EU Citizen Spouse becomes EU citizen midway through UK stay

[challerayrob]

1. I moved to the UK in the summer of 2011 and started my own limited company consultancy service. Earlier I had been working in Europe for about a decade.

2. My wife was a French citizen (i.e. born French national) at that time and I was an Indian citizen. We had both exercised our EU treaty rights (i.e. as an EU citizen and the spouse of a EU national we were both entitled to do so).

3. I got a resident permit till 2017. Since June 2011 my company and we (my wife and me – who are joint owners of my company) have regularly paid VAT & regular UK taxes to HMRC. I mean there has been no downtime from an employment perspective. We have enough saving as well in order to qualify as self-sufficient.

4. In 2014 I acquired French nationality. I am expected to eventually give up my Indian nationality.

5. In June 2016, we (both me and my wife) have finished our 5 years in the UK. So now I have my French Passport as well as my Indian Passport carrying the British Residence Permit (till the end of 2017).
6. Should I apply for an ILR or Permanent Residence or a British passport given that I have already lived in the UK for 5 years+ . Which is the best/cost-effective solution for me?

7. In light of “the Brexit”, I would like to ascertain what should be the ensuing action on my part? Should we wait for another year and apply for British nationality for me and my family (we have one 7 year old who was born in France but has been schooled in the UK since he was 2 and two other smaller children who were born in the UK and have been schooled here) as we will have finished our 6 years in the UK in June 2017.

8. The other option (as I have been advised by a prospective firm) is for me to apply for an ILR (using my Indian Passport) after having been resident in the UK for 5 years. [Note that during this time we have regularly been paying taxes to HMRC both on a professional and personal basis].

9. I am confused by the fact that I came to the UK on an Indian Passport exercising treaty rights as the spouse of a EU citizen (my wife accompanied me exercising her treaty rights as well), acquired a British resident permit on my Indian Passport and subsequently acquired French nationality in the 3rd year. I don’t know whether to apply for an ILR using my Indian passport given that 5 years & 2 months have passed since I have been in the UK or do I just apply directly for British nationality for my entire family. Note that my entire family moved to the UK with me and have been resident here since.

10. Given that I am in the 6th year of my stay (i.e. I have already been here for 5y3m) and have been a successful business owner (paying lots of taxes ) should I apply using my French passport. What would be the use of the British residence permit on my Indian passport? How would the British authorities interpret the initial 3 years that I legally spent in the UK on my Indian Passport as the spouse of an EU national exercising his treaty rights here in the UK? Basically what I am asking is how will the change in nationality in the 3rd year of my stay in the UK impact my naturalization application?

[noajthan]

1. I moved to the UK in the summer of 2011 and started my own limited company consultancy service. Earlier I had been working in Europe for about a decade.

2. My wife was a French citizen (i.e. born French national) at that time and I was an Indian citizen. We had both exercised our EU treaty rights (i.e. as an EU citizen and the spouse of a EU national we were both entitled to do so).

3. I got a resident permit till 2017. Since June 2011 my company and we (my wife and me – who are joint owners of my company) have regularly paid VAT & regular UK taxes to HMRC. I mean there has been no downtime from an employment perspective. We have enough saving as well in order to qualify as self-sufficient.

4. In 2014 I acquired French nationality. I am expected to eventually give up my Indian nationality.

5. In June 2016, we (both me and my wife) have finished our 5 years in the UK. So now I have my French Passport as well as my Indian Passport carrying the British Residence Permit (till the end of 2017).
6. Should I apply for an ILR or Permanent Residence or a British passport given that I have already lived in the UK for 5 years+ . Which is the best/cost-effective solution for me?

7. In light of “the Brexit”, I would like to ascertain what should be the ensuing action on my part? Should we wait for another year and apply for British nationality for me and my family (we have one 7 year old who was born in France but has been schooled in the UK since he was 2 and two other smaller children who were born in the UK and have been schooled here) as we will have finished our 6 years in the UK in June 2017.

8. The other option (as I have been advised by a prospective firm) is for me to apply for an ILR (using my Indian Passport) after having been resident in the UK for 5 years. [Note that during this time we have regularly been paying taxes to HMRC both on a professional and personal basis].

9. I am confused by the fact that I came to the UK on an Indian Passport exercising treaty rights as the spouse of a EU citizen (my wife accompanied me exercising her treaty rights as well), acquired a British resident permit on my Indian Passport and subsequently acquired French nationality in the 3rd year. I don’t know whether to apply for an ILR using my Indian passport given that 5 years & 2 months have passed since I have been in the UK or do I just apply directly for British nationality for my entire family. Note that my entire family moved to the UK with me and have been resident here since.

10. Given that I am in the 6th year of my stay (i.e. I have already been here for 5y3m) and have been a successful business owner (paying lots of taxes ) should I apply using my French passport. What would be the use of the British residence permit on my Indian passport? How would the British authorities interpret the initial 3 years that I legally spent in the UK on my Indian Passport as the spouse of an EU national exercising his treaty rights here in the UK? Basically what I am asking is how will the change in nationality in the 3rd year of my stay in the UK impact my naturalization application?

3/5 Do you mean EEA Residence Card (RC)?

You can't mean family permit (FP).

I don't think you mean UK BRP as that indicates ILR.

6) It appears you are actually on EU migration route - so shoot for DCPR.

7) DCPR is one of the mandatory prerequisites for privilege of citizenship.
Suggest check out other requirements asap.

8] What kind of advisory firm is that?

Taxes make no difference.

Based on stated facts so far, you have no UK 'visa'.
You are therefore on EU migration trajectory.

9) You have no option to apply for ILR. See #8
&
You have no option to apply to naturalise (yet). See #7

10) Forget the taxes.
Being a big taxpayer cuts no ice.

Nationality should make no difference. The UK is a broad church and is liberal enough to recognise dual (triple) citizenship.

Next step
Apply for confirmation of PR.

It may be simplest to apply as the direct family member dependent of your Union citizen wife.
Although it may be possible to concatenate your initial dependency as FM tgether with your subsequent emancipation and exercise of treaty rights in your own right (since taking French citizenship onboard).

[Richard W]

9. I am confused by the fact that I came to the UK on an Indian Passport exercising treaty rights as the spouse of a EU citizen (my wife accompanied me exercising her treaty rights as well), acquired a British resident permit on my Indian Passport and subsequently acquired French nationality in the 3rd year. I don’t know whether to apply for an ILR using my Indian passport given that 5 years & 2 months have passed since I have been in the UK or do I just apply directly for British nationality for my entire family. Note that my entire family moved to the UK with me and have been resident here since.

You should submit a French passport (or ID card) as well as your invalid Indian passport. Your Indian passport is invalid as you are no longer an Indian citizen, and falsely asserting that your Indian passport was still valid might be held against you if you attempt to naturalise as British.