Does the time I was here on a marriage (fiancee) visa even count toward the 5 years for citizenship? Or do I need to wait until 5 years have passed on FLR(M)?
If you’re married to a UK citizen, only 3 years of residency are needed o meet the citizenship requirements. The issue is that it now takes 5 years on FLR(M) to qualify for ILR... and you must get ILR first before you can apply for citizenship.
So the requirements are:
- 5 years on FLR(M) to qualify for ILR
- 3 years of residency in the UK plus you must hold ILR to qualify for citizenship
So in your case:
- UK residency started 1 Feb 2013
- 5 year count to ILR started 5 June 2013
- 5 years for ILR reached on 5 June 2018
- you can apply for citizenship right after being granted ILR
Say your ILR is granted on June 5th 2018 and you apply for citizenship on June 10th, 2018, your 3-year residency period to qualify for citizenship will be June 10th 2015 to June 10th 2018.
You must be able to show that:
- you were physically in the UK on June 10th 2015
AND
- you have not been outside the UK for more than 270 days since June 10th 2015, and no more than 90 of those days can be since June 10th 2017.
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