Joint application

[rmahamani]

Dear friends

I am slightly confused about the five year rule for my spouse with naturalisation process.

I came to uk on a work permit in April 2004.
I got married and brought my wife in feb 2006.

we both applied for ILR and granted in march 2009.

now we thinking of applying for naturalisation in april 2010.(ie., i yr after ILR).

the question is by the time when we apply i will have six years of stay in uk however my wife will only have 4yrs.

will this affect her being granted nautralistaion.

does the five year rule apply to us
please help

many thanks
ran

[John]

Your wife cannot apply at the same time as you, not unless you wait until your wife has been in the UK for 5 years, some time in February 2011.

However if you apply first, once you have your Certificate of Naturalisation, surprise surprise, your wife will be married to a British Citizen .... you! Accordingly, after you are British, a 3-year qualifying period will apply for her, and then she can apply.

[geriatrix]

However if you apply first, once you have your Certificate of Naturalisation, surprise surprise, your wife will be married to a British Citizen .... you! Accordingly, after you are British, a 3-year qualifying period will apply for her, and then she can apply.

Apologies for butting in.

John, when applying for naturalisation as a spouse of British citizen, does the immigration status during this 3yr. qualifying period have to be "spouse/dependent+ILR" or can it be "any (legal) immigration status+ILR"?

Thanks in advance.

regards

[John]

Any! Indeed in the 3-year qualifying period there can even be time in the UK as a visitor.

[JulesN19]

Any! Indeed in the 3-year qualifying period there can even be time in the UK as a visitor.

This is the case now, but the situation will be different under the new rules for naturalisation contained in the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009. Once the new rules are in force, all applications submitted under them will require evidence that the applicant had "qualifying status" during the entire "qualifying period".

Thankfully for rmahamani, the rules are not expected to come into force until July 2011 and those who already have ILR will be able to apply under the old rules until July 2013.

[HMRB]

My partner has been on his HSMP for a year and now he is going to switch to my spouse visa (I have ILR).

So does that mean that his 2 year qualifying period will count as him being on HSMP + spouse visa towards ILR? OR does he have to be on 2 year spouse visa to get ILR?

[John]

The latter. The earlier he can apply for ILR (or whatever it is called at the time) is 28 days before the expiry of the 2-year spouse visa.

[HMRB]

Aha.. thanks John.
Also I am correct in saying that he can switch from HSMP to my spouse visa in the country itself using the FLR(M) form?

[John]

That is right, he can do that. Obviously the sooner he does that, the better, because of the knock-on effect of the later ILR application.