Naturalisation after ILR

[Zeeshi2211]

Hi everyone, sorry if this has been discussed before.

I am British Citizen and my wife just got ILR on Long residency basis, i understand she is eligible to apply for Naturalisation straight away but my question is she had to be in the UK exactly 3 years on the naturalisation application date or 5 years?

Please advise.
Thank you

[alterhase58]

As spouse is British wife can apply from the date ILR was granted.
The 3 years (or 5 years) relate to the residency, and is counted back from the application date.
It does not mean applicant has had to be in the UK exactly 3 (or 5) years. It is not a requirement.
Clearly to gain ILR it normally needs a minimum of 5 years lawful residency, or 10 years in your case.
It's a common misunderstanding. Wife would only have to prove 3 years residency (not 5).

[Zeeshi2211]

Thank you for your reply,

Actually we were out of UK from 1st Jan 2022 till 17 Feb 2022, so is that ok if i submit the Naturalisation application today or tomorrow given that she gained her ILR on LR route.

Thank you

[alterhase58]

Thank you for your reply,

Actually we were out of UK from 1st Jan 2022 till 17 Feb 2022, so is that ok if i submit the Naturalisation application today or tomorrow given that she gained her ILR on LR route.

Thank you

You would declare these days as absences.
For naturalisation the route to ILR is not relevant.

[secret.simon]

It does not mean applicant has had to be in the UK exactly 3 (or 5) years. It is not a requirement.

Just to quickly clarify, there is a requirement to be physically present in the UK at the start of either the three year period (for spouses of British citizens) of the five year period (for other applicants) before the date of application.

So, if they were to apply today, they would need to be physically present in the UK on 25th January 2022 (for spouses of British citizens) or 25th January 2020 (for other applicants).

Indeed, till about 2023, this was a mandatory requirement which the Home Office had no discretion to disregard. There was an amendment to the BNA 1981 in that year that introduced discretion to disregard that requirement.

To the OP; does your spouse meet all other requirements, including the absence requirements over both the three year period and the one year period? If yes, you can request discretion to disregard her absence from the UK three years ago. But I would suggest waiting till 17th or 18th February 2025 before applying.

[contorted_svy]

I agree with secret.simon; your spouse needs to wait until the 17-18 Feb 2025 to apply. The caseworker has an option to exercise discretion and wait until a date that the applicant was in the UK, but as it's only a few days away and you are aware of it best to wait a couple of weeks for peace of mind.

The 3 or 5 years distinction depends on whether the applicant is pursuing naturalisation under Section 6(1) (5 years of residence + 1 year on ILR, not married to a British citizen) or Section 6(2) (3 years of residence, married to a British citizen, no need to wait after getting ILR).

Your spouse at the moment only qualifies for 6(2), so she needs to prove 3 years of residence prior to the date when she applies (even though she has been in the UK for much longer) and as pointed out she needs to have been physically present in the UK on the day 3 years prior to when the application is submitted, as follows: if she applies on the 14 May 2025, she had to be physically here on the 15 May 2022. To be extra safe I would pick a date when she wasn't travelling back here, but spend the whole day in the UK (this is probably me being picky, but with an expensive application better safe than sorry).

[contorted_svy]

It does not mean applicant has had to be in the UK exactly 3 (or 5) years. It is not a requirement.

Just to quickly clarify, there is a requirement to be physically present in the UK at the start of either the three year period (for spouses of British citizens) of the five year period (for other applicants) before the date of application.

So, if they were to apply today, they would need to be physically present in the UK on 25th January 2022 (for spouses of British citizens) or 25th January 2020 (for other applicants).

Indeed, till about 2023, this was a mandatory requirement which the Home Office had no discretion to disregard. There was an amendment to the BNA 1981 in that year that introduced discretion to disregard that requirement.

To the OP; does your spouse meet all other requirements, including the absence requirements over both the three year period and the one year period? If yes, you can request discretion to disregard her absence from the UK three years ago. But I would suggest waiting till 17th or 18th February 2025 before applying.

Interestingly, I went to check on the guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... accessible

Requirement to have been in the UK on
the first day of the qualifying period
If you are applying under section 6(1), you must have been in the UK exactly 5 years
before your application was received. For example, if your application is received on
05/01/2022 you should have been physically present in the UK on 06/01/2017.
If you are applying under section 6(2), as the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen,
you must have been in the UK exactly 3 years before your application was received. For
example, if your application is received on 05/05/2021, you should have been physically
present in the UK on 06/05/2018.
If you cannot meet this requirement, your application is likely to be refused. If you believe
there were exceptional circumstances which prevented you from being in the UK on the
first day of the qualifying period, please provide details when you apply.
We recognise that occasionally someone might apply without realising that they were not
in the UK at the start of the qualifying period. If you did not meet the requirement when you
applied, we may see if there is another, later date we can use to allow you to meet the
requirement and will consider your application on, or after, that date.
However, please be aware the requirements remain unchanged, and this does not
guarantee that the application will be successful if an alternative date cannot be found. It
may also result in delays to your application until you can meet the statutory requirements.
You must pay the full fee that is in force on any date we use.
You are strongly recommended to make sure you meet the requirement before
applying.

An applicant cannot easily ask for discretion on this requirement unless extreme circumstances apply (unlike asking for discretion on absences, for example, which is a bit annoying but with a lot less evidence to provide in comparison). The caseworker has the option of looking for a later date

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark22

In the UK at the start of the qualifying period
In most cases, we expect applicants to have been in the UK on day 1 of the qualifying period as this means they have completed the full 5 (or 3) years in the UK as required. However, there is discretion to waive this requirement in special circumstances.

To identify the start of the qualifying period you use the day after the application date minus the length of the qualifying period. For example in an application under section 6(1) made on 1 September 2022, the applicant must have been legally in the UK on 2 September 2017.

Discretion over an applicant’s presence in the UK at the start of the qualifying period in exceptional cases
There may be special reasons, such as those relating to the applicant’s health, that prevented them from being in the UK at the start of the qualifying period. The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 introduced the power to treat the applicant as having fulfilled this requirement in the special circumstances of a particular case even though they were not in the UK at the beginning of the residential period.

Discretion to treat the requirement to have been in the UK on the first day of the residential qualifying period as fulfilled should normally be exercised if one or more of the following is met:

the applicant was prevented from being in the UK because they had been removed from the UK, and the decision to remove them was later overturned

the applicant was incorrectly prevented from resuming permanent residence in the UK following an absence

the applicant is normally resident in the UK but there were exceptional reasons why they could not return from abroad at that time, such as illness, or travel restrictions due to a pandemic

the applicant is a current or former member of the armed forces (see the section on armed forces applicants)

If you propose to exercise discretion, you should see appropriate evidence demonstrating why the applicant was unable to be present at the start of the qualifying period. For example, if this is based on health grounds, you should see relevant medical evidence.

Cases where the requirement can be met by the date of consideration
Applicants are expected to meet this requirement, but there may be cases where the person has inadvertently applied on a date when they did not. The application form will ask applicants to agree that the Home Office use a different date as the date of application, if this would work to their advantage.

If there has been a fee change between the original application date and the date that they can now meet the requirement (to have been in the UK at the start of the qualifying period), they must pay the fee in force at the time of the new application date.

Changing the application date in this way may be appropriate for applicants who did not meet the requirement to have been in the UK at the start of the qualifying period but meet the requirement by the time you consider their application. When you consider the application, you must assess whether the person would meet this requirement (and the other residence requirements) on either the date you are considering the application, or a date between their original application and consideration. If a person does not meet the requirements on the date of consideration, but will do so within the next two months, it may be appropriate to put the application on hold. If the person will not meet the requirement for some time, you must consider whether there are exceptional grounds to exercise discretion (see section on discretion).

So in case of being a few days off, they would consider the application at a later date. If one is aware of a trip occurring at the beginning of the qualifying period, it is best to wait for a few days just for peace of mind.

[Zeeshi2211]

Thank you everyone for brief explanation.

I think I'll wait for weeks and then apply.

Really appreciate your contributions