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Hi,

All experts, please kindly clarify my query below.

I and my Wife are both Indian nationals at the moment and both of us got our ILR in August 2012.

On last Thursday (12th of September), my application for Naturalization was approved and I have a Citizenship Ceremony on 24th of September.

My Wife has entered First time in UK on 01/01/2009 and was away from UK between February-August 2010 (~6.5 months). And arrived back in UK in September 2010 and after that never was out of UK.

Kindly advise when can she apply for her Naturalization?

bumblebee123 wrote:I have a Citizenship Ceremony on 24th of September.

See Q1 & Q2 in Citizenship FAQs - Common Questions - Read before posting.

Hi Jambo

Sorry I didn't understand your reply!

See Q1 & Q2 in Citizenship FAQs - Common Questions - Read before posting.

Basically from the day of your ceremony.

But, is she required to wait until she finished 5 years in UK?

I guess you didn't follow the link and read Q1 & Q2.

Hi Jambo

I have read that, but the most confusing thing is this statement: If one applicant meets the 5 years residence requirement but the spouse doesn’t, then once the applicant is granted BC (after the citizenship ceremony), the spouse becomes a spouse of BC and can apply for naturalisation under the 3 years residence requirements.

As far as I have come to know, couple of my friends have waited until their spouses residency exceeded 5 years in UK and the applied for their respective Naturalizations.

It looks like 3 year rule only applies to spouse who is married to a UK Born and only then 3 year rules applies to them, but as I am not UK Born, that rule doesnt apply to my wife and she has to wait until she finishes 5 years in UK which is 01/01/2014?

Kindly clarify.

But after reading above statement, I am in total confusion.

bumblebee123 wrote:It looks like 3 year rule only applies to spouse who is married to a UK Born

It doesn't look like that in the legislation !

There is no requirement to be British born or married for 3 years. Once you are British, you are British and your wife can apply based on the 3 years rule.

You can get married in the morning, attend a citizenship ceremony during lunch time and your wife can apply for BC in the afternoon. It's all within the requirements of the law.

Thanks a lot.

Does anyone else have another opinion or do we have similar cases which have been successful before?

Please can anyone provide links to those, thanks in advance.

Jambo's answer was accurate and to the point, if you are having difficulty grasping it, I suggest you seek professional advice.

See also, Requirements for naturalisation if you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen (click)