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My wife is from USA and about to apply for naturalisation as a British Citizen. We've been married and living here for around 12 years. She has had Indefinite Leave to Remain since 2008. She does not have a BRP. We did not know about No Time Limit / BRP until starting to look at the AN application.

Her ILR is also in her old USA passport. Her old passport is in her maiden name and her ILR was issued in her maiden name as a result. Our wedding certificate (issued in NYC) does explicitly state "new name" as her married surname. Everything she has ever registered for in the UK (job, tax etc.) is in her married name. Her current USA passport issued in 2015 is also in her married name.

That's the background! My questions are...

1. Can we apply for Citizenship without having No Time Limit / BRP?

2. Will just ILR in old passport be okay?

3. If ILR without BRP first is okay, will her ILR being in her maiden name in old passport adversely effect application? As stated her current USA passport is in married name as is all other UK life since first entering.

4. Would it be better to apply for No Time Limit / BRP first and Citizenship later?

Thanks for any help. Very much appreciated.

1. Yes.

2. Her passport may expire, but her ILR status doesn't, unless she has been absent from the UK for more than two years.

3. Evidence of marriage will explain the name change.

4. There's no point in wasting money by applying for NTL when they insist that successful naturalisation applicants return the BRP.

Suggest using NCS and JCAP and form AN.

Thanks so much for the reply Vinny. We have an NCS appointment on 21st, nearly ready with the AN form. I'll sort out things so they can do JCAP at same time. Is it important to do JCAP at same time or just convenient?

You've essentially answered this already, but one other question...

The ILR and NTL info seems to infer you have to apply for NTL if there's a name change? She only needed a new USA passport in 2015 so was first opportunity to have passport in married name. We've never officially informed Home Office of her changed name for purposes of her ILR etc.

They've obviously seen our marriage certificate previously that states "new name". Both when we initially applied for temporary leave to remain when she moved here in 2006 and then ILR a few years later. But because her old passport was still in maiden name I think we filled out paperwork reflecting that and they issued ILR in maiden name.

1. This won't matter at all, no chance of having not applied for NTL in 2015 and not informing HO of passport name change being considered as contrary to Good Character?

2. Is there something specific we should put in the previous names box on AN to explain?

Sorry for the pedantic follow up questions! Appreciate your help.

JCAP is just for convenience.

Her name change doesn't change her ILR status. I think a NTL application is optional in this case. As said before, NTL is only confirmation of ILR status.

Have a look at what documents they expect to satisfy the residence requirements for naturalisation. I don't think a BRP is mandatory. That's why the AN questions in 6. Biometric enrolment begins with "If you have a current grant of leave on a biometric residence permit (BRP), you must provide your BRP for the application to be valid and complete." If a BRP was mandatory, then the question wouldn't begin with "If ..."

In the AN form, write all the names she was known by.