Naturalisation after ILR M

A big thank you to everyone who helped us with our ILR application. Without the guidance of forum members I don’t know where we would be. We are now hopefully ready to apply for Naturalisation but as always I have a few queries and things to double check:

1. Referees. My husband has asked a few of his managers at work if they would agree to be his referee of professional standing but so far they have refused. This leaves us with one other person who is a family friend but not related to us. They are a civil servant with British nationality ? Would this be ok? For the second referee we have one of my husband’s work colleagues who is British and over 25.

2. When we fill out the form online do we include the referee’s details there or are they contacted separately? I have seen the pdf form that referees have to sign which is available at the end of the application- does this need to be filled out with the same date as when we completed the online application or is it ok if it has a later date?

3. The passport sized photos have to be named and dated on the back. Is this something we do or each referee?

4. My husband shows his knowledge of English language through his university degrees which were taught in English, we have the certificates from Ecctis (old name Naric) showing his English level at B1. Can we use these for naturalisation too?


And that’s all I think I have at the moment. Thank you in advance for any replies.

1. Referees. My husband has asked a few of his managers at work if they would agree to be his referee of professional standing but so far they have refused. This leaves us with one other person who is a family friend but not related to us. They are a civil servant with British nationality ? Would this be ok? For the second referee we have one of my husband’s work colleagues who is British and over 25.

A civil servant should be fine .

Having said that, the professional referee does not have to be British, so if he knows anyone in his home country that meets the criteria, he could use them instead.

2. When we fill out the form online do we include the referee’s details there or are they contacted separately? I have seen the pdf form that referees have to sign which is available at the end of the application- does this need to be filled out with the same date as when we completed the online application or is it ok if it has a later date?

I have a feeling you give the referee details in the online form, and then the referee fills out and signs the PDF form. I'm not sure about the date on it - I think someone else asked this recently, but I can't remember the answer off the top of my head.

3. The passport sized photos have to be named and dated on the back. Is this something we do or each referee?

Not sure, but I think the photo is attached first and then the referee fills out the form, confirming the likeness of the applicant.

4. My husband shows his knowledge of English language through his university degrees which were taught in English, we have the certificates from Ecctis (old name Naric) showing his English level at B1. Can we use these for naturalisation too?

I assume so.

See here to check though:
https://www.gov.uk/english-language

Apologies @ksand24  I didn’t receive a notification of your reply and just happened to check the site now.

Really appreciate your responses. I assumed the professional reference had to be British so the fact that they don’t gives us some more options.

Thanks again. I have heard that this application is not as complicated or stressful as visa applications but it still is quite nerve wracking to make sure everything is right.

There's a reference doc here: https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=100371.0

2. When we fill out the form online do we include the referee’s details there or are they contacted separately? I have seen the pdf form that referees have to sign which is available at the end of the application- does this need to be filled out with the same date as when we completed the online application or is it ok if it has a later date?

Stick the picture on, have the referee fill out the form and sign it.  Date doesnt need to be the same as the applicaiton.   Mine were not contacted, neither were our friends. I suspect this is only a failsafe if the application is flagged.

3. The passport sized photos have to be named and dated on the back. Is this something we do or each referee?

You do it. It makes no sense that the photos are named and dated on the back, we suspect it's a hangover protocol from the old days and left in just in case multiple forms are somewhere and photos become detached.

Good luck!

Thanks so much @mbmoffat that makes sense and also thanks for putting together the reference documents for both ILR and Naturalisation, that has really helped me and I am sure a lot of others.

Hi everyone... We are currently filling out the naturalisation form online and need some clarification on a couple of questions:

1. Declaring any motoring offences
Do I need to include the 2 PCNs that my husband received- one for parking and one for driving in bus lane? I've read conflicting things online- Also I can't remember if they asked this question on the ILR form and whether I mentioned these there or not.

2. Dependants applying
The question was 'Are there any dependants you have who are not applying with you at this time?' Our 2 kids are British so do I answer yes or no?

Thanks very much in advance.

Hi everyone... We are currently filling out the naturalisation form online and need some clarification on a couple of questions:

1. Declaring any motoring offences
Do I need to include the 2 PCNs that my husband received- one for parking and one for driving in bus lane? I've read conflicting things online- Also I can't remember if they asked this question on the ILR form and whether I mentioned these there or not.

The rules are different for the citizenship application than for the previous visa applications, far more emphasis is placed on being of good character. You should declare all offences, they even require parking tickets to be declared.

2. Dependants applying
The question was 'Are there any dependants you have who are not applying with you at this time?' Our 2 kids are British so do I answer yes or no?

I had the same question--two kids who have British/US dual citizenship. I said 'yes'.

I've not submitted mine yet--still a bit confused about whether I need to send the physical documents anywhere at any point, or these are just uploaded and/or scanned at the biometrics appointment. I need to travel outside the UK in June but I guess with current timelines should be OK? Good luck with your application!

2. Dependants applying
The question was 'Are there any dependants you have who are not applying with you at this time?' Our 2 kids are British so do I answer yes or no?

I had the same question--two kids who have British/US dual citizenship. I said 'yes'.

The answer to this question should be NO.

The question is asking if you have any non-UK citizen dependants who are not applying for citizenship at the same time as you, but may apply in the future (or perhaps they have applied in the past).

Your children are already British citizens and so will never need to apply for citizenship, so you answer NO.

I've not submitted mine yet--still a bit confused about whether I need to send the physical documents anywhere at any point, or these are just uploaded and/or scanned at the biometrics appointment. I need to travel outside the UK in June but I guess with current timelines should be OK? Good luck with your application!

No, you don't send anything anywhere. All documents are scanned and uploaded.

You CAN travel outside the UK while your naturalisation application is processing, because it is not a visa application, and you will still have a valid ILR BRP card.

The answer to this question should be NO.

The question is asking if you have any non-UK citizen dependants who are not applying for citizenship at the same time as you, but may apply in the future (or perhaps they have applied in the past).

Your children are already British citizens and so will never need to apply for citizenship, so you answer NO.

Thanks for this advice! I found a couple of old threads on here suggesting the answer should be 'Yes' though? https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=95904.msg1271848#msg1271848

Thanks for this advice! I found a couple of old threads on here suggesting the answer should be 'Yes' though? https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=95904.msg1271848#msg1271848

It may not matter either way, but given the phrasing of the question, 'not applying with you at this time', that implies to me that it is referring to dependants who are not British and came to the UK on a visa.

According to these links, the answer should be NO:
https://www.forum.ukcen.com/forum/uk-nationality-questions/an-applications/46693-do-you-have-any-dependants-not-applying-with-you-at-this-time-question-in-online-application
https://www.immigrationboards.com/british-citizenship/do-you-have-any-dependants-not-applying-with-you-at-this-time-t298037.html

And from the first link, a guide for how to fill out this section, where it says that if the child is British, the answer should be NO:
https://www.forum.ukcen.com/resources/uk-citizenship/naturalisation/the-an-form/1004-family-applications-and-dependants

Brilliant, thanks for clarifying. It's not a very easy question to interpret. 

@larrabee @ksand24 @montana

Thanks so much for all your input and advice. I will edit answers accordingly. Sometimes I wish there was some extra guidance on the application form for these kinds of tricky questions but I guess that might lead to all sorts of other terminological minefields!

@montana Thank you and best of luck with your application too!

So I’ve just logged back into the application to add on the parking tickets and after selecting the right option it says I need to declare any penalties if 3 or more have been received? My husband received 2 so I think I don’t need to declare them?