ILR and citizenship

I know that once you are a permanent resident in the US and are away from the country for one year and one day you lose your green card.  Does something like this happen with the ILR, do you lose it after a certain amount of time out of the UK?

Another question, what is involved in becoming a UK citizen?  I am a naturalized US citizen and it was a pain in the butt.....tests, interviews, swearing in, etc.  How long does it usually take to become a UK citizen once you apply?  Yes, I realize I'm full of questions

June

The timescale varies depending upon when you apply. I applied last September for UK Citizenship and I knew within 6-8 weeks. It could have been less to be honest. My Citizenship Ceremony was on 1st December 2004 so it was a pretty quick decision. I had, however, been married for three years with ILR for the last two. I found the citizenship/naturalisation application fairly straightforward, but the only nuisance was to have to pay about £40 for a solicitor to declare that I could speak English sufficiently. I was only given a notarised letter for this. Now, this was before the new citizenship tests were in place as well. On the ceremony day, I had to either swear an oath or pledge affirmation to the Queen. I chose the latter. This website will be able to answer all your questions about UK Citizenship: http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/applying/british_nationality.html. I found the website quite helpful for whatever questions I had.

Once I had UK Citizenship, I was able to apply for a UK passport, which is far easier to travel on throughout Europe. I received my passport within two weeks.

Mel x

I know that once you are a permanent resident in the US and are away from the country for one year and one day you lose your green card. Does something like this happen with the ILR, do you lose it after a certain amount of time out of the UK?

Quick correction- You don't lose your residency if you're out for one year- it's two years, but if you're going to be gone for more than one year out you have to get a re-entry permit from USCIS.  I'm not sure what happens if you leave the country for say, 1.5 years and come back w/o a re-entry permit, though 

For the UK, I've heard you lose ILR once you've been gone two years, but someone way more knowledgable than me will probably come answer that for sure.

I am a naturalized US citizen...

Me too! Nice to see someone else on here in that boat   Just a question- are you planning on applying for UK naturalization?  I'd like to eventually just for the convenience, but I always thought the rules on losing citizenship were different for naturalized US citizens vs. natural-born, so I couldn't.  Hmm..

Rose, I am planning on applying for UK citizenship for convenience' sake.  As far as losing your US citizenship, you won, the same rules apply for born and naturalized citizens.

yay, that's good to hear