Naturalisation and PR status

[hor]

Hello,

First of all, thanks for the amazing job and support in this forum.

I am thinking of applying for the UK citizenship. I’ve been reading carefully the information in the forum but I still have some doubts.

My timeline,

I came to the UK in May 2012.

- June 2012 / June 2013 - Full time worker

- June 2013 / June 2014 - Full time worker

- June 2014 / June 2015 - Full time worker

From November 2014 till March 2015 I was out of the country working for the same company I was in UK but my contract was from Spain (5 months)

- June 2015 / June 2016 - Full time worker

- June 2016 / June 2017 - Full time worker

- July 2017 out of the country (Spain)

August and September 2017 - I got married to a British citizen, and I was looking for a job

October, November, December 2017 - Job Seek Allowance


- January 2018 to August 2018 - Freelance and registered as self-employed. I started my own project but I wasnt earning a lot so from April I got registered in an Agency to get a temporary job. (not enough for NI threshold)

September, October, November - Out of the country

December back to UK - Contract of house, registered in the council, bills… looking for a job


- January 2019 till now - Full time worker


I got the Settle Status on June 2019.



*Do you think I’ve acquired the PR status even if I dont have the card due to my first 5 years in the UK or would the 5 months gap in 2014 would be an issue?

* Should I apply now or wait till January 2022?


Hope you can help me.

Thanks in advance.

[Site Admin]

*Do you think I’ve acquired the PR status even if I dont have the card due to my first 5 years in the UK or would the 5 months gap in 2014 would be an issue?

* Should I apply now or wait till January 2022?

Morning,

I would say so, as noted here: Unemployment, job seeking and gaps

...where we have:

---

Gaps of exercising treaty rights of up to six months, whether in or out of the country, are fine.

This is based on the EEA Regulations: The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016


3.—(1) This regulation applies for the purpose of calculating periods of continuous residence in the United Kingdom under these Regulations.
(2) Continuity of residence is not affected by—
(a) periods of absence from the United Kingdom which do not exceed six months in total in any year..

---

PR status is acquired automatically after exercising treaty rights for a continuous 5 year period, even without applying for the card to certify it.

[Site Admin]

We have put together the following resources which should be your starting point.

• Ovierview of the citizenship process
• Step-by-step guide.

...and, before going further, you should also be aware of the potential impact on family members you may wish to sponsor in the future.

[hor]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for your answers.

So, based on that, just to clarify can I apply for citizenship at any moment?

Lets say I will apply next March 2021. If I have to prove I was in the country 3 years since my application, it would be from March 2018. At that time I was Freelance, registered as self Employed, I have invoices and bank statements to prove it. Would this be enough?

Thanks again for your support.

[Site Admin]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for your answers.

So, based on that, just to clarify can I apply for citizenship at any moment?

Lets say I will apply next March 2021. If I have to prove I was in the country 3 years since my application, it would be from March 2018. At that time I was Freelance, registered as self Employed, I have invoices and bank statements to prove it. Would this be enough?

Thanks again for your support.

You say you have settled status and are married to a British citizen, that means you can apply at any time.

You only need to make sure you were in the country on the day you applied, 3 years ago, you don't need to provide evidence of this, since it refers to a specific day, this will be worked out from your list of trips abroad and/or their own records. It wouldn't be possible for everyone to provide evidence of being here on a certain day.

[hor]

Thanks for answering.

Sorry, I didn't explain myself clearly and I am a bit confused.

You mentioned that PR status is acquired automatically after exercising treaty rights for a continuous 5 year period, even without applying for the card to certify it. But I was reading the guide and I have to apply relaying on Settle Status as I don't have a PR card. I have to prove lawful residence 3 years previous to my application, right?

So my previous question was, from January 2018 to August 2018 I was freelancer, would it be enough showing invoices and bank statements from those payments to prove my lawful residence?

Thanks and sorry for all this questions.

[Site Admin]

Thanks for answering.

Sorry, I didn't explain myself clearly and I am a bit confused.

You mentioned that PR status is acquired automatically after exercising treaty rights for a continuous 5 year period, even without applying for the card to certify it. But I was reading the guide and I have to apply relaying on Settle Status as I don't have a PR card. I have to prove lawful residence 3 years previous to my application, right?

Morning,

Yes, to clarify, these are two completely separate requirements:

1. Freedom from immigration time restrictions, this is a key requirement which means having a PR card or ILR, including settled status, and where the applicant doesn't provide evidence of this, applications are refused outright; and
2. Lawful residence during the relevant 3 or 5 year period. This means showing that the applicant was exercising treaty rights during the last 3 or 5 years or had another right to reside, such as having acquired PR STATUS automatically, at some point in the past. In this case, where an applicant hasn't provided enough evidence of this, the caseworker would come back asking for additional evidence.

A PR card is evidence of both, so it satisfies the two requirements.

Settled status is only evidence of (1) above, so additional evidence needs to be provided for (2).

[Site Admin]

So my previous question was, from January 2018 to August 2018 I was freelancer, would it be enough showing invoices and bank statements from those payments to prove my lawful residence?

Thanks and sorry for all this questions.

You need evidence of lawful residence for the last 3 years, depending on when you apply is how far back you need to go with this.

You may want to look at this post for evidence of self-employment: Evidence of self-employment

However, going back to the beginning, I thought you were going to apply on the basis of having acquired PR status (even without a card), when you were a full-time worker, so you wouldn't need to provide evidence of lawful residence, such as exercising treaty rights, in the last 3 years, since once you acquire PR status, you are lawfully resident regardless of what you do, as noted here:

• Permanent Residence (PR) status and how it's acquired
• Qualifying periods and evidence - example scenarios

But you still need evidence of ongoing residence in the UK since PR status was acquired, and this is also highlighted in the posts above. I trust this will clarify matters.

[hor]

Good afternoon,

Thank you very much for clarifying, sending all those informative links and helping me.

I think I will be applying soon based on having acquired the PR status from June 2012 till June 2017. Hope everything goes smoothly!

Thanks again for your support.

Take care

[Site Admin]

Good afternoon,

Thank you very much for clarifying, sending all those informative links and helping me.

I think I will be applying soon based on having acquired the PR status from June 2012 till June 2017. Hope everything goes smoothly!

Thanks again for your support.

Take care

Best of luck and do keep us posted!