korona

My wife wishes to gain British citizenship and we're wondering if there is a quicker path than the one we seem to have found; gain settled status (5 years), then citizenship (3 of those 5). The reason we're wondering about a quicker path is due to the various, probably less common circumstances she has. My wife of 20 years is a dual EU and USA citizen, originally lived in the UK from about 1992-2002, then we moved to the EU until 3 years ago when we returned to the UK. We're wondering if any of that original time in the UK counts for settled status or citizenship status, or does it all have to be recent residence?

Can anyone see a shorter path to citizenship from the facts above?

Many thanks in advance.

BritInParis

Your wife should be eligible for settled status based on her previous residence. If she is married to a British citizen and has spent the last three years in the UK then she should be eligible to naturalise straight away.

Has she applied for status under the EU Settlement Scheme? What’s the EU citizenship that she holds?

korona

Thanks for your reply. She holds Italian citizenship. She is pre-settled under the EU settlement scheme currently.

BritInParis

I would reapply and opt to provide additional evidence of her residence during the 1990s. That should lead to the Home Office granting her settled status.

korona

Ok. I guess the problem is digging up that evidence. Will they also expect evidence of not being out of the country more than 180 days a year? I think that will be hard to prove after all this time.

BritInParis

You’ll need one piece of evidence per month per year but one piece of evidence can cover multiple months or years, e.g. P60s, letters from employers or educational institutions.

Was your wife making NI contributions during those ten years?

korona

Thanks for the ideas. Yes, she was making NI contributions I believe.

BritInParis

The system really should’ve picked up on that then but if she reapplies it will tell where she is missing time. A correction to the above: it’s one piece of evidence for each six month period so a maximum of ten pieces.