British nationality law can be complex and recent times have seen the tightening of British nationality rules. This means that in order to qualify to be naturalised, i.e to become a British citizen, you will need to meet residence requirements as well as have a clean immigration history.
make an enquiryIf you are considering applying to become British Citizen either by registration (for children under 18) or naturalisation, contact our immigration team based in Bromley to book an affordable and totally confidential fixed-fee consultation with an experienced immigration lawyer. The fee is just £100 + VAT and if you go on to instruct us to work with you, we will not charge for the consultation.
To be eligible to apply for British citizenship you must qualify under one of the following criteria:
Being born in the UK does not give you British citizenship automatically; your citizenship will depend on your parents’ immigration status. However, being born in the UK may mean you are eligible to apply to be naturalised as a British citizen.
If you have lived in the UK for the past three years and are now married to, or the civil partner of, a British citizen, you may be eligible to apply for British citizenship. You will need to have either indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or settled status under the EU settlement scheme.
There are various routes to receiving indefinite leave to remain (ILR). If you have ILR and wish to apply for naturalisation, you will usually need to have been living in the UK for 12 months after being granted ILR before applying for citizenship.
You can apply to become a British citizen if you have ‘settled status’ under the EU Settlement Scheme. In most cases, you will be required to have been living in the UK for 12 months after being granted settled status before making your application.
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can no longer apply for British citizenship using a permanent residence document. However, if you have been granted settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you can apply once you are eligible (usually you will need to have remained living in the UK for 12 months after being granted settled status, but you may be able to apply immediately if you have documents showing the date on which you became a permanent resident).
The deadline to apply for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme was 30 June 2021. As an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, if you do not have reasonable grounds for missing the deadline and you wish to remain in the UK, you will now need to apply for a visa.
There are a few other situations that make you eligible for British citizenship. These include:
To complete the process of naturalisation, it is vital to seek advice and assistance from a reputable firm with expertise in this field. Unfortunately, if your application is not made in line with the rules you may be refused. We can help you challenge a refusal decision, but we would rather make sure your application is correct and meets all the requirements before this situation arises.
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