UK Citizenship requirements

[rasg]

My wife has finally made it to the citizenship stage and I have a query about the proof of living in the UK over the last three years. "Proof of living in the UK for Mrs PK for 5 years if applying in your own right or 3 years if applying as the spouse of a British Citizen" is what it says on the checklist. It's a bit vague (unlike the previous criteria for her other visas) and I've come up with very little about what is actually required and what I can use. I have annual council tax bills with my wife's name on. Bank statements and also a whole host of Covid test results from the ONS that we have been having since October 2020 where they visited every month. (They were fine for ILR.) Does anybody know what else is required please? TIA.

[bigyin]

If your wife’s passport has entry stamps then that is enough on its own. You can also use forms P60, council tax statements or other official communications. Utility bills and bank statements are not considered proof of residence.

[rasg]

Thanks. She has no entry stamps in her latest passport that was renewed in 2020. I will take her previous passport with us to UKVCAS and upload scans of the stamps. Having said that she only has a single entry into the UK in the last five years and that was returning from a two week holiday to Thailand.

[bigyin]

That is fine because the stamp will match the absences detailed in the application. They will want the latest passport as well. Have you paid the extra for UKVCAS to upload everything?

[rasg]

No. I am happy to do it myself.

[globalThailand]

We are just about to go for citizenship here and one question I asked an immigration lawyer for clarity was the 3 / 5 year thing.

 

While we are on a 5 year route ourselves (ie. need to have lived in the UK for 5 years to obtain ILR) the citizenship will dial back 3 years from the date of application to check that Mrs Global was in the UK at that time.  This is because she is applying for citizenship as the spouse of a UK citizen.   Personally I think that's an odd one, I can't actually think of a scenario where you can get an ILR in 3 years.

 

As for evidence - The citizenship form asks for all travel details to the UK (like since forever) and we have immigration stamps in passports to prove that etc.  I haven't quite got to the submission stage yet but I don't think you need the usual gumph (council tax bills, utilities etc)... I may be wrong / naïve but isn't the fact we have ILR and a BRP evidence itself that the applicant resides in the UK? 

[rasg]

13 hours ago, globalThailand said:

I may be wrong / naïve but isn't the fact we have ILR and a BRP evidence itself that the applicant resides in the UK? 

According to my wife's application you do.

 

After you have completed the questions you will receive a checklist of the requirements you need to provide. The following is one of them that they requested from my wife that we submitted to UKVCAS for her citizenship today.

 

"Proof of living in the UK for Mrs PK for 5 years if applying in your own right or 3 years if applying as the spouse of a British Citizen."

 

We provided a couple of letters from my wife's bank and our joint account, council tax bills for three years and a whole bunch of Covid test results that we provided to the Office of National Statistics over three years. They allowed the latter for ILR too as we took the tests at home together over Covid and beyond.

 

There was no need for any financial information.

[globalThailand]

Thanks @rasg. I feel like we've pretty much been in lockstep since the initial spouse visa application some years back so I'm sure I'll be knocking on your door for advice again before I submit the citizenship thing ????

 

Good luck with everything! 

[rasg]

Thank  you. It's far less complicated than any other visa. The stumbling block on it is the two referees that are required.

[globalThailand]

Quote

 

The stumbling block on it is the two referees that are required.

 

You are not wrong!  Hadn't really thought about it until we started the process.   My half sister is married to a policeman which, while technically family, I figured it was distant enough from my wife to be ok - but got warned against using as referee by an immigration lawyer.