Brit Citizenship for EEA Citizen Married to British Citizen

[DGHJ]

Hi,

My wife (Italian) and I (British) married in 2011 and moved to the UK in 2014.

I am confused by the lengths of time needed to wait for her to apply for British Citizenship.

As I understand it, individuals can apply for British Citizenship after 3 years' residency if they are married to a UK citizen; however, I also understand that an EEA national needs to have 5 years' permanent residency before applying for citizenship. These 2 requirements don't seem to add up.

Can my wife apply for citizenship in Nov 2017 or must she wait until Nov 2019?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Daniel

[Casa]

Hi,

My wife (Italian) and I (British) married in 2011 and moved to the UK in 2014.

I am confused by the lengths of time needed to wait for her to apply for British Citizenship.

As I understand it, individuals can apply for British Citizenship after 3 years' residency if they are married to a UK citizen; however, I also understand that an EEA national needs to have 5 years' permanent residency before applying for citizenship. These 2 requirements don't seem to add up.

Can my wife apply for citizenship in Nov 2017 or must she wait until Nov 2019?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Daniel

November 2019. Your wife is now required to have confirmation that she has acquired PR in the form of a DCPR before applying for BC.

How has she been exercising her Treaty rights during her time here?

[Richard W]

As I understand it, individuals can apply for British Citizenship after 3 years' residency if they are married to a UK citizen; however, I also understand that an EEA national needs to have 5 years' permanent residency before applying for citizenship. These 2 requirements don't seem to add up.

That's because that rule about EEA nationals is a simplification that nowadays holds good in the vast majority of non-Irish cases. It changed from 3 to 4 in 2000 and from 4 to 5 in 2006, as it took 4 and then 5 years to be deemed to have no restriction on their time in the UK.

As an example of an exception, if a working EEA national and his wife came to the UK together and on the third anniversary of working here he was killed in an accident at work, she would immediately have permanent residence and the requisite 3 years residence. Staying in the UK, if she had LitUK and acceptable evidence of competence in English, she would qualify for British citizenship as soon as she married a British citizen

Non-visa nationals who last entered the UK from Ireland by a 'local journey', at least, on the surface*, and have an enforceable EEA right of entry are not subject to any restriction on their time in the UK and can therefore likewise meet the requirements in 3 years of residence. This mechanism is intended for free immigration of the Irish, who, in normal circumstances, have the additional advantage that they are automatically not in breach of the immigration laws if they last entered the UK in this way. The connection with EEA rights was added to prevent EEA nationals and their family members acquiring limited leave to remain if they crossed from Ireland to the UK; the privilege of entering without leave being imposed used to be restricted to British and Irish citizens and a very few others others who accidentally met the conditions.

*The rules about flying are trickier to state succinctly.

[Obie]

HI Richard, just an observation. It may help if advice are kept relevant to the question asked, otherwise things get confusing for the OP.

I am not sure OP is particularly concerned with the Irish agreement or with Regulations 5 or 15 (1)(c).

He simply want to know whether and how his wife can secure British Citizenship.

I believe you will a lot of assistance to him if you confine the advice to that question and query, as CASA correctly done.

[LadyRenoir]

Hi,

My wife (Italian) and I (British) married in 2011 and moved to the UK in 2014.

I am confused by the lengths of time needed to wait for her to apply for British Citizenship.

As I understand it, individuals can apply for British Citizenship after 3 years' residency if they are married to a UK citizen; however, I also understand that an EEA national needs to have 5 years' permanent residency before applying for citizenship. These 2 requirements don't seem to add up.

Can my wife apply for citizenship in Nov 2017 or must she wait until Nov 2019?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Daniel

The EEA rule does not apply if a person is married to a UK citizen and applied based on the marriage- correct me if I am wrong someone- so 3 years should be OK to apply for Permanent Residency first. Then your wife has to wait for another year before applying for citizenship, which would make it Nov 18. You now need permanent residence before you apply for citizenship.

The EEA 5 year rule applies if your wife would prefer to apply based on how long she stayed, and then she would need to wait another year to apply for citizenship.

[DGHJ]

Thanks for this.

Is there any official guidance where this 3-year rule for EEA citizens is stated?

[LadyRenoir]

Thanks for this.

Is there any official guidance where this 3-year rule for EEA citizens is stated?

If a spouse of a UK citizen, it does not matter if your wife is a EEA citizen or not- the rule is the same for all. Just remember you need permanent residence first.
Random extracts from the guide:

"Enter the day you first arrived with a view to staying in the UK on a long-term
basis, and the airport or seaport through which you then entered. If this is less than 5
years before the date on which we receive the application, or less than 3 years
before this date if you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen, you might
not meet the residence requirement (see page 6 of the Booklet AN) and your
application may be unsuccessful."

"Fill in this table showing the periods you have been away from the UK during
the last 5 years (3 years if you are married to or in a civil partnership with a British
citizen)"

[DGHJ]

The documentation does not state this, though. It suggests that regardless of marriage to UK citizen, EEA nationals must have been resident for 5 years before being apply to for PR.

[secret.simon]

The EEA rule does not apply if a person is married to a UK citizen and applied based on the marriage- correct me if I am wrong someone

That is incorrect advice.

In order to apply for British citizenship, your wife needs to meet two different and separate conditions (there are other requirements not germane to this discussion);
a) She must have acquired PR under the EEA Regulations and Directive 2004/38/EC
b) She must have resided in the UK for three years

As she requires five years of residence in the UK to acquire PR, effectively she needs to have been resident in the UK in order to apply for British citizenship.

In simple terms, it is the longer of the two terms. A person who is resident for five years will likely also meet the three year requirement, while it is not the case the other way round.

Also note that your wife needs to have exercised treaty rights to have been resident in the UK according to EU law. Mere physical presence in the UK does not count.

She needs to have been either a worker, seeking work, studying or been self-sufficient for five continuous years in the UK. If she was a student or self-sufficient (such as being financially dependent on you), she needs CSI (private health insurance) coverage for that entire period.

[Obie]

Thanks for this.

Is there any official guidance where this 3-year rule for EEA citizens is stated?

Also see Section 6(2), and also see paragraph 3 of Schedule1

You mentioned that you moved to the Uk in 2014, were you living with your wife in the European Union between 2011 and 2014, if you were, and you were exercising treaty rights during your time in the European Union, then your wife will not need any documents, she will qualify in 2019 for British Citizen subject to her acquiring Permanent Registration Certificate.

[DGHJ]

We lived outside of EU until 2014. Thanks for all the advice everyone. Much appreciated.

[Richard W]

In order to apply for British citizenship, your wife needs to meet two different and separate conditions (there are other requirements not germane to this discussion);
a) She must have acquired PR under the EEA Regulations and Directive 2004/38/EC
b) She must have resided in the UK for three years

Also see Section 6(2), and also see paragraph 3 of Schedule1

Following Obie's reference up, one will see that Secret.Simon's (a) is not quite correct. It splits into two parts, namely having no restriction as to how long she may remain in the UK, and having 'not been in breach of the immigration laws in the past three years'. The usual way for a non-Irish EEA national to satisfy these two subconditions is to acquire PR under the EEA regulations.

At present, she's most likely to usefully obtain settled status purely on the basis of five years residence as an EEA national. This route isn't law yet. Permanent Residence may cease to be attainable come March 2019.

I am not sure OP is particularly concerned with the Irish agreement or with Regulations 5 or 15 (1)(c).

He simply want to know whether and how his wife can secure British Citizenship.

He seemed to be asking 'when'. Now, a key requirement is that for the three years before the application, she not be 'in breach of the immigration laws'. As Surinder Singh does not apply, if she's been just a home-maker without CSI, she's been in breach of the immigration laws, and her three years have not yet started. I don't think she would actually be in breach of any particular immigration law, so her 'good character' would be safe.

Now, as far as I can tell, this CTA entitlement is the only mechanism by which she could meet all the requirements for naturalisation within 3 years of arrival, and nobody has offered an explanation of why this CTA entitlement wouldn't meet the defined requirements. However, so far as I am aware, the Home Secretary could turn round and say that as your wife isn't Irish, she (the Home Secretary) does not see fit to naturalise her on the basis of a non-qualifying CTA entitlement. (Only Irish citizens can have a qualifying CTA entitlement - BNA 1981 Section 50A (5)(a).) Goodbye naturalisation fee.

[Obie]

It think we should let this topic go. There is a general consensus that the OP's wife will not qualify. It serves no justifiable purpose opening up old wounds. It gets us nowhere, and just prolong the thread unnecessarily.