phillips_75

Hi,

A little bit of background here. I'm British, my OH is Aussie, and we have a daughter together. We're currently living in the UK and plan to emigrate in the new year.

My 309/100 has already been lodged and our estimate based on info from the CO is that it could be ready by March / April.

My OH has taken the "Life in the UK" test a few years back, and currently has indefinite leave to remain. Now we're looking at her British Citizenship (just so the door is open for us to come back in future if we ever need to).

We have a daughter together who already has dual nationality.

Current advice on the Home Office website is that it can take "up to" 5-6 months for the naturalisation application to be processed.

Does anyone have experience of how long it is currently taking in practice?

We're hoping ours would be a relatively low-risk application (neither of us have been in trouble with the law or travelled to any high-risk countries). Would that have any impact?

If it does take that long, my Aussie visa could actually come through first, and it would the UK side for my OH that would be holding us up.

We are planning on getting married in Australia - does anyone have any knowledge of how easy it would be to get her British citizenship organised as a married couple from Australia, if we did want to come back?

We're just wondering whether, if it was going to take a long time to get my OH's British citizenship organised, it would be feasible alternative for us to just travel out there, and sort out her British stuff later once we're already there?

Thanks for your help on this!

Pollyana

I'll move your post to the UK forum, more likely to get an answer on British stuff there

phillips_75

OK, thanks Pollyanna!

Tr1boy

We are similar, except that we are married. I'm a Brit with dual Oz/Brit citizenship and Mrs TB is an Aussie citizen. We've been in the UK since 2010 and came under 'old rules' which meant Mrs TB only needed 3yrs residency. She did the UK Test in 2011 IIRC.

We have a daughter with dual nationality also. We applied for Mrs TB's UK citizenship on Aug 13th and have not heard anything excel for the fact that they have received it (that confirmation comes via text about 4 weeks later).

We used the National ID checking service at local council, it was £70 but probably worth it, they go through the form and verify your docs so that you get to keep them.

Will let you know if we get any news.

phillips_75

OK thanks TB

Hope you get some good news soon :-)

formula

NO! Don't do it. Sort out her citizenship before you go.

quoll

Once you've got the Aussie visa there's no rush. Absolutely do not leave without UK citizenship!

Gozit

+1 +1 +1 !!! Do not leave the UK without making sure he has citizenship.

If you want to return and his ILR has lapsed and he doesn't have citizenship you will need to immigrate him back to the UK under the new spouse visa rules which are draconian and definitely do not support family reunification. Lets just say it involves a lot of money...............

As far as i know you do not need to travel to aus immediately when you get the visa so you should have enough time to secure UK citizenship for your OH.

BritInParis

Based on recent experiences from other naturalising Australians count on around 4 months from date of lodgement to attending your citizenship ceremony if using the Nationality Checking Service. If needs be you can take your citizenship ceremony at a British consulate in Australia - this won't affect your application as they will calculate your residency from the date of application - although obviously it would be easier to do it at your local council office in the UK and get your British passport before you leave.

Just be aware that as you are not currently married to a British citizen you will need one year's further residence in the UK after receiving ILR in order to be eligible although it sounds like you have already done this.

phillips_75

Thanks for the feedback all - glad I checked, it sounds like it would be a big hurdle to cross if we left without getting it in place.

BIP - yes you are correct, it has been a couple of years since my OH got her ILR so it should be ok from that aspect.

Thanks for the info re: the 4 month waiting time, that would suit us nicely.

Tr1boy

Well that was weird timing. This morning we had a letter from UKBA or whatever they're called this week saying that Mrs TB has had her citizenship application approved

Next steps are that we will receive a letter in the next few days outlining a time and place for the ceremony and she has to reply confirming attendance and the number of people coming.

Says that the date for ceremony will be within the next three mths but the awaited letter will have the actual date.

not2old

Tr1boy @ post 11 .... congrats to the missus

JAJ

Those not married to a British citizen (or a civil partner) must also normally declare an intention to remain resident in the U.K. While this is not routinely enforced post-naturalisation, a specific intention of an intention to emigrate could lead to refusal of the application. In particular, asking for a citizenship ceremony outside the U.K. might not be such a good idea.

Tr1boy

Quick update, we've had the letter re the ceremony, it will be on Dec 1st. So from application to ceremony for us will be 3.5mths.

BritInParis

It's in the legislation but almost unenforceable as, unless you go out of your way to declare your intention to no longer reside in the UK, it's practically impossible to prove. As such many do take their ceremony outside the UK with no difficulties.