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Hi all,

I am a (naturalised) British citizen. My wife is an EAA citizen who has been here for more than 6 years, always working. I understand that, in order to naturalise as a British citizen, my wife needs to apply for a permanent resident card. Am I also right in understanding that:

• if my wife applies as the spouse of a British citizen, she can apply for naturalisation straight after obtaining the permanent resident certificate? And that it is irrelevant whether the husband was born or naturalised British?
• By contrast, if she applies not as my spouse, she'd need to wait 12 months after obtaining the permanent resident certificate, even if she has been here for more than 6 years? This is in contrast to the rules of a few years ago, which didn;t even require the PR certificate for EAA citizens.

Thanks!

After receiving formal confirmation of PR, if your wife applies for BC as the wife of a British spouse, she can apply immediately without waiting an additional 12 months from the date that she qualified for PR
However, from what you've written she probably qualified automatically for PR a year or so ago after over 6 years in the UK, so she could apply in her own right.

Casa wrote:After receiving formal confirmation of PR, if your wife applies for BC as the wife of a British spouse, she can apply immediately without waiting an additional 12 months from the date that she qualified for PR
However, from what you've written she probably qualified automatically for PR a year or so ago after over 6 years in the UK, so she could apply in her own right.

Yes. Apologies if I was unclear. My wife arrived in 2008 and started working in 2009 (was a student before).
Let's say she applies for permanent resident status tomorrow, and she gets the certificate, say, in Dec-2016 (I imagine quite a backlog). If she applies in her own right, can she apply straight away (because she'll have been a permanent resident for more than 1 year) or only in Dec-2017, because she needs to have hold the PR certificate for a year?

She will be able to apply straight away. She doesn't need to hold the PR card for 12 months, it's only confirmation of when she acquired PR.

Casa wrote:She will be able to apply straight away. She doesn't need to hold the PR card for 12 months, it's only confirmation of when she acquired PR.

Great - thanks!

I appreciate that naturalisation is not a right, and is granted at the sole discretion of British authorities. I wonder, however, if applying as a spouse would give any more 'strength' to the application or not. She is, after all, wife and mother of British citizens.

No concession other than the '3 year rule'.

Casa wrote:No concession other than the '3 year rule'.

I was just wondering if applying as a spouse and applying in her own right have the same chances of success; after all, naturalisation is not a right, and the British authorities do not disclose reasons for refusal.

The decision will be made on meeting the British Nationality Rules, being married to a BC won't give an advantage over other applicants.