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Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:03 pm
by timmo
The application process for a citizenship application states that my partner must provide proof of living in the UK for 5 years.

I've copied the text from the application website below.

Quite specifically, it asks for a passport with an entry stamp.
The passport used when he first entered the country was damaged, and had to be surrendered when a replacement passport was issued.

The text then indicates we could include letters as proof. It does not indicate what kind of letters, so probably *any* letter from *any* government department will suffice? So long as it's addressed correctly in the UK of course.

Lastly, he does have a certificate of police registration - which is stamped and dated for every address in the UK over this time period. Surely this would suffice as proof of living in the UK, but I would would feel more comfortable if anyone can confirm?

It is quite clear that bank statements and bills generally are not suitable.. A letter from an employer is not possible to obtain.

Thank you all in advance, this forum truly is an incredibly helpful resource.

Proof of living in the UK for <redacted> for 5 years if applying in your own right or 3 years if applying as the spouse of a British Citizen

If you are a Non-EEA National, you need to include your passport to prove you have lived in the UK for the relevant 3- or 5-year period.

If you do not have your passport or it was not stamped when you entered the UK, you need to include letters (for example, from your employer or government department) as proof.

Bank statements or household bills are not suitable proof you have been living in the UK.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 2:53 pm
by alterhase58
timmo wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:03 pm
[...]
The text then indicates we could include letters as proof. It does not indicate what kind of letters, so probably *any* letter from *any* government department will suffice? So long as it's addressed correctly in the UK of course. Generally the advice here is council tax bills, HMRC communications, DWP Child Benefit/Pensions.

Lastly, he does have a certificate of police registration - which is stamped and dated for every address in the UK over this time period. Surely this would suffice as proof of living in the UK, but I would would feel more comfortable if anyone can confirm? Not familiar with this but certainly it sounds like another official document that could be used. Whether it will be accepted instead of the above highlighted documents is another question. Perhaps send this and the above if you have those? Remember a case worker may have never seen such a document.

It is quite clear that bank statements and bills generally are not suitable.. Correct
A letter from an employer is not possible to obtain. That's often the easiest option ....

Thank you all in advance, this forum truly is an incredibly helpful resource.
Feel free to ask further questions - please post in this thread to keep all your questions in one place

[...]

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 6:16 pm
by timmo
The police registration was a requirement of the visa conditions for the first few years, so I have to expect they would recongise this.. but certainly if we can supplement it at all, I will feel better about things.

We do have a letter from the Home Office, but it's a few months shy of the 5 year requirement. We could wait a few months but...

Council Tax bills are going to be a winner I think. I've just dug through a few boxes and have bills with both our names on them going back to 2014.

Tenancy agreements I suppose probably aren't official, they're not exactly government issued.

A letter form an employer is tricky, as he was unemployed for some time (wasn't allowed to work at all initially). Employers since then have been retail businesses that no longer exist, and he's now self-employed.

That said, we do have a P45 (copy for employee), perhaps that would suffice? Similarly for a GP registration (complete with an NHS medical card still attached) from 2013.


In summary... I expect the Home Office letter + Council Tax bills + P45 + police registrations together ought to be reasonably sufficient.

It's entirely possible we have earlier letters from the Home Office that we haven't yet uncovered, will keep digging but I'm feeling a lot better already.

11 years of visa requirements tends to turn one into a bit of a hoarder :-/
I don't want to tempt fate but once this is all over, I just might invest in a shredder (mountains upon mountains of bank statements over here).

Thanks again.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 6:24 pm
by timmo
Oh, we also have a letter from an immigration lawyer from 2014 (which of course accompanies an invoice :lol: ) if that counts for anything.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:42 pm
by alterhase58
Suggest you stick with council tax bills for each year and Home Office letters to fill the gaps and also the police registration document. Nothing non-official including your lawyer's invoice.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:19 pm
by timmo
That works, thank you.

We've progressed to the next stage now... I expected I might have to dig a little for a UKVCAS appointment.. I did not expect to find no appointments available at all, across the entire country. It's no surprise to find this out after I've paid the application fee : :|

The website does us no favours. I have to click through each location one by one, cycling through page after page of "no appointments" before exhausting all possible options :(

A simple "Here's the next available appointments, oh - there are none" would be more useful, but I digress.

Memories of getting tickets for Glastonbury! :P

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:17 pm
by alterhase58
Quite a common experience - only option is to persevere.
Hope it works out soon - any more queries please post in your thread.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:03 pm
by sydney19
timmo wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 6:16 pm
The police registration was a requirement of the visa conditions for the first few years, so I have to expect they would recongise this.. but certainly if we can supplement it at all, I will feel better about things.

We do have a letter from the Home Office, but it's a few months shy of the 5 year requirement. We could wait a few months but...

Council Tax bills are going to be a winner I think. I've just dug through a few boxes and have bills with both our names on them going back to 2014.

Tenancy agreements I suppose probably aren't official, they're not exactly government issued.

A letter form an employer is tricky, as he was unemployed for some time (wasn't allowed to work at all initially). Employers since then have been retail businesses that no longer exist, and he's now self-employed.

That said, we do have a P45 (copy for employee), perhaps that would suffice? Similarly for a GP registration (complete with an NHS medical card still attached) from 2013.


In summary... I expect the Home Office letter + Council Tax bills + P45 + police registrations together ought to be reasonably sufficient.

It's entirely possible we have earlier letters from the Home Office that we haven't yet uncovered, will keep digging but I'm feeling a lot better already.

11 years of visa requirements tends to turn one into a bit of a hoarder :-/
I don't want to tempt fate but once this is all over, I just might invest in a shredder (mountains upon mountains of bank statements over here).

Thanks again.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:04 pm
by sydney19
timmo wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 6:16 pm
The police registration was a requirement of the visa conditions for the first few years, so I have to expect they would recongise this.. but certainly if we can supplement it at all, I will feel better about things.

We do have a letter from the Home Office, but it's a few months shy of the 5 year requirement. We could wait a few months but...

Council Tax bills are going to be a winner I think. I've just dug through a few boxes and have bills with both our names on them going back to 2014.

Tenancy agreements I suppose probably aren't official, they're not exactly government issued.

A letter form an employer is tricky, as he was unemployed for some time (wasn't allowed to work at all initially). Employers since then have been retail businesses that no longer exist, and he's now self-employed.

That said, we do have a P45 (copy for employee), perhaps that would suffice? Similarly for a GP registration (complete with an NHS medical card still attached) from 2013.


In summary... I expect the Home Office letter + Council Tax bills + P45 + police registrations together ought to be reasonably sufficient.

It's entirely possible we have earlier letters from the Home Office that we haven't yet uncovered, will keep digging but I'm feeling a lot better already.

11 years of visa requirements tends to turn one into a bit of a hoarder :-/
I don't want to tempt fate but once this is all over, I just might invest in a shredder (mountains upon mountains of bank statements over here).

Thanks again.
Hello, I just notice you are applying as a Non EU national married to EU citizen. My question is Do you include your EU partner 5 yrs P60 and your own 5yr P60 in the application? I want to apply but i have 4yrs of p60 including p45, that is because the company i work for didn't give me a p60 because i left before the end of tax yr. But they are willing to give me a letter stating how long i work with them. Also i want to include my partner 5yr p60 to show that she & me are excising our right of resident.
Please let me know if you are adding p60 as well.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:08 pm
by sydney19
alterhase58 wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:17 pm
Quite a common experience - only option is to persevere.
Hope it works out soon - any more queries please post in your thread.
Hi Alter - sorry to jump it your discussion.
I just notice that the person you are responding to is applying as a Non EU national married to EU citizen. As a non EU national - My question is should we include our EU partner 5 yrs P60 and our own 5yr P60 in the application? I want to apply but i have 4yrs of p60 including p45, that is because the company i work for didn't give me a p60 because i left before the end of tax yr. But they are willing to give me a letter stating how long i work with them. Also i want to include my partner 5yr p60 to show that she & me are excising our right of resident.
Please let me know if is fine..

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:25 pm
by alterhase58
sydney19 wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:08 pm
alterhase58 wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:17 pm
Quite a common experience - only option is to persevere.
Hope it works out soon - any more queries please post in your thread.
Hi Alter - sorry to jump it your discussion.
I just notice that the person you are responding to is applying as a Non EU national married to EU citizen. As a non EU national - My question is should we include our EU partner 5 yrs P60 and our own 5yr P60 in the application? I want to apply but i have 4yrs of p60 including p45, that is because the company i work for didn't give me a p60 because i left before the end of tax yr. But they are willing to give me a letter stating how long i work with them. Also i want to include my partner 5yr p60 to show that she & me are excising our right of resident.
Please let me know if is fine..
You shouldn't add your post to an existing thread - it's not fair and causes confusion.
OP hasn't stated "applying as a Non EU national married to EU citizen" - applicant had to register with the police over some years which is not required for EU nationals or their non-EU family members, as far as I know.

Re: Citizenship application - NonEEA - proof of living in the UK

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2020 11:04 am
by timmo
alterhase58 wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:25 pm
OP hasn't stated "applying as a Non EU national married to EU citizen" - applicant had to register with the police over some years which is not required for EU nationals or their non-EU family members, as far as I know.
That's correct. We are both Non-EU nationals.
I'm from a commonwealth country, which probably afforded me with not having to undertake police registrations, while my partner was required to.