FAQs: British Citizenship

Please note that the above questions and answers have been prepared from the emails, telephone calls and actual cases that we have dealt and have therefore not provided any names and addresses in order to keep client confidentiality. 

Question:

I have held settled status for over a year. Can I apply for naturalisation?

Answer:

If only looking at the requirement to have no immigration restrictions, one is able to apply for naturalisation after a year of holding settled status. You also need to look at whether you were in the UK 5 years ago at the time of your application in accordance with the requirements. If you are married to or in a relationship with a British citizen, you do not need to wait one year before applying and the qualifying period is 3 years, so you must have been in the UK 3 years before you apply, instead of five.

Question:

If I get rejected, will I lose my application fee?

Answer:

Yes, unfortunately, you do not get your money back if your citizenship application is refused.

Question:

What are the benefits of British citizenship over settled status?

Answer:

Citizenship is more secure than settled status. It cannot be lost through absence from the UK, and the threshold for deprivation of citizenship is higher than for revocation of settled status. British citizens can vote in general elections (although so can Commonwealth citizens, which includes Maltese and Cypriot nationals).

Question:

Do I need to pass the Life in the UK and English tests before or after submitting the naturalization application?

Answer:

Both tests will be evidenced via an electronic test pass number, which must be entered in the naturalisation application form before it is submitted, so you must pass both tests before you can apply. This is because the English and Life in the UK test requirements must be satisfied at the date of application, and the date of application is the date the form is submitted and payment is made online.

Question:

Can I apply for British citizenship and keep my first nationality?

Answer:

It depends on your original country of citizenship. The United Kingdom allows its citizens to have multiple nationalities. However, some countries, such as the Netherlands, have restrictions on dual citizenship. Others, such as Romania and Italy, allow dual citizenship with the UK for all their citizens. These rules may change. Before applying for British citizenship, do check with your embassy or consulate about your country’s rules on this issue.

Question:

I am married to a British national, and we have two daughters. I am a Russian national and our two daughters have got Russian nationality as well. We all currently live now in Singapore due to employment commitments. Since the father of the daughters is British we wanted to apply for citizenship for them, however, their father strongly objects to this, and we do not know what to do and whether it is possible to apply without his consent.

Answer:

Since the daughters were born from the father who was already British at the time of their birth, the children can apply directly for obtaining British passports. However, please note that the direct participation of the British father will be needed, and he will need to sign certain declaration forms as a British passport sponsor for the children. Unfortunately, without his participation your daughters will not be able to apply for British passports and therefore you will need to get to some agreement with your husband about your children applying for British passports as soon as possible.

Question:

I am 27 years old Egyptian national and my mother is a British citizen by descent and she is born in 1963. Am I eligible to register as a British citizen on that basis?

Answer:

You are automatically a British citizen if you were born outside the UK and all of the following apply: you were born between 1 January 1983 and 30 June 2006, your mother or father was a British citizen when you were born (they must have been married if your father had British citizenship but your mother did not) and your British parent could pass on their citizenship to you. Your British parent could pass on their citizenship to you if they were one of the following: born or adopted in the UK or given citizenship after applying for it in their own right (not based on having a British parent).

Question:

I would like to confirm about the British citizenship for my child. My son was born in the UK while I was studying in the country, but after that I came back to my home country.  So is my son eligible to apply British citizenship on that basis?

Answer:

It will depend on whether at the time of birth of your son in the UK, you already had settlement/indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

If not and if you only had a temporary visa at the time of your son’s birth, then unfortunately your son cannot get British citizenship automatically, since in the UK citizenship is not granted merely because somebody was born inside the country.

Question:

I have recently obtained indefinite leave to remain in the UK on the basis of residing in the UK for a complete 5-year period in the Tier 2 General Visa (currently known as a Skilled Worker Visa). My question is regarding my child who was born in the UK before I got ILR. Do I now need to make an indefinite leave to remain application for my son as well?

Answer:

No. You do not need to make a separate application for your child now. Your child can be registered as a British Citizen (under section 1 of the 1981 British Nationality Act) as he was born in the UK to a parent who now has ILR in the UK. You, however, can only apply for British Citizenship once you have completed 12 months after the grant of your ILR and this will be by way of naturalization as a British citizen.

Question:

I am a male British citizen and my daughter was born in the UK in April 2006 from a relationship with my unmarried partner. My partner is from Ukraine and has not got any visa here. My question is regarding my daughter: can I apply for her British passport?

Answer:

Please note that any children born out of wedlock before 1st July 2006 would take the nationality of the mother only. So, your daughter would take the Ukrainian nationality of her mother and cannot therefore apply for a British passport. However, if you get married with your partner, your daughter will become legitimized and can take your nationality.  You can also apply for your daughter to be registered as a British citizen at the discretion of the Home Office, and this would normally be granted.

Question:

I am an American, born in New York in 1982. My mother is British, but she did not get me a British passport when I was born, as she was in the process of divorcing from my American father when I was born and we moved to another country straight after I was born. Although I am over 18 now, I believe I can still obtain British citizenship.  Is this true?

Answer:

Yes under Section 4C of the 1981 British Nationality Act, you are able to register as a British citizen if your mother was British at the time of your birth, and you were born outside the UK before 1983. This provision was introduced in order to even up the previous imbalance in nationality law, whereby only British fathers could pass on British citizenship to their children. It does not matter if your parents were married/unmarried/divorced at the time of your birth.

Question:

I am a British Overseas Citizen,  and was born in a former British colony (Sierra Leone) in 1954. I now live in South Africa, but do not hold South African citizenship. I believe I can now apply to be registered as a full British citizen as I hold no other nationality or citizenship.  Is this correct?

Answer:

Yes, that is right. Provided that you only hold British Overseas citizenship and do not hold, and have never held, any other nationality or citizenship, you can be registered as a full British citizen under section 4B of the 1981 British Nationality Act.  The other requirement is that you must not have ever given up any other nationality/citizenship nor lost any nationality/citizenship through either action or inaction. Sometimes it is possible to be deemed to be a citizen of another country even though you never applied for the citizenship of that country. You would need to provide proof of where/when you were born, and you would also need to obtain a letter from the authorities of the country where you were born confirming that you never applied for, nor were granted, the citizenship of that country.