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British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 12:05 am
by fromdenmark
Hi. I'm from Denmark and my wife is from the US. We got married in Denmark about 2½ years ago, and moved to the UK just under 2 years ago. She has had an Immigration Document for about 1 year, that we got through the EEA2 application.

Our goal is to get her a dual citizenship (US and UK) if possible, and I want to make sure that we are doing things right, so we don't end up not being able to achieve that.

Currently we life off my early retirement pension and housing benefits (for about a year now). She is looking for a job, but so far no luck. We both have Health Insurance (from AXA).
  1. Is it correct that under these circumstances, the earliest we can apply for a British Citizenship for her is 5+1 years after we moved here (so about 4 more years)? Or is there a way that we can apply before?
  2. Then the application will cost £906 total?
  3. Is there anything else that I am missing and should be aware of?
Thank you very much.

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 12:21 am
by CR001
[quote="fromdenmark"
  1. Is it correct that under these circumstances, the earliest we can apply for a British Citizenship for her is 5+1 years after we moved here (so about 4 more years)? Or is there a way that we can apply before? Yes, 5+1 unless you become British then she doesn't need the =1. No, there is no quicker route.
  2. Then the application will cost £906 total? At the moment yes. The fees go up every year in April.
  3. Is there anything else that I am missing and should be aware of? Have you looked at the form and guidance notes? Links below
Thank you very much.[/quote]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... N_v1_0.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... N_v1_0.pdf

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 4:05 pm
by fromdenmark
CR001 wrote:
fromdenmark wrote:
  1. Is it correct that under these circumstances, the earliest we can apply for a British Citizenship for her is 5+1 years after we moved here (so about 4 more years)? Or is there a way that we can apply before? Yes, 5+1 unless you become British then she doesn't need the =1. No, there is no quicker route.
  2. Then the application will cost £906 total? At the moment yes. The fees go up every year in April.
  3. Is there anything else that I am missing and should be aware of? Have you looked at the form and guidance notes? Links below
Thank you very much.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... N_v1_0.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... N_v1_0.pdf
Thank you very much :)

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 4:07 pm
by fromdenmark
I think I read somewhere that one of the requirements of getting a British Citizenship is that you stay in the country afterwards. What if we decided to go to US or Denmark for a year or so after she got her citizenship, and then return again? Might that be a problem?

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 4:12 pm
by milan69
Not true. Once you become BC you are free to travel without restrictions.

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 8:41 pm
by CR001
Although at the time of application, your intention should be to make the UK your home, so to speak. For example, where the questions asks it in the form, do not put that you might move abroad.

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2014 11:37 pm
by fromdenmark
Oh okay cool thank you very much.

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:08 pm
by fromdenmark
I actually have another question... reading through the documents linked to by CR001, it says that in the 5 year period, one should not have been absent from the UK for more than 450 days. Does that mean that if we eg. move back to Denmark for 3-4 months, then to the US for 3 months, and then back to the UK, it will not affect her citizenship application? Of course as long as her total absence from the UK doesn't pass 450 days in the 5 years?

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 6:04 am
by milan69
In the final year you should not be absent more than 90 days. Anything above that and you will have to apply for discretion. If absent for more than 180 days in the final year your application will be refused.

Re: British Citizenship for US wife of EEA-national

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:39 pm
by fromdenmark
milan69 wrote:In the final year you should not be absent more than 90 days. Anything above that and you will have to apply for discretion. If absent for more than 180 days in the final year your application will be refused.
Oh okay. My thought was that we could leave for a total of 3-6 months here in year 3, maybe back to Denmark to save up some money while we look for a cheaper apartment in the UK.