Please help with my application

[monica9201]

Hi, I am finally applying for my British Citizenship and unfortunately I've found the form to be slightly confusing. Hope you could help me with some questions I have. I got to the end of the form so I gathered them altogether and hoping to edit parts that I need to edit.

1) For the main application name, I put my name as in passport (that is what they said is required), which is my married name (changed my surname after marriage). In the next section, for "Other name" I input my maiden name, but I need to choose something for "Why have you been known by another name" and options are "marriage", "divorce", "other". Should I go with marriage here and provide marriage date or should this be "Other" and state that it was my maiden name? A bit confused what is the right approach here. It also asks for a date of that "legal" change so I put the date of our wedding but obviously it took a little longer to change my name everywhere, so not sure if that will be correct?

2) Other name - My first name in passport is "Monika" but quite often with jobs / pension etc. I use "Monica" and that's how people know me. So I added that variation to "other name" as well, chose "other" reason and stated that "I prefer to have my first name spelled with "c"". I presume that's ok? Just want to make sure they are aware that people may know me as "Monica" or my payslips, if attached, may be made out to "Monica". Some employment letters are also to "Monica xxxx" as that is how they had me in their system.

3) Mother's details - in the form, is her "family name" the one in her current passport (which is my dad's and same as my maiden surname) or her own maiden name?

4) Convictions & Other penalties:
I answered "no" but want to check that's correct. In 2018 we had a situation with our landlord. So basically I moved in with my boyfriend in 2016 (now husband) and he was already renting. The landlord was someone he considered his "friend" but all in all It was one of the usual London "dodgy" rentals. No real contract, no deposit. We were paying rent per month and that rent amount included all bills, inc. council tax. In 2017 (I think) we were asked to put our names on the council tax bill as the people who were on the bill before were moving out. I was against it but my then boyfriend trusted the guy so in the end we ended up listed on the bill. We notified our landlord that we are planning to move out end of March 2018 and we fully moved out during the first May bank holiday in 2018, all sides were happy at the time. Come June, we got court summons for unpaid council tax from April 2018 until June 2018 (request for a full year payment) and we were to go to court if not paid on time before the court date. To be fair I sort of lost it with my trusting boyfriend, but long story short, we notified the council we moved out, they revised the bill from full year to a mere £50 which my husband paid and nothing ever went to court. For some reason they refunded us the £50 in July and sent another bill covering til August (?) which was closer to £300 but he paid that one as well. Not because we should be paying it but more for peace of mind. We were in Scotland since May 2018 and paying council tax here.
Question is - do I need to report the summons? I mean there is absolutely nothing else against my name and I curse that ex landlord daily these days for making my life difficult. Granted we were naïve and we should have never agree to the arrangement and all In all we definitely learnt our lesson.

5) Referees - "how does the referee know the applicant" - is simple "friend" sufficient?

6) My husband is not applying with me (not enough money for two applications at once), so i notified them that there is a depandant who is not applying with me. That lead to the question "Have any of these non-applying dependants been convicted of an offence or received a court order?"
a. My husband got caught speeding in his work van. He was driving as per cars' speed but that section of the road had a different speed limit for vans which he didn't know. He avoided points and fine and did speed awareness course instead. Should I be declaring that? Will it cause a problem?
b. He also got a parking fine (I think 2019?) which was later cancelled (free parking for employees but we got a new car and the registration hasn't been updated on the system, so he got the fine. The employer sorted it however and the fine was withdrawn) - does that need to also be mentioned?

7) Residency confirmation - The form asked if I am currently employed so input the details of my current workplace but I joined my current employer in 2024 so not long ago. Is there any other place I should be providing all remaining employers or is that not required anymore (watched some video stating that we should be providing employment details since we entered the country and freaked out … )

8) For my documents I am planning to provide:
• Employer letter with dates I worked for them (covering 5 year period). Emailed 4 employers requesting those letters and so far I got three back. I read in various places that letters are not sufficient? If I add also council tax bills & Mortgage statements for 5 years will that be OK? Or should I also print bank statements etc. If that matters, I am an EU citizen so unfortunately no stamps in my passport.

9) Lastly - for the date when I entered the country I put August 2013 as this is when I landed in the UK knowing that I don’t plan on leaving. I was here however over summer 2012 for Olympics and briefly worked in McDonald's to get some spending money. I then left in Sep 2012 and did not come back for 11 months. Is my date in 2013 going to be OK? I don't have any info about my trip in 2012 so have no clue what could I input (no tickets, no message, I think I had a different mailbox back then and didn't think of any of that as important. I did note down date in 2013 as the purpose of my trip was different).

Apologies for so many question, just thought all in one go will make more sense.
Thank you to anyone who helps, this forum is really great!

[contorted_svy]

Hi, I am finally applying for my British Citizenship and unfortunately I've found the form to be slightly confusing. Hope you could help me with some questions I have. I got to the end of the form so I gathered them altogether and hoping to edit parts that I need to edit.

1) For the main application name, I put my name as in passport (that is what they said is required), which is my married name (changed my surname after marriage). In the next section, for "Other name" I input my maiden name, but I need to choose something for "Why have you been known by another name" and options are "marriage", "divorce", "other". Should I go with marriage here and provide marriage date or should this be "Other" and state that it was my maiden name? A bit confused what is the right approach here. It also asks for a date of that "legal" change so I put the date of our wedding but obviously it took a little longer to change my name everywhere, so not sure if that will be correct? Put Marriage and date of the wedding will be ok.

2) Other name - My first name in passport is "Monika" but quite often with jobs / pension etc. I use "Monica" and that's how people know me. So I added that variation to "other name" as well, chose "other" reason and stated that "I prefer to have my first name spelled with "c"". I presume that's ok? Just want to make sure they are aware that people may know me as "Monica" or my payslips, if attached, may be made out to "Monica". Some employment letters are also to "Monica xxxx" as that is how they had me in their system. That is OK, though specify this is just a preference and your legal name is Monika

3) Mother's details - in the form, is her "family name" the one in her current passport (which is my dad's and same as my maiden surname) or her own maiden name? Current name. Though your parents' details are irrelevant if you are naturalising based on 5 years residence.

4) Convictions & Other penalties:
I answered "no" but want to check that's correct. In 2018 we had a situation with our landlord. So basically I moved in with my boyfriend in 2016 (now husband) and he was already renting. The landlord was someone he considered his "friend" but all in all It was one of the usual London "dodgy" rentals. No real contract, no deposit. We were paying rent per month and that rent amount included all bills, inc. council tax. In 2017 (I think) we were asked to put our names on the council tax bill as the people who were on the bill before were moving out. I was against it but my then boyfriend trusted the guy so in the end we ended up listed on the bill. We notified our landlord that we are planning to move out end of March 2018 and we fully moved out during the first May bank holiday in 2018, all sides were happy at the time. Come June, we got court summons for unpaid council tax from April 2018 until June 2018 (request for a full year payment) and we were to go to court if not paid on time before the court date. To be fair I sort of lost it with my trusting boyfriend, but long story short, we notified the council we moved out, they revised the bill from full year to a mere £50 which my husband paid and nothing ever went to court. For some reason they refunded us the £50 in July and sent another bill covering til August (?) which was closer to £300 but he paid that one as well. Not because we should be paying it but more for peace of mind. We were in Scotland since May 2018 and paying council tax here.
Question is - do I need to report the summons? I mean there is absolutely nothing else against my name and I curse that ex landlord daily these days for making my life difficult. Granted we were naïve and we should have never agree to the arrangement and all In all we definitely learnt our lesson. Just state what happened. If it's your only issue with good character it won't impact your application.

5) Referees - "how does the referee know the applicant" - is simple "friend" sufficient? yes

6) My husband is not applying with me (not enough money for two applications at once), so i notified them that there is a depandant who is not applying with me. That lead to the question "Have any of these non-applying dependants been convicted of an offence or received a court order?" Your husband is not your dependant. There is no concept of adult dependant for naturalisation, you'd only need to tick that box if you had minor children.
a. My husband got caught speeding in his work van. He was driving as per cars' speed but that section of the road had a different speed limit for vans which he didn't know. He avoided points and fine and did speed awareness course instead. Should I be declaring that? Will it cause a problem? No. that isn't a fine anyway and your husband incurred in it, not you.
b. He also got a parking fine (I think 2019?) which was later cancelled (free parking for employees but we got a new car and the registration hasn't been updated on the system, so he got the fine. The employer sorted it however and the fine was withdrawn) - does that need to also be mentioned? No, as above.

7) Residency confirmation - The form asked if I am currently employed so input the details of my current workplace but I joined my current employer in 2024 so not long ago. Is there any other place I should be providing all remaining employers or is that not required anymore (watched some video stating that we should be providing employment details since we entered the country and freaked out … ) Not required anymore. Only current employer. Employment is not a requirement for naturalisation.

8) For my documents I am planning to provide:
• Employer letter with dates I worked for them (covering 5 year period). Emailed 4 employers requesting those letters and so far I got three back. I read in various places that letters are not sufficient? If I add also council tax bills & Mortgage statements for 5 years will that be OK? Or should I also print bank statements etc. If that matters, I am an EU citizen so unfortunately no stamps in my passport. Letters from employers and P60s if you have them. Letters from employers are enough anyway. Everything else you stated is not accepted evidence so don't submit it.

9) Lastly - for the date when I entered the country I put August 2013 as this is when I landed in the UK knowing that I don’t plan on leaving. I was here however over summer 2012 for Olympics and briefly worked in McDonald's to get some spending money. I then left in Sep 2012 and did not come back for 11 months. Is my date in 2013 going to be OK? I don't have any info about my trip in 2012 so have no clue what could I input (no tickets, no message, I think I had a different mailbox back then and didn't think of any of that as important. I did note down date in 2013 as the purpose of my trip was different). 2013 is ok.

Apologies for so many question, just thought all in one go will make more sense.
Thank you to anyone who helps, this forum is really great!

[monica9201]

Thank you so much for your help!
I will mention the summons in the "is there anything you want to make home office aware of" section. Since it's not a court case I guess it should be fine mentioning it there.
Will remove my husband from dependants. Not sure why I was under the impression that spouses need declaring... My daughter is British already so "no" makes it simple.

Thanks again!

[monica9201]

Hi,

Sorry, can I ask additional question about the court summons issue?
Just want to clarify if I actually have to mention it at all? I spoke to few people and they keep telling me to forget about it, as it was "just" a summons and it didn't go to court. I've been regularly checking my credit score and it has never dunked so there definitely never was a registered CCJ.
I guess I am just panicking that mentioning it when unnecessary may work against me.
At the same time I am panicking that not mentioning it, will work against me as well.

Thank you so much!

[contorted_svy]

Mentioning it if unnecessary will not affect you negatively. However you risk a lot by not mentioning it as it may look like you are hiding something.

[monica9201]

Hi, Sorry for the late reply! Thanks so much, I listened to you and typed a wee cover letter describing the situation. Just uploaded my documents, now I need to hunt for an earlier appointment (fingers crossed someone cancels).

Question - for biometrics appointment, do I just need to bring my current passport? I uploaded all required files myself onto the portal.

Thanks again for your help

[monica9201]

Actually, I am not sure anymore if the upload worked! It said my documents were uploaded, then some errors showed up in the corner, then i could view my application page but it doesnt say anything there if the documents part has been done or not.
If i go back to the Documents Upload page it says "upload documents" and that bit is BLANK and then "Upload status" says submitted.
Now I am freaking out that it didn't work.

[zxyzhgp]

in the appointment, staff there will scan every stamped page of passport even you have uploaded them already online. I also heard the staff said she saw my passport pages already uploaded so maybe you can ask them to check

if you go back to your TLS account, in the top tap where the whole process flow is shown, click "upload document", there should be a message saying your stuff are uploaded

after the appointment, TLS will send your an email showing what categories you have uploaded (not individual file). For me, I used Education/proof of residency + other and I saw them mentioned in the email, so I sort of know they were uploaded

[contorted_svy]

Actually, I am not sure anymore if the upload worked! It said my documents were uploaded, then some errors showed up in the corner, then i could view my application page but it doesnt say anything there if the documents part has been done or not.
If i go back to the Documents Upload page it says "upload documents" and that bit is BLANK and then "Upload status" says submitted.
Now I am freaking out that it didn't work.

If there was an issue with uploading docs the HO will contact you.

[monica9201]

Thank you so much. So good to know they would get in touch. And based on the other reply, I may be fine then as well. It does say submitted in the documents section, I just thought that they will list somewhere what documents were uploaded. Or at least how many of them but all it says is my name and details and then submitted. Didn't expect that. I was on a mission yesterday to just get it over the line haha feels like I've been living the application for the past couple months and I'm done lol

[contorted_svy]

Unfortunately the system doesn't let you see documents once they are submitted.

[monica9201]

Yeah, it's quite annoying. I'm sure I'm not the only person that got worried. I'm surely glad to have this forum!