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on May 13, 2022
Our client had been residing in the UK as the spouse of a British citizen and had recently been granted indefinite leave to remain following five years’ residency
She had previously entered the UK with entry clearance under the Spouse visa rules. She had been sponsored by her husband, who was a British national. She then successfully extended her Spouse visa for another two and a half years, and earlier this year completed five years’ residency and applied for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
She now wished to apply for British citizenship, but was unsure whether she qualified or not, as she did not have a full year’s residency under her ILR.
We advised her that those qualifying for British citizenship under the Spouse route could benefit from applying for British citizenship following five years’ residency, without a full one-year residency with ILR.
We then worked with our client to understand her immigration history as it was important that she did not have an excess number of absences over the five-year period. While she had spent some time outside of the United Kingdom on holidays, she was well below the threshold so there was no danger of failing on this criterion. We then checked to see that our client had no period of overstaying in the UK and no criminal record to ensure the ‘good character’ requirement was met, which it was.
We then advised our client on the documentation required and who would qualify as a referee for the application. We reviewed our client’s documentation and noted there was not much to amend. We completed the application form with our client and prepared a cover letter which explained the reasons why citizenship should be granted. We were able to quickly arrange an appointment at the visa application centre for our client to complete the application process.
Approximately eight weeks after the submission of the application, our client was granted British citizenship. Our client was relieved that her immigration journey had come to an end and that it had ended so smoothly. She was anxious as it was the last stage of the journey, but was grateful for such a seamless process.
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