JayDeee

justa note really.

Hubby is australian and I am british

hubby came to he uk 3.5 yrs ago met me an we married 1.8 yrs ago. he got PR in the UK after we maried (had been on workingholiday visa before that) just before we left he applied for citizenship, had been in the UK for 3.5 yrs had done over 1 yr on residency and a few months on PR. we knew we were heading for OZ so put that on his applcation for citizenship. he put in his "I can speak English" form 2 weeks ago and was granted citizenship 1 week ago.

Total; time from getting full application was less than 3 weeks

I am just teling you so any onw in the same situation as us AU-UK may be able to take our time scale.
HUbby now has to go to Perth and swear allegance to the queen (seems a bit sily as it is the same queen as the Aussie's have)


but that is it once that is done he is a UK citizen.

Good luck to all those aplying.

Kala

JAJ

Congratulations. Many people are unaware that if a naturalisation applicant is married to a British citizen, there is no requirement to intend to stay UK resident, so it's quite possible to move overseas during processing and just tell the Home Office.

Less than published timescales, you may have been lucky


There will be a time limit to take the oath - it's important he respects this as otherwise his grant of British citizenship may be withdrawn. Best to get it sorted out as soon as possible.

Australians who applied for British citizenship prior to 1.1.2004 do not have to take any oath of allegiance, for the reason you mention. The rules changed on that date, although you may find he only has to take a Pledge of Allegiance to the UK, rather than an Oath + Pledge as normal. The British Consulate in Perth will advise on exactly what needs to be done.

Jeremy

JayDeee

Thanks Jeremy,

They sent his certificate to West Sussex County council and they sent an invitation for him to have his ceremony in Sussex (not sure why they sent it there as we had told them we were leaving the UK) We just called them up and they said we have to write a letter to the home office explaining the situation and they will send the details to Perth who will contact us. We will make sure it is within the time scale.

Cheers
Kala

JAJ

The answer is they sent the certificate to the wrong place - once you had told them about your move to Australia they should have updated their system.

This is a new process for the Home Office and obviously they're not quite up to speed on dealing with situations where people move during processing.

Jeremy