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If I have been permanently resident in the UK for 5 years, with full private medical health insurance while I was a student, do I still have to wait 12 more months until I can apply for citizenship? Do I need to do anything in between (i.e., get a certificate of permanent residence)?

Unless you are married to a British citizen then yes you have to wait.

Would it help if I get the permanent residence certificate in the meantime? Would they accept it at the time of my application for citizenship as proof conclusive - so that I can reduce the risk at that time of something going wrong with one of the documents

canagnos wrote:Would it help if I get the permanent residence certificate in the meantime? Would they accept it at the time of my application for citizenship as proof conclusive - so that I can reduce the risk at that time of something going wrong with one of the documents

I would strongly advise that you do just that to minimise the chance that there is something unforeseen in your PR application. Use the year to your advantage.

As you are talking about a permanent residence certificate I assume you are an EU citizen. You may of course have your own compelling reasons to become a British citizen, but in my honest opinion there is no practical benefit in that, and it is a rather expensive procedure (the application fee is currently £851).

I am living and working in this country for about 14 years now, and never felt any reason to apply for British citizenship, and in fact never bothered to deal with UKBA at all or its precursors until I met my wife (who is from a non-EU country).

Thanks to all for your feedback. Regarding the permanent residence: I completed 5 years of permanent residence under EU law in October 2011. Will I be able to produce a certificate that states that date, as the onset of my immigration-free status, or can it only certify 5 years before the date the application is received?

PS: I am Greek, hence my need to adopt a risk-free strategy by getting the citizenship.

I assume the only date mentioned on a PRC is the date of issue. It has no expiry date. I don't have one, so I am not sure.

I think you are far too worried about potential political events, and its effects on individuals in this country. You want to insure yourself against the risk of deportation (or something like that) in case things run out of hand in Greece?? That's a very hypothetic scenario and not worth £851

Thanks for the tip and reassurance! Risk is subjective, I guess.

it's a good idea to get the citizenship. however, even without it, once you obtain proof of PR noone can kick you out of the country at all, so the advantages of naturalisation are minimal. Noone can adopt a retrospective law saying those people who obtained PR under EU law would now have to leave. And PR holders have almost identical (and in important matters- identical) rights to citizens.