When will I be a resident of the UK?

I'm on my spousal 2 and a half year visa, and living here ( in his home, under his name, etc ) with my British husband in the UK, and I was wondering when in fact I am a resident. Is it when I renew my current spousal visa ( Sept 2016 ) than re appy for my citizenship or? Please help. Thankyou!

You’ve been a UK resident since the day you arrived in the UK.

However, you won’t be able to apply for permanent residency until you have been in the UK for 5 years and have applied for and received ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain a.k.a permanent residency).

So your visa timeline is:

-   Move to the UK on the spousal visa
-   Live in the UK as a resident for 2.5 years (spousal visa)
-   Extend your visa for another 2.5 years (FLR(M) visa)
-   No earlier than 28 days before you reach 5 years in the UK, apply for ILR
-   Receive ILR, which is permanent residence
-   After you have ILR and have spent 5 years in the UK, you can apply for citizenship.

I don't understand why we have to apply for ILR at 28 days before 5 years when we can naturalize at 5 years.  It's just siphoning more money out of us. 

Because one of the requirements for citizenship is ILR.

Because one of the requirements for citizenship is ILR.

Yeah I get it technically.  But it seems ILR and citizenship can come so close together, but I realize they've figured it's best to try to get as much money out of us as possible.   The amount of money dropped in one year for ILR and citizenship is crazy!  Just saying that perhaps it's a way to discourage citizenship. 
 

It's a change with the rules.  Actually as the spouse of a UK citizen, you qualify after only 3 years.  But a requirement of Citizenship is to hold ILR.  As you won't have ILR for 5 years, you can apply for citizenship immediately.

And yes, it's a fabulous revenue source for the country.

It's a change with the rules.  Actually as the spouse of a UK citizen, you qualify after only 3 years.  But a requirement of Citizenship is to hold ILR.  As you won't have ILR for 5 years, you can apply for citizenship immediately.

And yes, it's a fabulous revenue source for the country.

To say as a spouse we qualify after 3 years is just false though since we can't get ILR until 5 years. Now if they offered the option of choosing FLR or ILR at the same time that would be reasonable.  Grrr.... it rigamarole!  It wasn't quite as bad for my husband when he received US citizenship.  He had to renew his green card after 2 years and then could apply for citizenship at 3 years.  At the time I thought, why not just give the option to renew the green card or apply for citizenship at 3 years, but no, they wanted more money as well.  But the UK is worse, and much more expensive about it.  Ahh well, what can you do?  Nothing.

It seems like a bit of an oversight from when the rules were overhauled in 2012.  it makes no difference whether spouses qualify for citizenship after 3 years or 5 since ILR is now at 5 years. Just seems like they didn't bother to change it. You used to get ILR after 2 years, so there was a one year gap between it and citizenship.

It seems like a bit of an oversight from when the rules were overhauled in 2012.  it makes no difference whether spouses qualify for citizenship after 3 years or 5 since ILR is now at 5 years. Just seems like they didn't bother to change it. You used to get ILR after 2 years, so there was a one year gap between it and citizenship.

Exactly

Yeah I get it technically.  But it seems ILR and citizenship can come so close together, but I realize they've figured it's best to try to get as much money out of us as possible.   The amount of money dropped in one year for ILR and citizenship is crazy!  Just saying that perhaps it's a way to discourage citizenship. 
 

There are rumours that they are going to be tightening who can apply for citizenship.  I just hope it doesn't affect me until I have it.  I'll already have been here 8 years before I qualify!

It seems like a bit of an oversight from when the rules were overhauled in 2012.  it makes no difference whether spouses qualify for citizenship after 3 years or 5 since ILR is now at 5 years.....

Yes!

It's because the people who make immigration rules and the pole who make citizenship rules are different people. The immigration rules changed but the citizenship rules didn't. Not an oversight, and since they are still considered separate procedures in the UK, it's unlikely the citizenship rules will change.