are you?
Immigration status?

What is the residence card you refer to? (there are several).

If you are EEA, have you acquired PR status?
- have you got a 'confirmation of PR' card? (DCPR)

Do you have any EEA or non-EEA dependents?
Do you have a British spouse?

[celine13]

I am French, no spouse, no dependants. I have received a permanent residency card indeed, as I am an EEA citizen.

[noajthan]

I am French, no spouse, no dependants. I have received a permanent residency card indeed, as I am an EEA citizen.

If you have a DCPR (& not just a RC) and you submitted evidence to prove you had acquired PR status over a year ago, then, yes, you can (in principle) shoot for the privilege of citizenship toute suite.

The problem is you do not know the date of issue of DCPR that HO have decided to record in their internal CID databank file on you;
(nor do you know whether it is correct or not - some members have reported errors).

You can find out the issue date if you apply to naturalise via NCS as NCS can check with a private HO hotline.
Or you could request your SAR from UKVI - that may contain the pertinent information (although some members have reported sometimes its missing).

If the DCPR issue date is indeed over a year ago then all good, file the application.
if there is some error and you can't apply yet then you have only lost the NCS fee (rather than naturalisation fee).

[ohara]

DCPR looks like so (this vignette will be stuck on a piece of card if you are an EEA citizen):



Cheapest (albeit rather slow) way to find out the date UKVI have deemed you to have acquired PR status is to submit SAR as mentioned above.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... mmigration

Ignore the date of issue on the card - it's completely irrelevant.

[celine13]

Thanks both for your useful advice.

I couldn't see the image you attached but I am guessing that's a blue card with a passport/ visa looking page with a pic and all details?

I think I will aim at applying for Citizenship in May 2017 (5 years in my current, permanent job + 1 year) to avoid all potential refusals.
However, I will send an SAR to UKVI enquiring about the date they recorded me as a resident - if it's any earlier than May 2016, then I'll go ahead with that earlier date.

[CR001]

Thanks both for your useful advice.

I couldn't see the image you attached but I am guessing that's a blue card with a passport/ visa looking page with a pic and all details?

I think I will aim at applying for Citizenship in May 2017 (5 years in my current, permanent job + 1 year) to avoid all potential refusals.
However, I will send an SAR to UKVI enquiring about the date they recorded me as a resident - if it's any earlier than May 2016, then I'll go ahead with that earlier date.

You still need to apply for a document certifying you have Permanent Residency before you can apply for citizenship. There is currently a delay of many months for the documents certifying PR.

[celine13]

Hello,

Thanks - I do have Permanent Residency. See original post 'I discovered that the first step was to get a residency card. I applied and received my card recently'.
It's called a 'UK Residence Documentation for a National of an EEA State'. Hope that's the correct one!?

[ohara]

See my earlier post. You need a document certifying permanent residence.

Can you post a photo of exactly what you've received? Which application form did you use to get it?

[sheehae]

Following this Thread too...

I have tried sending my AN application for citizenship through 'check and send' in January 2016 but I was refused to send it because they said the blue residence card I have is not valid anymore and that I need to apply for a permanent residence card (PRC) first. She literally rang home office in front of me as she wasn't sure it was still accepted or now and they said no!! Gutted as I had passed all my tests, etc and now there is even more delay & cost.
I am preparing my PRC application atm and hoping it's not really going to take 6 months!! If you need passport to travel can you request it back?

Still, I am curios if anyone has still applied with a blue card and got through?

[ohara]

Following this Thread too...

I have tried sending my AN application for citizenship through 'check and send' in January 2016 but I was refused to send it because they said the blue residence card I have is not valid anymore and that I need to apply for a permanent residence card (PRC) first. She literally rang home office in front of me as she wasn't sure it was still accepted or now and they said no!! Gutted as I had passed all my tests, etc and now there is even more delay & cost.
I am preparing my PRC application atm and hoping it's not really going to take 6 months!! If you need passport to travel can you request it back?

Still, I am curios if anyone has still applied with a blue card and got through?

If you are an EEA citizen, you must have a document certifying permanent residence if you are applying for naturalisation. Did you read the guidance or even the application form itself?