not2old

I know what PR means & says for ILR & PR card

Back to my unanswered question & not just a 'NO' you cannot - I want to know why not, when the guide & form says 3 years that my spouse can

I don't have the definitive answer all under the FOI from (HO or UKVI processing agent caseworker) as to why someone married to a British citizen living legally in the UK, that they can after 3 years (not 5 years) apply for citizenship?

I'm just going by section 2 page 7 of the guide as well as page 8 of the application form

as I posted earlier - typical cock & bull

not2old

Thanks, I can accept that in part, but not fully, since the guide & application form say different

Are you 100% sure that the spouse of a British citizen that began living legally in the UK with the Brit citizen spouse/partner within the last 3 years, that they WILL NOT (be sure 100%) to be able to apply for and to be granted citizenship after 3 years residence?

BritInParis

Not unless they are free from immigration time restrictions i.e. hold ILR, PR or RoA. Look at Chapter 4 of booklet AN.

durham_lad

We are planning on splitting our time equally (more or less) between the UK and USA, beginning in 2016.

We are dual UK/US, being born in the UK, moving to the US in '87, getting USC in 1998.

We will be aged 61 when we start this, and plan on maintaining my US Health Insurance, which is through the employer I retired from in 2010. So far they haven't thrown us over to ACA, but if they do then we'll get an ACA policy. (Medicare at 65)

robin1234

My wife and I are starting to put in place the infrastructure to split our time between the UK and US. She is a US citizen, I am a dual UK and US citizen. We are both 64 years old, and retired a couple of years ago.

We very recently bought a new build flat. I'm over in England now, furnishing it and setting up utilities, TV licence, council tax etc.

I consider myself a US resident currently. I'm trying not to do the things UK residents do (for instance, no NHS, no free bus pass, I haven't applied to go on the electoral roll.) I will only have been physically in the UK for 75 days in the 2014-2015 year. However, I realise that registering for council tax and the land registry processes may trigger the tax authorities to raise their ugly heads. Next year, I'll probably be in the UK for more than 90 days so may have to dive in to UK taxes and other complications.

My wife had ILR back in the 1980s so obviously should have proceeded to citizenship then. However, we didn't think of it, so never mind. I think our problem with it is not so much the process (we could qualify on income or on savings) but when to start since she is still committed to spend much of her time in the US, so will have to continue to enter the UK as a visitor for the time being. I don't think she currently wants to spend anything like as much time in the UK as I do. If we apply for a spouse visa and she comes here, how much time would she have to spend in the UK for how many years to comply?

As for health care, I have very good insurance (worldwide coverage) from my old employer until I reach age 65. Then I will shift to Medicare Part A and B and presumably have to get travel insurance for visits to UK .... until I actually become a resident. At that time I will obviously get NHS but would probably continue to pay Medicare Part B at least for the time being. My wife is in a similar position with her former employers plan...

Complicated though...

WEBlue

Have you read this thread and the links therein?

http://britishexpats.com/forum/citiz...e-visa-852532/

So true! If one is not committed as a couple to living in the UK full-time, a lot of study will be required IMO. Lots of pitfalls.

I'd be curious to see if there are those who have actually managed to "split" time successfully between the UK and another country and then were able to qualify for ILR and naturalization....

WEBlue

Just did a google search and found a UK Yankee thread from yesterday on this very subject! A good discussion here.

Travel limitations after spousal visa has been approved.

robin1234

Thanks for these links to links!!

As so often happens, hard to make this stuff fit with (a) retirement, and (b) the modern world. We have a child in each country, which is a good thing. And, probably like a lot of retired folk who've lived together for forty plus years, we like doing our own thing not always living on top of each other! At least while we still can get around independently!

durham_lad

Exciting times and I agree that you need to keep a close track on your days in the UK so you don't inadvertently become UK resident.

Since retiring that is what we've had to do on our long trips back. We paid council taxes in 2011 during our long stay but it was having a UK bank monitoring our ATM activity that tripped the alarm bells, and the bank had us fill in an HMRC form stating that we were not resident for tax purposes, and listing the number of days we'd been in the country over the past 4 years.

Next year we will be intentionally resident, and will sign onto the NHS etc (and get free bus passes). Like yourselves we have worldwide coverage for Health Insurance through my ex-employer's plan until age 65.

WEBlue

Yes, I agree! These spouse visa residence requirements are set up to reward couples who basically plan to live together, though reasonable coming & going for work, holidays, etc. is fine. For retired couples with independent lives and possible/probable family commitments in two countries, the requirements are not so convenient.

London1947

My wife is a USC... Me I'm a duel US/UK. We did have an attorney in the US to do all the paperwork ect. We got married 2012 before the new regulations came into effect on income requirements. All in all we paid approx 5K to the attorney included in the fee's was the payment to the UK Border agency. The spousal visa was for two years under Home Office regulations. Next step was to re-new the spousal visa required by the Home Office and have the biometrics done, so now she has a resident card valid for two years the cost for that was 601GBP and had to fill out 71 pages for the Home Office.

Next step in two years would be for the ILR and had been informed that the 71 page document will have to be done again at that time. The charge for the ILR will cost 1100GBP.

She is exempt from the life in the UK test as she is over 65. Although she had it scheduled as she was then 64 but told it's not now required. Cost for that would have been 50GBP.

So I suppose to become a UK citizen would take 5 years.

Hope all the above makes sense.

WEBlue

So the key is the date on your wife's spouse visa. If it was issued before 9 July 2012, your wife should still be covered by the old rules. If it was issued after 9/7/12 she must follow the new rules.

The old rules said 2 years residence as a spouse to ILR and three years +ILR to citizenship. The new rules say 5 years to ILR, and since ILR is a requirement for citizenship, in effect it now takes 5 yrs for citizenship....

Hmm, this sounds like your wife falls under the new rules. (?) The start date on her visa may be after 9/7/12.

This is an advantage for older couples, definitely.