Help me ease my freaked out girlfriends mind!

[masonator]

I am after some advice, I have trawled through the gov.uk website and google and my head is fried!

The scenario is this:

I am a British citizen, my partner of nearly 5 years is a Polish national who has been in the UK since 2007 and has worked throughout her time here.

She has a 5 and half year old son with her ex husband (also Polish) who was born in UK but has a Polish Passport not a UK one.

We have an 8 month old boy together who was born in UK and we are applying for a UK passport for him. We have lived together for nearly two years but were together for nearly 3 years prior to this.

With the Brexit looming, she is freaking out, as well as all her EEA friends about what may or may not happen. We know the Brexit camp stated people already here will not be affected, but we feel the best option for peace of mind is to ultimately gain British Citizenship for both her and her son.

My query is what is the best process for this? From what I can gather she needs to apply for PR and once she has this, due to the time she has been here she can apply for BC straight away..is this true?

Also, what will we need to do for her son. Can we include him on her PR application and then do the same thing with regards to BC?

Apologies if these questions have been answered in the mountain of posts on here, but we are a little worried and any advice would be most appreciated.

Cheers

[CR001]

My query is what is the best process for this? From what I can gather she needs to apply for PR and once she has this, due to the time she has been here she can apply for BC straight away..is this true?

Yes, provided she meets the requirements and has attained PR.

Also, what will we need to do for her son. Can we include him on her PR application and then do the same thing with regards to BC?

I think so yes. Wait for others to comment.

[noajthan]

Get gf a cup of green tea, very calming.

Yes, gf needs to apply for confirmation of PR (DCPR).
She is likely to have acquired PR already if in UK as a qualified person (eg working, studying etc) since 2007.

The DCPR is just a confirmatory document but yes, it is now needed to apply for the privilege of citizenship.
See https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... orm-eea-pr

If PR was acquired by 2012 or 2013 (ie after 5 years as qualified person) then yes, gf can shoot directly for naturalisation once she has the PR card.

That is, assuming she can meet all other requirements for naturalisation - check them out now to make sure:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... e_2016.pdf

If first (Polish) child was born in UK after mom acquired PR (in perhaps 2012) he is already British - go for passport directly.
Start here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... plications

If first child was born (in UK) before mom was settled with PR status, he is entitled to be registered as a citizen once she has acquired PR. (That is PR/settled status - not necessarily a PR card).
Apply under section 1(3) of BNA; use form MN1 from Gov UK website.

You can see the UK-born first child doesn't strictly need PR status; he is either British or going to be British soon (based on his DoB).

For gf, there's just one gotcha to clear up. As she is an A8 national was she fully and properly registered for WRS?

Next steps
For gf, suggest itemise her timeline and activities;
collate documentary supporting evidence (it needs to be rock-solid);
check up on WRS;
have a go at filling in PR form;
see how it shapes up;

For first (Polish) child, see which application to shoot off: passport or MN1.
If he was born in 2010(?) it looks like second option: entitled to register.

Keep calm and keep filling in forms.

[masonator]

Thank you so much! I will go through the stages

[secret.simon]

Get gf a cup of green tea, very calming.

I recommend camomile tea as well.

my partner of nearly 5 years is a Polish national who has been in the UK since 2007 and has worked throughout her time here.

A crucial question is whether your partner was registered with WRS for all the jobs that she did between 2007 and May 2011. Just being registered for the first one is not sufficient if she had multiple jobs.

If she was registered with WRS, she should apply for DCPR with proof of employment for the period 2007-2012. That would make her eligible to apply for British citizenship immediately on receipt of the DCPR.

If she was not registered with WRS and assuming that she has been working all throughout (maternity leave is counted as working), her qualifying period would run from May 2011 (when WRS was abolished) to May 2016. She would qualify for British citizenship in May 2017 (unless she is married to a British citizen, in which case she can apply immediately on getting the DCPR).