Apply for British Citizenship by Naturalisation

To be eligible for British citizenship, you must meet a number of requirements. Firstly, you must have been living or working in the UK for a minimum of five years (three if you are married to a British citizen). On top of this, you must have held indefinite leave to remain or the settled status for a minimum of 12 months – this does not apply if you are married to a British citizen.

If you meet all relevant requirements, you must then pass an English language knowledge test and a Life in the UK test.

Finally, you will need to provide the correct documentation, including proof of your visa, residence, finances, biometric information and identity.

You will need to provide all of this information in your citizenship application, which you will need to submit without any errors. This might seem like a lot to consider; to avoid making any mistakes or feeling overwhelmed by the process, speak to one of our expert immigration lawyers today.

As part of your application process, you must pass a Level B1 English speaking and listening test. Alternatively, you can also take a test in Welsh or Scottish Gaelic. You must take the test at an approved UK test centre.

However, if you have a degree qualification for a course that was taught or researched in English, you may be able to present this as evidence of your language skills instead.

If you are a national of any of the counties listed here, you will not need to take the language test.

When applying for British citizenship, it is mostly likely that you will need to take a Life in the UK test. The test costs a fee of £50 and you must make sure to book it three days in advance, so make sure to book it well in advance of your application deadline. To book the test, you will be required to provide identification, such as your passport, travel document, or biometric residence permit or card.

Those who do not need to take the test as part of their British citizenship application include children, those over the age of 64 or people with long-term physical or mental conditions.

You must take the test at one of the test centres in the UK – you can choose which one when you book your test.

During the test, you will be required to answer 24 questions in 45 minutes on the information contained within the Life in the UK handbook. To pass, you will need to get at least 75% of the questions correct. If you fail the test, you can attempt it as many times as you need, but you will be required to pay the £50 booking fee each time you do. Failing the test prior to passing it does not prejudice your citizenship application.

Yes, if you have held indefinite leave to remain in the UK for at least 12 months (unless you’re married to a British citizen), have lived in the UK for the last five years (three years if you are married to a British citizen), have not been out of the country for more than a certain number of days, and are of “good character”.

There are a number of ways to become a British national:

• Naturalisation for adults with indefinite leave to remain or settled status
• Registration for children, those who hold another form of British nationality, or who have an entitlement to register due to British parentage
• Being born in the UK – this requires one parent to be a British national or hold settled status
• Being born outside of the UK to British parents who are citizens other than by descent
• Adoption by a British court before reaching the age of 18

Before you can become a UK citizen, you must fulfil good character requirements. To assess this, the Home Office will assess your background to understand whether you have taken any actions that could be deemed as ‘anti-UK’ or dangerous to other people who live in the country.

Aspects of your background that will be investigated include your immigration history, financial stability and criminal record. If you are found to have had a criminal conviction that resulted in a prison sentence of four years or more, you will not be eligible to apply for British citizenship at any time. There is a sliding scale of waiting times for those who were convicted of lesser offences.

Your finances will be checked against HMRC and court records; if you have been declared bankrupt, this may prevent you from naturalising. Seek specialist advice from out legal team if this affects you.

As part of your application, you must disclose this information – failure to do so will normally lead to your application being refused.

If you have been convicted of a crime and it has gone on your criminal record, you may not be eligible for British citizenship, either at any time, or until a certain period of time has elapsed. Broadly, the crime for which you were convicted must constitute a crime in UK law for it to count against you. You should seek specialist advice about the impact of overseas convictions on your British citizenship application.

The Home Office states that they aim to complete naturalisation applications within six months of submission. Of course, this period is not set in stone and applications can sometimes be met with delays. There is no priority processing option for naturalisation.

Before beginning the process, you will need to pass a Life in the UK test and, if you do not meet the English language requirement in another way (e.g. by being a national of a majority-speaking English country or by having a degree taught in English), an English language test to level B1 CEFR in speaking and listening.

Yes, if you have been granted ILR, also known as settled status, under the EU Settlement Scheme and can meet the other requirements you will be eligible for British citizenship.

You can apply for a British passport once your naturalisation application has been approved and you have been granted a certificate of naturalisation. Note that most applicants for a first passport may be required to attend an interview.

Depending how long you have been in the UK, your absence allowance will vary:

• If you are married to a British citizen and are relying on a three-year period of residence, you will have an absence allowance of 270 days in the three years, 90 days in the year immediately before the date of your application
• If you are relying on a five-year period of residence, you will have an absence allowance of 450 days, 90 days in the year immediately before the date of your application

The Home Office can exercise discretion where there are excess absences for good reason; you should seek specialist advice about this before proceeding with a citizenship application.