Citizenship and UK Passport Timeline

Hi everyone,

I officially received my new UK passport last week, and am so excited to finally be done! I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone on here who has answered my questions and provided reassurance over the past 6 years. This forum has been an amazing resource.

In case it is helpful to anyone else currently applying/ waiting, here is my ILR and citizenship timeline. I know it can be tricky to plan the applications around travel plans - fortunately it was all relatively quick for me!

22 June 2023 - submitted ILR application
8 July 2023 - attended interview (super priority)
10 July 2023 - received email that my application for ILR had been successful
12 July 2023 - received new BRP
7 August 2023 - applied for UK citizenship
1 December 2023 - received email that my application for citizenship had been successful
15 January 2024 - attended citizenship ceremony (there was earlier availability, but I had to wait until after Christmas because I was travelling)
20 January 2024 - applied for UK passport
8 February 2024 - received UK passport and all supporting documents back

Best of luck to anyone else currently going through the process!

Congratulations!   

…that’s fabulous news well done you 

My wife is on the same journey and I wonder if you could answer a question for us please.

Lynn arrived in the UK on her first visa as my spouse in November 2019. Her biometrics card said ‘Leave to Enter’. Her second visa says ‘Leave to Remain’. In total, that will give her 5 continuous years living in the UK with me her husband a British Citizen. Nowhere does it say in any documents (email or hard copy) that she’s on the 5-year route to ILR.

So to my question: do you know if the first 2.5 year spouse visa count towards the 5-year period required before she can apply for ILR?

Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Bob

…that’s fabulous news well done you 

My wife is on the same journey and I wonder if you could answer a question for us please.

Lynn arrived in the UK on her first visa as my spouse in November 2019. Her biometrics card said ‘Leave to Enter’. Her second visa says ‘Leave to Remain’. In total, that will give her 5 continuous years living in the UK with me her husband a British Citizen. Nowhere does it say in any documents (email or hard copy) that she’s on the 5-year route to ILR.

So to my question: do you know if the first 2.5 year spouse visa count towards the 5-year period required before she can apply for ILR?

Yes, the spouse visa (to enter the UK and live with you) counts towards her 5 years to ILR. It's all part of the same route for ILR and therefore both visas count.e.g. time spent on a fiance visa, student visa, work visa etc would not count towards the 5 years if the applicant then switched to FLR(M).

Time you’ve spent in the UK if you’re on the 5 or 2 year route

You must have been living in the UK on your family visa as a partner for at least:

    5 continuous years if you’re on the 5 year route
    2 continuous years if you’re on the 2 year route

You cannot include time you’ve spent in the UK:

    on any other visa
    as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner

https://www.gov.uk/indefinite-leave-to-remain-family/partner-family-visa

…thank you for picking this up and getting back to me so quickly - Lynn and I really appreciate it.

Lynn is still concerned that nowhere on any of her Home Office correspondence does it refer to her being on the 5-year route to ILR which is worrying. We tried calling for advice today but the response was vague and it seems you cannot have your personal case checked for confirmation.

We’ve already crawled all over the website you kindly referred us to and it states the route Lynn is on will be included in her documentation from the Home Office but it isn’t.

I guess it would put our minds at rest to know there are people out there who have done it this way e.g. 30 month Spouse visa (leave to enter) followed by a 30 month family visa  (FLR M) followed by Indefinite Leave to Remain

Many thanks again for reaching out  - what would we do without this forum

A spouse visa/FLR(M) is issued under the 5-year route by default. Almost every person on this forum who has a spousal visa is on the 5-year route.

The only way you would not be on the 5-year route is if you couldn’t meet the financial requirement for the visa and you qualified for a visa granted outside the immigration rules based on Article 8: Right to Family Life in the UK… which is usually only granted if the applicant has a UK citizen child living in the UK whose life would be seriously disrupted if your family was separated.

In this case, you would be put on the 10-year path to ILR instead of your visa being outright refused.

You would definitely know if you were on the 10-year path, as you would have been told this explicitly by UKVI. You would also be exempt from meeting the financial requirements.

- The 2-year route is a legacy visa that was abolished in 2012 and replaced with the 5-year route.

- The 5-year route is the standard visa which the majority of people are issued

- The 10-year route is only issued in exceptional circumstances to people who cannot meet the financial requirement for the 5-year route, but have compelling reasons why they cannot live in their home country and/or their family can’t be split up (I.e. a British child living in the UK)


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Thanks all!

Regarding the 5-year route on a spousal visa - I had the same worry as I couldn't find any document that explicitly stated I was on the 5-year route. As others have said, after doing some digging that seemed to be the only possible route I could have been on. I was able to apply for IRL after 5 years in the country on a partner visa without any problem.

Thank you to everybody who responded to my original post.  You have put our minds at rest and Lynn can apply with full confidence for ILR