Naturalisation and citizenship in England

Hi Bhavna
I just got Ilimited Leave to Remain (Settlement)
after that you have to pay over £1,000 and follow this requirements

1. Check if you can apply

There are different ways to become a British citizen. The most common is called ‘naturalisation'.

You can apply for British citizenship by naturalisation if:

you're 18 or over
you're of good character, for example, you don't have a serious or recent criminal record, and you haven't tried to deceive the Home Office or been involved in immigration offences in the last 10 years
you'll continue to live in the UK
you've met the knowledge of English and life in the UK requirements
you meet the residency requirement
And you must usually have:

lived in the UK for at least the 5 years before the date of your application
spent no more than 450 days outside the UK during those 5 years
spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months
had settlement (‘indefinite leave to remain') in the UK for the last 12 months if you're from outside the European Economic Area (EEA)
had permanent residence status for the last 12 months if you're a citizen of an EEA country - you need to provide a permanent residence document
not broken any immigration laws while in the UK
There are different requirements if your spouse or civil partner is a British citizen.

https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-c … -can-apply

hope this helps

Patty Taylor

I was naturalised in late 2015 after living here for over 10 years. I'm a native of the US  which, although I don't think they like it much, does allow for dual citizenship.

The process itself involved a fair bit of paperwork and proof of various things, but I can't remember all of the details and requirements now. It was easier than getting Leave to Remain though. Overall, at the time, it cost around £1,000 and to me the most annoying part was the Life in the UK test which required some studying and lots of tedious bits of information that I'm sure the average Briton has no clue about.

The benefits, as far as I see it, are security from governments that might decide to throw out foreign types and the ability to actually vote against them. Otherwise it's not a while lot different from Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Hubby and I arrived into UK after living 15 years in USA and 40 years in our Homeland of Australia.  Currently living here in the UK on a Ancestral Visa for our first 5 years (my deceased grandmother was born in London; before being relocated at aged 16 by Benardo's to live permanently in Australia).  Our Visas have been stamped:
"NO ACCESS TO GOV BENEFITS"
When this Visa falls due for renual in 2020 we get a Limited Leave to Remain (Settlement) Visa.   To which the Gov Benefits restrictions will be lifted.  As a Aussie Born Citizen; I / we don't feel the necessity to obtain our British Citizenship when we qualify to apply.  Despite having the option to hold a Dual Citizenship (OZ & UK). 

Holding Limited Leave to Remain (Settlement) Visa entitles us to everything of a UK Citizen; with the exception of becoming a Prime Minister.   Voting in the UK.
Commonwealth citizens who are resident in the UK have the right to vote. One of the perks of coming from the Colonies

It's with a heavy and sad heart UK has voted to Divorce / Seperate and become Independent of the EU.   So going fwd our future plans to remain living in UK R Uncertain ?  IOPO: A very disappointing outcome for UK, its Citizens and Residents too!  However, many will disagree and are excited!

PS: In USA we held a Green Card.

It depends where you come from. I'm French and I've lived in the UK for 20 years  My husband has dual French/British nationality as do my 2 children born in the UK. Both the UK and France allow dual citizenship however for example as a British citizen if you are an expat for over 15 years you lose the right to vote.
As a EU citizen, since Brexit there is now literally zero benefit to me becoming a British citizen. I would lose some rights in fact if I did. I would be a little more secure, in that my right to remain and work would not suffer from Brexit (arguably I would as i'm fairly certain that economically it is the death knoll for Britain) but I would lose access to Europe in every other way and why would I want that?
But I can see that non-EU citizens would benefit from naturalisation

Australian's Voting in the UK:
Despite Aussies being dropped from the Australian Election Role once they've lived abroad 3 years until they return permanently to Australia. 
Yet; Commonwealth citizens (Australian's) who are resident in the UK have the right to vote. One of the perks of coming from the Colonies
However,
Britons living abroad for longer than 15 years denied vote in general election.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 … ote-tories

which expats can vote in uk
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=which … ent=safari

British Expat's Rights to Vote in UK Elections : Expat Info Desk
https://www.expatinfodesk.com/expat-gui … ing-rights

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=which+expats+can

There is another big benefit - you can never lose citizenship whereas right to remain can be lost by simply leaving the country for more than 24 months

There is a benefit to becoming a citizen now. If the EU decide to throw out UK citizens from the EU you will be thrown out from the UK. Tit for tat.

They won't throw people out of the EU. Spain and North France rely on Brits for the economy.

I would tend to agree with you, but its not impossible. While those countries you said need the UK - there are another 20+ who don't. Additionally Spain has been handed an additional veto on any agreement to make sure that Spain gets what it wants on Gibraltar. What they want on Gibraltar - is Gibraltar, which they won't get. I know Spain very well and they may choose Gibraltar over economics, in which case the UK leaves without any deal.

Hi Bhavana,

Good Day ! By your name, I presume that you are holding an Indian Passport, living in EK and planning to settle here in UK. Basing on my assumption, giving you the details:

As I acquired my Citizenship in 2007, I am not aware the present fees levels for Naturalisation and British passport.

The advantages of having British passport:
01. You can live in the country without any restrictions, participate in all the elections, do any kind of job you like with any employer
02. You can got to any EU (for now) country without any VISA and also many other countries like USA, Australia, Dubai etc. This improves your easy travel across many countries through a simple process
03. You can work in any EU country (of course you need to get the respective residence/work visa, which should not be a problem)
04. You can feel that this is my country (which is very important) and contribute towards the development  rather than keep on thinking that you do not belong to UK and not showing much interest for development.
05. Many more

The other points:
01. Once you attain your British citizenship, you have to surrender your Indian Passport, as India does not allow DUAL citizenship. For this, you can apply for OCI to have your lifelong VISA to India. Being a OCI card holder, you can not participate in Voting and can not buy Agricultural Land in India. Other than that, you can live, work as usual like a normal Indian Citizen in India.

Having said that, you have to decide whether to go for Citizenship or not, which is your personal choice by weighing the advantages and disadvantages basing on your personal circumstances.

Hope this helps you take appropriate decision.

Good Luck and all the best !

Thanks & Regards,
Sasi