pimpmycode

Hi, i have a few questions about ILR and naturalisation that i haven't been able to find the answers to.

For spouses on the 3 year route to citizenship, once ILR is obtained does the spouse have to hold ILR for at least 12 months before applying for citizenship?

In terms of the residency rules for an ILR application, does the UKBA accept time on previous fiancé and limited leave to remain visas? For example, my wife had a fiancé visa and then a limited leave to remain visa from 2007 to 2008 before we returned to SA. We are back in the UK for 13 months now and she is on a new limited leave to remain visa. We plan on applying for ILR in January next year.

roaringmouse

No - there's no minimum time to hold ILR if the person is married to a British citizen. A person applying for naturalisation needs to be in the UK on the day 3 years before the application lodgement date (for spouse of British citizen - 5 years for non-spouses). From what you say, your wife would not meet that requirement in January 2014 when she may be granted ILR.

However to answer the question you actually asked, the visa type doesn't matter as long as they were resident for the required time (e.g. not as a tourist).

It would seem the earliest your wife could apply for naturalisation is 3 years after she arrived in 2012 - so February 2015 (depending on when she was actually in the UK 13 months ago), as long as other requirements are met (e.g. allowable absences). And of course allowing for the rules not to change before then.

pimpmycode

roaringmouse, thanks for the reply.

This is quite a clever rule they have. If it wasn't for this we could apply for naturalisation sooner as the 3 years residency rule would be met by next year when we apply for ILR.

This time around we arrived on the 25th January 2012 so by the 1st of February 2014 we can apply for ILR and then naturalisation in February the following year as you say.

This is actually something i was wondering about. What if they change the rules for ILR or naturalisation before we apply would this affect those that already have limited leave and are in the UK?

roaringmouse

Maybe - there's also the allowable absence, which for those applying based on being a spouse is 270 days during the 3 years immediately before applying (including no more than 90 days in the year immediately before applying). Your wife would be able to apply from 25 January 2015, presuming other requirements are met - actually, according to the example on this page of the UKBA website, 24 January 2015 would be the earliest they could receive the application. I'm not sure if they will change the rules for spouses before then, as people under the new spouse visa rules are not eligible until at least July 2017. As people who got their initial spouse visa under the old rules have further visa applications considered under the old rules, I think it would be difficult for the government to change the rules for citizenship for those under the old visa rules - or at least until 2017.

I'm hoping the rules won't change as currently my wife will be able to apply for naturalisation in August 2015. Fortunately she got Indefinite Leave to Enter under the old rules, so entered the UK last year as a permanent resident - no more visa applications!