UK citizenship

Hello all,

I have lived in the uk for nearly 15 years. I don't have citizenship but have ILR. Just wondering what the advantages are of gaining full citizenship? For example, would I be able to receive state benefits at some point -i.e. OAP benefits? Or would I require citizenship for this?

Thanks!

Hello,
The Biometric Residency Permits which my partner and I possesed had "No Access to State Funds" printed on them.

What exactly are "state funds".
Carer's benefit? Care Home support? Winter fuel help? Council tax relief? EV purchase subsidy?

We decided to avoid any issues down the line and obtained our UK Citizenship in September 2024.

Also, I no longer need to disclose to my landlord that I am not a UK citizen and he no longer needs to confirm my right to rent in the UK by checking me on the gov website.

Just make sure that your government allows dual citizenship before going too far.

Terry
USC/UKC
12 year resident before gatting UKC

Plus a couple of times at the village pub friends have bought me pints in celebration.
 

Hello,
The Biometric Residency Permits which my partner and I possesed had "No Access to State Funds" printed on them.

What exactly are "state funds".
Carer's benefit? Care Home support? Winter fuel help? Council tax relief? EV purchase subsidy?

We decided to avoid any issues down the line and obtained our UK Citizenship in September 2024.

Also, I no longer need to disclose to my landlord that I am not a UK citizen and he no longer needs to confirm my right to rent in the UK by checking me on the gov website.

Just make sure that your government allows dual citizenship before going too far.

Terry
USC/UKC
12 year resident before gatting UKC

Plus a couple of times at the village pub friends have bought me pints in celebration.

Congratulations on becoming a citizen.

As you say, provided your country allows dual citizenship then I can see no negatives in obtaining UK citizenship, only positives.

I have lived in the uk for nearly 15 years. I don't have citizenship but have ILR. Just wondering what the advantages are of gaining full citizenship? For example, would I be able to receive state benefits at some point -i.e. OAP benefits? Or would I require citizenship for this?

Thanks!

As you were told in your previous thread when you asked about claiming welfare benefits as your visas had a "No access to Public Funds", you could claim Public Funds when you were all granted ILR.
https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=77473.msg1053636#msg1053636
Except now the Child Tax Credits welfare benefit that you had wanted, has ended and been replaced with Universal Credit; which has different requirements for claimants e.g. both parents to work unless there is an exemption.

Some stay on ILR while residing in the UK, to avoid losing citizenship of their own country.

We don't know what benefits there will be for pensioners. This present Labour government has already removed Winter Fuel Payment from millions of pensioners who needed that money to be able to turn their heating on this winter.  I noticed my local council have said they will find the money to heat and open centres all day for pensioners and are hoping to send money to pensioners on Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction who have just lost the  Winter Fuel Payment. If you are now of pension age, have you looked to see what your council is doing to help pensioners keep warm this winter because of the removal of their Winter Fuel Payment?

The Biometric Residency Permits which my partner and I possesed had "No Access to State Funds" printed on them.

Your ILR BRP would not have had "No Recourse to Public Funds" on it; known as the NRPF condition; because those granted ILR can have Public Funds, if their ILR is valid.

What exactly are "state funds".
Carer's benefit? Care Home support? Winter fuel help? Council tax relief? EV purchase subsidy?

Yes. Yes. Yes (if you mean Winter Fuel Allowance). Yes for the welfare benefit Council Tax Reduction but no for the  25% single person council tax discount. No (unless it states who can have this).

"Public Funds" are most welfare benefits, social housing, homelessness assistance, social care.

Contribution based benefits are not Public Funds. e.g. New Style JSA, New Style ESA etc





 

Hello,
On further research into my saved scans of our old visas, I admit that I was wrong when I stated that our ILRs had "no recourse to public funds".
This restriction was stated on my Tier 2 Work visa (for us both), but does not appear on the old scans of our ILRs that I have been able to find.

So, thank you Jedi, for pointing out my error.
I rreferenced my memory (into which that restriction had been repeatedly burned during our first 8 years here) instead of referring to our (at that time) current ILRs.
(Although, during my searching, I see that my ILR issued in 2018 had Remarks of "Indefinite Leave to Remain" while my wife's replacement one issued in 2023 had Remarks of "No Time Limit". No practicable difference).

One item that we have avoided by becoming UK citizens is the crazy issue about the "expiration" of the physical ILRs (at the end of 2024).
While the Home Office has issued guidance that,  due to IT problems delaying the implementation of digital ILRs, the physical ILRs are still valid, I am glad we would not need to explain this administrative subtlety should it become an issue.
(And if you expect the Home Office to get this IT issue resolved anytime soon, you have a greater expectation of the abilities of the IT staff than I do (and I worked in Customer Support for some 20 years).

Instead, by becoming UKC, we are avoiding all these issues and questions.
I cannot repeat that statement enough.
We are not involved with these issues and questions.
And so sleep soundly when the Heathrow border control systems go down

Being able to prune several major branches of my memory's admin tasks is priceless (as Visa adverts say).
(Examples: When do our visa expire? What historical docs do we need to keep? Do we need separate bank accounts so that we can each prove our residency? etc.. These questions have straight-forward easy answers. My point is all the effort needed to maintain the answers in my memory.)

The only reason that I still have files for our original visas and their various renewals is simply my sheer lethargy. At some point, all that info will be deleted. And when that happens, many thousands of my neurons will become free to worry about more important issues, like how the accents differ between Reading and Bristol and other important questions.)

I suggest that if you read my response, you will detect a hint of what becoming a UkC will give to you (and yours).
So all I'll say is "go for it".
You will not look back.

I suppose that I need to add the disclaimer:

If you are not a USC, pleae confirm with your Embassy that dual citizenship is allowed.
My experience is with USA which allows dual citizenship.

"Your mileage may differ" particularly if your citizenship is other than USA.