Citizenship referees

[amazighman]

Hello .

First of all I would like to thank everybody in this wonderful forum for their help from step one EEA family permit to Permanent residence.

I was planning to apply for British citizenship this year , i meet all criteria including English and life in the uk knowledge, the issue i have is referees.

I can only find an old boss who is a friend of mine and he knew me for 3 years , and he is British over 25yo.

I cant find any professional, my GP surely wont accept to do it i am sure even if she knows me nearly 3 years,
I don't.know if estate agent can be used as a referee , my old estate agent knew me for 3 years ... Who knows if i can still find him

Thats all i can think of,.i am stuck at this step , all this reference requirements seem to be just a hurdle and meaningless.

Cheers

[silverchloride]

The professional person could be of any nationality....

[mrgs1]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... y-guidance

[amazighman]

The problem is i dont know any professional person either British or foreign.
I know couple of people but they are in my country and have never been in the UK.
I find this referees thing ridiculous,

I ll probably give up on this citizenship thing

[amazighman]

I can say people that i know but not sure if any suitable.

My GP knows me nearly 3 years , but i doubt she ll accept.

My ex estate agent knew me for 3 years.

My work colleague who is a PLC engineer but only has HNC/HND and he knew me for just over 2 years.

My financial intermediary/ mortgage broker , she knows me nearly 2 years.

My private doctor but only know me over 1 year.

Thats all i know

[bruteforce]

An off licence shop manager / owner? Someone who holds Personal licence?

[amazighman]

I dont know any off licence holder, all I know is the above people.
I d rather home office ask me to bring a mountain of paperwork from my country and translate it better than this uncomfortable silly situation when you have to ask people to be referees ...i am not sure such system exists anywhere else in the world.

[bruteforce]

You are seeking a citizenship of a country and in my opinion, one of the reasons of seeking the references is that they want to see how well you have integrated into society. You can by all means provide a reference from a professional in your home country, you are allowed to do that. Even then if you think it would be difficult, don't apply now & give it another couple of years.

[bruteforce]

i am not sure such system exists anywhere else in the world.

I am sure it does. If you apply for a job they ask you for all sorts of references depending on job type and here you are seeking to become a citizen. As they say, citizenship is not a right, its a privilege.

[amazighman]

Well i know friends in the USA and France and all of them have acquired citizenship and no mention of referees and they are certainly well integrated in their society.

I still believe it is more to put people off and be like a hurdle that it is to check for integration.
The problem here is that there referees are not obliged to do it , so finding someone that is willing to put their details down is a bit a of a challenge especially for people like me with no professional relationships, my daily life is work and home and thats it , i dont know many people

[bruteforce]

As I said, apply only when you have met this requirement.

[amazighman]

My colleague at work is a PLC engineer, but he is only qualified HNC/HND level will that work as a professional referee?

Would a housekeeping manager work as a professional referee?

Thx

[amazighman]

I have sent out some emails to my old work place, one of the manager who knew me for 3 years has agreed that he will be a professional referee.

He is a manager within a public limited company, hopefully that ll work.

Another reference, i can get from on colleague at work who is over 25 and British citizen.

Cheers