Citizenship application question

Hi all,

I'm gathering the components for my citizenship application, and I've run across the following requirement, and I'm not sure what it actually refers to:

"The Home Office letter by which you were given permission to remain
permanently in the UK"

This is under the freedom from immigration time restrictions section for documents that need to be included. I do remember getting a letter with my documents, but nowhere on it does it say 'this gives you permission to remain permanently in the UK" or anything similar. Best I can tell there was no letter with my BRP, but it's been a while so I don't remember. Which letter are they referring to? I got ILR through the family track, but as it's been 5 years since I got ILR, I can go either direction (basis of residency or British spouse). The guidance notes aren't wholly clear as to which bits apply to which versions of the application.

Thanks in advance.

oddityofwings

You don't need to include any letter from the Home Office, just your BRP showing you have ILR - it's an either/or option, if for some reason you don't have an ILR visa sticker or a BRP and were issued with a letter instead.

From the application form:

SECTION 5 Evidence of freedom from immigration time restrictions:required for all applicants except those covered by SECTION 4 above.
• Your passport showing permission to remain permanently in the UK Or
• The Home Office letter by which you were given permission to remain permanently in the UK
• If you came to the UK as an asylum seeker you should have evidence of appeal applications
Or
• Evidence of being freely landed

In your case, you don't have an ILR sticker in your passport (as they are no longer issued), so instead, you provide your BRP.

Ah, okay - I guess they're trying to cover a multitude of possibilities (and documents) all at once and the copywriter is getting it a bit muddled. I presume if there's something missing, the people at the post office (as I intend to use the nationality checking service) will let me know in advance.

(Although it looks like I need to go to Ipswich, Cambridge, or Kings Lynn of all places if I want to apply that way! Why oh why isn't there one in Norwich?!)

Yes, if you use the NCS, they will check you have everything, make copies of the documents and then hand it all back to you.

The citizenship application is extremely simple though and you hardly need any documents for it at all:
- your passport
- your BRP
- your spouse's passport
- your Life in the UK test certificate (and English Language evidence if you are not a native English speaker)
- your marriage certificate

You may also need to provide evidence of paying NI contributions (i.e. your payslips), although this was never required for applications as the spouse of a UK citizen before, so I'm not exactly sure if you need it or not... it's not listed as part of the documents on the application form, but it is mentioned in the guidance notes for answering Section 1 of the form.

Thanks for that, ksand (and apologies for taking forever to get back to you - it's been all hands on deck at work at the moment)!

I noticed the payslip bit as well - and 10 years of employment records! (I've been here for coming up to 11 years and I worked on and off throughout that time - they will end up with one heck of a pile of documents...) Is there any way I can talk to someone officialish about that requirement? It does seem a bit odd.

Thanks again.