Overdue British Citizenship?

[VTR1000]

I and my wife got legally married here in Thailand in 1992. Apart from a 5 year stint in the UK we have lived here all the time. Now my question is:

The wife has a Thai passport with full leave to stay in the UK. She has legally worked, paid taxes, has a NI card, bank accounts etc etc in the UK. One stipulation of her having leave to stay, without going into details is that she cannot stay out of the UK for a period of more than 2 years or else she'll lose that little green sticker. This means that she has to do a 'visa run' to the UK every 2 years to keep her leave of entry. Is there a way that she doesn't have to do these runs - as they are getting a little monotonous for me. Last time we went over I lasted just 3 and a half days before I was back in the departure halls of Heathrow

Maybe a stupid question but is it possible that she can she apply for a GB passport from here using an address in the UK? I looked into it a few years ago and was told that there was an 18 month waiting time from application to recieving a passport.

Really, the only reason she wants one is just so that she won't have to traipse over there every 24 months. There are plenty of other better places to go to!

Thanks

[the scouser]

If your wife wishes to keep her indefinite leave, I'm afraid she'll have to keep doing the visa runs. Even then, it is a possibility (albeit very slight) that an IO in the UK will withdraw the ILR as your missus is not settled in the UK. Should her indefinite leave lapse, she would have to apply for a visa to travel to the UK, either as a visitor, or for settlement again.

Naturalisation as a British citizen is a non-starter as one of the requirements is to have spent no more than 270 days outside of the UK in the last 3 years of which no more than 90 can be in the last year. Obviously, it will be apparent from her passport that your wife does not fulfil that particular criterion.

But if it's that much of hassle, why not let the ILR lapse and just apply for a visa as needs be?

Cheers,

Scouse.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

I and my wife got legally married here in Thailand in 1992. Apart from a 5 year stint in the UK we have lived here all the time. Now my question is:

The wife has a Thai passport with full leave to stay in the UK. She has legally worked, paid taxes, has a NI card, bank accounts etc etc in the UK. One stipulation of her having leave to stay, without going into details is that she cannot stay out of the UK for a period of more than 2 years or else she'll lose that little green sticker. This means that she has to do a 'visa run' to the UK every 2 years to keep her leave of entry. Is there a way that she doesn't have to do these runs - as they are getting a little monotonous for me. Last time we went over I lasted just 3 and a half days before I was back in the departure halls of Heathrow

Maybe a stupid question but is it possible that she can she apply for a GB passport from here using an address in the UK? I looked into it a few years ago and was told that there was an 18 month waiting time from application to recieving a passport.

Really, the only reason she wants one is just so that she won't have to traipse over there every 24 months. There are plenty of other better places to go to!

Thanks

I never knew you could do visa runs on the ILR visa. I thought that you had to prove you were living in the UK permanently. How many times have you done these visa runs.

[the scouser]

I never knew you could do visa runs on the ILR visa. I thought that you had to prove you were living in the UK permanently. How many times have you done these visa runs.

The immigration rules do say that in order to qualify for readmission to the UK as the holder of ILR you must have been out of the country for less than 2 years and be returning to settle. However, most immigration officers just automatically readmit a holder of ILR without asking any questions.

Cheers,

Scouse.

[GU22]

Is there a way that she doesn't have to do these runs - as they are getting a little monotonous for me. Last time we went over I lasted just 3 and a half days before I was back in the departure halls of Heathrow ..........Really, the only reason she wants one is just so that she won't have to traipse over there every 24 months. There are plenty of other better places to go to!

If you are not going to settle in the UK, and as these 'visa runs' are so monotonous, why bother? Simply stay in Thailand or go to one of the places that are better than the UK and allow the ILR to lapse. (Which it should have done anyway as she is not settled in the UK.) Then if at any time in the future you do want to visit the UK, she can apply for a visit visa.

Apart from a 5 year stint in the UK we have lived here all the time.

Too late now, but she could have applied for naturalisation after 3 years of this 5 year 'stint.' And whoever told you that there was an 18 month wait between applying for naturalisation and receiving a British passport was misinformed.

BTW, there is no time limit on when someone with ILR can apply for naturalisation. As long as they satisfy the residency requirement mentioned by Scouse above. it doesn't matter when they received ILR; yesterday or 50 years ago.

Edited May 26, 2006 by GU22

[VTR1000]

If your wife wishes to keep her indefinite leave, I'm afraid she'll have to keep doing the visa runs. Even then, it is a possibility (albeit very slight) that an IO in the UK will withdraw the ILR as your missus is not settled in the UK. Should her indefinite leave lapse, she would have to apply for a visa to travel to the UK, either as a visitor, or for settlement again.

Naturalisation as a British citizen is a non-starter as one of the requirements is to have spent no more than 270 days outside of the UK in the last 3 years of which no more than 90 can be in the last year. Obviously, it will be apparent from her passport that your wife does not fulfil that particular criterion.

But if it's that much of hassle, why not let the ILR lapse and just apply for a visa as needs be?

Cheers,

Scouse.

That's what I thought but was just seeing if there was a way around it. I hear what you're saying about letting the thing lapse but should an emergency happen (elderly parents etc), we would want to shoot off immediately and not have the hassle of trying to get a visa when we're in a hurry.

I never knew you could do visa runs on the ILR visa. I thought that you had to prove you were living in the UK permanently. How many times have you done these visa runs.

Touching a decade. A few years ago at LHR, the IO asked the Mrs what she was doing and she replied, 'I've come for a holiday.' The IO smiled and duly stamped her in.

And whoever told you that there was an 18 month wait between applying for naturalisation and receiving a British passport was misinformed.

Ermm, it was the passport agency themselves.

Thanks for your replies esp Scouser.

[GU22]

And whoever told you that there was an 18 month wait between applying for naturalisation and receiving a British passport was misinformed.

Ermm, it was the passport agency themselves.

From submitting the initial application, waiting for the citizenship ceremony, sending of passport form and getting passport back took my wife 12 weeks. Talking to many others this seems average.

Maybe the person at the passport agency was misinformed, maybe you misheard, maybe your information is out of date.

[vinny]

During the eighties or nineties, the Naturalisation process did take longer than a year, on average. The information supplied was probably accurate at that time.

[VTR1000]

And whoever told you that there was an 18 month wait between applying for naturalisation and receiving a British passport was misinformed.

Ermm, it was the passport agency themselves.

From submitting the initial application, waiting for the citizenship ceremony, sending of passport form and getting passport back took my wife 12 weeks. Talking to many others this seems average.

Maybe the person at the passport agency was misinformed, maybe you misheard, maybe your information is out of date.

... but then again, maybe the system has since changed or maybe you were lucky or maybe it was an extremely busy time or maybe .....

[vinny]

Correct.

See Review of the Circumstances Surrounding an Application for Naturalisation by Mr S P Hinduja in 1998

5.176. A further point is that, as I have mentioned earlier, there was a general drive in the Nationality Directorate, inspired by Ministers and senior managers, to deal with cases more expeditiously. In 1997, as the answer to Mr Lidington's question explains, 75% of cases took at least 18 months to complete. By 1998 this had reduced to 43.4% and in 1999 to 20.1%.

and Hinduja's 'fast-track' passport.

Alison Stanley, head of London solicitors Bindman & Partners' immigration department, told BBC News Online that when Srichand Hinduja's application was received in March 1999, applicants were facing a wait of between 18-19 months.

A spokesman for the Home Office confirmed that the current average for dealing with naturalisation applications was 15.5 months.

The spokeswoman said the average time for dealing with nationality applications at the end of 1999 was 18.8 months.

Edited May 27, 2006 by vinny

[vinny]

There were times when applications took 36 months! See Chapter 10: Encouraging Citizenship.

10.3 In 1987, when the transitional provisions of the British Nationality Act 1981 came to an end, the Home Office received nearly 300,000 applications for British citizenship and average waiting times for processing these applications rose to a height of 36 months in March and April 1992. Waiting times then started to reduce, reaching 13 months in March 1995. However, since then they have started to rise gradually so that they are on average around 18 months at the present time.

[GU22]

I looked into it a few years ago and was told that there was an 18 month waiting time from application to recieving a passport.

So, at least 7 years ago.

It might seem unnecessarily pedantic, but I don't want anyone reading this thread to get the impression that it now takes this long; it doesn't.

[vinny]

For current processing times, see British Nationality.

When you send in your application we will try to complete our enquiries quickly, usually within six months, but sometimes it may take longer.

These are the waiting times as of end of April.

Naturalisation 5.19 months

Adult registrations 2.67months

Registration of minors 3.78 months

Registration of stateless 7.02 months

Other registrations 3.99 months

Renunciations 1.68 months

Right of Abode applications 0.96 months

Average times for all nationality applications (as of end of April) 4.78 months

This information has not been quality assured, and is not a national statistic. It should be treated as provisional management information.

The short increase of waiting times for ALL Nationality applications is due to a large influx of Naturalisation applications received prior to 1st November 2005.

Edited May 27, 2006 by vinny