How long to apply for UK Citizenship with ILE / ILR ?

My question, I assume, regards UK Immigration Law.


I / We would sincerely appreciate any advice anyone has relating to the following:

A brief description of our situation:
• I am a British National
• my wife is a Serbian National
• We were married, in Belgrade, in October 2005
• We then lived in Ireland (South) until April / May 2010 - more then 4 years as a married couple
• We decided to move to the UK and applied for a Settlement Visa (ILR / ILE) last year
• My wife took the Test in Northern Ireland
• We were granted ILE and she entered the UK in this capacity (activated it) last July
• We now live and work in the UK

As we were granted ILE straight away because we met the criteria mentioned in:

Quote from Home Office UK Border Agency Website:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/partn ... lpartners/


We may be able to give you permission to live permanently in the UK as soon as you arrive, if:
• you and your partner married or formed a civil partnership at least four years ago;
• you have spent those four years living together outside the UK;
• you are both coming to the UK to settle here together; and
• you have sufficient knowledge of the English language and life in the UK. (You do not need to meet this last requirement if you are aged 65 or over.)


The advice we received at the time of applying was that we could apply for British Citizenship after 1 year with ILE/R.

This seems to be a 'grey area' - meeting the requirements for ILE / ILR when applying from outside the UK and satisfying the above criteria and I cannot seem to find information to support our case of applying now.

We would sincerely appreciate any advice offered.

Thank you.

Your wife will need a minimum of 3 years legal residence in the UK before she qualifies for BC, which will be July 2013.

Casa wrote:Your wife will need a minimum of 3 years legal residence in the UK before she qualifies for BC, which will be July 2013.

Thanks Casa...

I have seen that one can apply for citizenship after one year of ‘permanent residency’ - I would assume that this refers to ILE / ILR.

As she was granted ILE without having to satisfy the requirement for the ‘probationary period’, I thought (and hoped) and was informed by a Lawyer in Birmingham that she could apply for citizenship after 1 year.

JiG wrote:

Casa wrote:Your wife will need a minimum of 3 years legal residence in the UK before she qualifies for BC, which will be July 2013.

Thanks Casa...

I have seen that one can apply for citizenship after one year of ‘permanent residency’ - I would assume that this refers to ILE / ILR.

As she was granted ILE without having to satisfy the requirement for the ‘probationary period’, I thought (and hoped) and was informed by a Lawyer in Birmingham that she could apply for citizenship after 1 year.

she need 3 year residency from first entry into the uk. have she ever visited in the uk before granted ILE.