Do both referees need to be present in the UK?

[apriliapegaso28]

Hello,

I read the requirements and they said that one referee needs to hold a British passport and the other needs to be an acceptable professional, of any nationality.

My doubt is that I've not seen if that other person of any nationality has to be in the UK? ie, I've got a few friends abroad who have acceptable jobs, but would it be ok to enter them in the Naturalization form?

I've not seen anything official, the closest was a question in another forum where a person said that UK was not going to contact people abroad, so they were not valid?

[alterhase58]

I don't now the exact rules any better than what is on the form, but be practical here - you must know more than one person in the UK who is qualified to act as a referee. If they are in the UK then they are easy to contact, especially with UK passport number.
Why take the risk of potential delays?

[noajthan]

Hello,

I read the requirements and they said that one referee needs to hold a British passport and the other needs to be an acceptable professional, of any nationality.

...

For applicants in UK, referees in UK appear to be expected.

For applicants living abroad this may not be the case.

You can dig into such vital questions here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... n-v6_0.pdf
- see para 6.3.7.7

One of your 'jobs' whilst spending 5 years or more getting settled status in UK is to assimilate into the community and to cultivate professional and other relationships (over a 3 year time frame) for the purpose of being a referee.