Rusty Chainsaw

So, this summer my wife becomes eligible to apply for British citizenship after 3 years. We do have a few questions though.

1) Does anyone have any idea of what the timescale is for naturalisation applications right now?

2) Following on from that, do they need her passport? If so, does it get returned quickly, or do they hold on to it? Just in case we need to travel.

3) Nothing's been decided yet, but we are contemplating the idea of ping-ponging and heading back to the US before the end of the year. If the application is still pending by the time we'd need to leave, would she have to come back to the UK for the citizenship ceremony, or might she be able to do it at the British consulate in NYC or something?

Any help would be appreciated.

theOAP

You mention 3 years. Does your wife qualify under the old rules? The current period is 5 years (new rules) with ILR.

Once the application is submitted, the times are very quick at the moment, less than 1 month.

You may be interested in this thread from the UK Yankee site on timelines for those applying.
Current naturalisation/citizenship waiting times

If she uses the NCS, she will be able to keep her US passport.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collec...ecking-service

Rusty Chainsaw

Yes, we arrived here before the new rules took effect, so it'll be 3 years for her. I've heard the new good character requirements are stretching the timeline out though - have you heard anything about that?

theOAP

It obviously depends on the applicant and their background, but if your wife is a US citizen with a clean background in both the US and UK, then it seems not to be a major problem at this time. There are some applications, according to the UK Yankee site, which are taking months. Not sure of the reason, but most applications seem to have quick turnaround times, even today.

Fill in Form AN, find your 2 supporting character references, have the references complete their part of the form, make an appointment with NCS, pay the fee, and from the time of the appointment to the acknowledgement letter from the Immigration Services, at present, is three to four weeks normally. If the applicant is from some questionable area of the world, or has a less than clean background, it may take longer.

They let me in, but that was several years ago.

https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-britis...n/how-to-apply

Tr1boy

This was our timeline.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/citiz...o-woah-839461/

BritInParis

Yes, this is a possibility.

Rusty Chainsaw

Can you elaborate? What would be involved to get the citizenship ceremony at, say, the British Embassy in New York?

BritInParis

So long as your wife meets the residency requirements at the time of application then she can leave the country whilst the application is being processed. You'll usually be contacted to attend a ceremony at your local council based on the UK address you gave on your application form. If you are living in the US at this time you'll need to contact the Home Office once you receive notification that your application was successful and ask for the ceremony to be changed to your nearest Consulate.

Rusty Chainsaw

Is this something that would be fairly simple and straightforward to arrange with the Home Office, or they would be likely to query it or change their minds?

Our situation is basically this: our landlord has decided to sell the house we live in, and we have to be out by the end of July. He's given us plenty of notice, which is nice, but my wife doesn't qualify to apply for citizenship until mid-July. We've been talking about heading back to the States for a while, and, if it's going to be on the agenda, I'd rather just get it done instead of having another year's limbo (I've already got dual citizenship). It's just awkward timing, basically. If we could stay in the house until September-ish, I'm sure we could see the citizenship thing through, but that's not really an option, and we're not going to sign another year's tenancy agreement for the sake of only another month or so of time that really needs to be spent in the UK.

Tr1boy

Did you read my timeline link? I very much doubt that you would get it done between Jul-Sep anyway.

BritInParis

Not sure to be perfectly honest. You can only ask. Worst case scenario your wife you will need to fly back solo to undertake her ceremony. I think however if you explain your situation and are flexible with your dates you should be able to do it in the US. Just be aware that one of the requirements for naturalisation is the intention to live in the UK so you'll need to emphasis that you intend to live between both countries after your wife becomes British.