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Hello,

Does anyone know whether I would need to have a PR card to apply for British citizenship if I have a letter from the HO confirming my ILR?

I am Polish and had been given ILR before Poland became part of the EU, therefore never had to register for any of the work schemes designed for the EU workers. I now want to fill in the NA form and I'm not sure whether my old ILR letter from the HO will be sufficient for the naturalisation application or not.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

What happened to your old passport containing the ILR sticker?

Hi Vinny,
Thanks - the old passport with the sticker sits in a cupboard, with two holes punched through the pages.
I was reading through the form NA to apply for naturalisation and got to section 2.4, where it asks for the number and the date of issue of the PR card - hence my question. I'm not even sure whether I should fill in that section since it is about 'exercising Treaty rights' and my ILR dates from a few years before the accession date, so strictly speaking, do I exercise Treaty rights? I've been eligible to apply for BC for many years... Please don't ask why I didn't get it sorted out years ago, before all this mess we're in now - I keep kicking myself all the time.

I would assume you could safely ignore the part about the PR card, as you already have ILR.

The AN form is not well thought through, and doesn't take into account all possible situations (such as EEA citizens who have ILR which predates 2004 or their country's accession into the EU).

You haven't had any extended absences since the ILR was granted have you?

Thanks Ohara,

No, no absence longer than 3 weeks at a time. I used to travel a fair bit on business (short trips a few times a year), but that was before the year 2001 - since then, I've mainly stayed put and I'm well below the allowed number of days out of the country - probably max 5 weeks a year.

So do you think I could just write 'not applicable' in section 2.4 if my ILR dates from before 2004?

Many thanks again.

Suggest explain everything in the Further information not covered in other sections section of form.

Hi Noajthan,

Thank you - sounds like a good idea, I didn't think about that.

Do you know if it matters for a successful NA application if someone has had a break in paying NI contributions when taking time to raise a family? That is another thing that worries me - the guidance booklet says something about proper 'discharging of tax and NI duties'. I hope this just means an applicant was not involved in tax evasion of some sort, but on the other hand it could mean uninterrupted NI payments... At the moment I'm having nightmares about Theresa May kicking every Eastern European out of the country.

The application is AN not NA, and when you say a gap in paying NI contributions, do you mean you weren't working OR were you on self assessment tax and you failed to pay?

As if it is the former, there's no problem with not working, as employment is not a requirement for naturalisation.

Brambles wrote:At the moment I'm having nightmares about Theresa May kicking every Eastern European out of the country.

The worst case under government control would be the repudiation of EEA permanent residence. ILR holders should be safe.

Richard W wrote:

Brambles wrote:At the moment I'm having nightmares about Theresa May kicking every Eastern European out of the country.

The worst case under government control would be the repudiation of EEA permanent residence. ILR holders should be safe.

Thank you for that, Richard. I didn't realise there was a difference between the two. In any case, I sincerely hope that worst case scenario is not going to happen, it would affect so many people...

ohara wrote:The application is AN not NA, and when you say a gap in paying NI contributions, do you mean you weren't working OR were you on self assessment tax and you failed to pay?
As if it is the former, there's no problem with not working, as employment is not a requirement for naturalisation.

Yes, it is the former, i.e. not working - one gap due to children, another when I was made redundant and without work for a while (the latter, unfortunately, within the last 5 years). They are asking for employment details, which is why I was a bit worried about that, in case they decided a person 'not contributing to the economy' is not eligible for naturalisation.

Apologies for getting the AN form the wrong way round, ohara - for some reason it got stuck in my head as an abbreviation for 'naturalisation'...

Thank you everyone for your replies, much appreciated.

Brambles wrote: Yes, it is the former, i.e. not working - one gap due to children, another when I was made redundant and without work for a while (the latter, unfortunately, within the last 5 years). They are asking for employment details, which is why I was a bit worried about that, in case they decided a person 'not contributing to the economy' is not eligible for naturalisation.

Apologies for getting the AN form the wrong way round, ohara - for some reason it got stuck in my head as an abbreviation for 'naturalisation'...

Thank you everyone for your replies, much appreciated.

Not a problem then, they only want to know what work you have done. It's not a problem if you have gaps, or no employment at all.

Thank you, ohara, that makes me feel a bit more positive about the whole thing.