Becoming a citizen

Garry's the expert here. But essentially, you're right. It's just the matter of money. On the other hand, these things do exist in a political environment, and just after Blunkett has resigned for something similar, this might not have been the most ideal time to be asking for discretionary advances

Does applying for UK citizenship give you Dual Citizenship automatically, or are you required to renounce your US citizenship?  And does it work the same the other way around?

Does applying for UK citizenship give you Dual Citizenship automatically...

Yes.  No need to renounce US citizenship.

Thanks for all the info....i need to read through the Home office site to find out when i am eligible..best of luck to those of you applying for citizenship...let me know how it goes...and how the test is...

Lisa

If you are a spouse of a UK national, your 3 years start on the day you set foot on British soil.  I think if you are on a fiancee visa, the 3 years doesn't start until you actually get married (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I'll be applying in June, can't wait to have dual citizenship.

I find it laughable on the link that Lightbulb sent where they say most cases have a turnaround time of 3 months.  It's more like 8-9 months isn't it??

Matt

If you are a spouse of a UK national, your 3 years start on the day you set foot on British soil. I think if you are on a fiancee visa, the 3 years doesn't start until you actually get married (please correct me if I'm wrong).

If you enter on a Fiancee Visa, then the time starts from the day you enter the UK on the Visa - not when you get married.  A Fiancee Visa is a settlement visa, i.e. you are entering with the intent to settle in the UK.

I've checked the ind site and it costs £214 if you are married to an english citizen....

I find it laughable on the link that Lightbulb sent where they say most cases have a turnaround time of 3 months.  It's more like 8-9 months isn't it??

There's really no rhyme or reason to it, since they've now got a policy of trying to remove the backlog by working at both ends. This means that some people's forms get dealt with immediately. Marlespro got hers in 15 days. I had the assumption that I'd get mine either around 3 months or 8 months. To my surprise it came in at 5 months. Who knows what's going on up in Liverpool? On another IND page they say that it takes 8.07 months. What's the .07 about (it comes to 2.1 days on a 30 day month)?

Marlespo applied for citizenship and she got her 15 DAYS later?  I can't believe it.  Surely a gov't organization is incapable of doing anything in 15 days time.
As I'll be applying at the beginning of June I suppose I could get mine towards the end of 2005 or beginning of 2006.  It'd be nice to have it around my birthday in Nov.

Matt

That's what she says, and I'm not a gonna disagree with her! I filed on 5 July and received the letter of acceptance on 12 November. But the earliest citizenship ceremony that Coventry scheduled me for was 22 Dec. and until you actually do the ceremony, it's a provisional offer. On the other hand, for 100 pounds I could pay them to do the service for myself, assumably quicker than that. But I kind of like the idea of a group ceremony, since I went to one in the states for a friend and have a positive memory of the day (and trust me, positive memories of life in New Haven are rare).

Mine came in a couple of weeks. But all the warnings came in that it would take much longer. I think I applied in October 2003...and by November 2003 I had my British passport. (I think the passport only took a week.)

I just missed the group ceremony...I would have loved taking part in that!

I've not really looked into this very much, but do you really have to renounce your US citizenship in order to get a UK passport?

Some time back I phoned the US Embassy and told them I was thinking about getting a UK pasport someday. All they told me was that when I travelled into the US to please use my US passport. other than that they were Kool and the Gang. Now that would suggest that one doesn't have to renounce their US citizenship. I'd love to get a British Passport but not if I have to give up my US passport.

No giving up the US passport. I carry both mine (British and US) with me when I travel. There are some countries that do have you claim one country or another, but neither US nor UK make you do that. If you applied for British citizenship, you are asked to take an oath to the Queen...but they don't say anything about you waving bye-bye to Bush.

When you enter one country with one passport, you are protected by that "citizenship claim". This is why, when you enter the US on your American passport, you are protected by the laws of the US, and given the benefits of a US citizen. If you use your British passport to enter, you are treated as a British citizen in the US. If you got into trouble, for instance, you would have to sort yourself out through the British Embassy. Same goes for the flipside. This is why you want to enter the US with an American passport, and enter the UK with a British passport (if you are dual).

BTW, don't get freaked out when your application asks you to send in your American passport. This is just part of the process; they do not confiscate it and you do get it back.

I can't for the life of me see anything but benefit having come from becoming a British citizen. I mean, I still had to pay taxes regardless. But now I can vote. I can buy property in the European Union. I can wave my British passport through the FastTracks.

Incidentally, you don't have to inform the US that you are dual. It's not really a change of status, it's just a bonus.

(I'm slightly confused, so I hope I answered your questions in a way that apply to you. Do you now have your British citizenship and now want a British passport, or do you still have to get your citizenship, and then will probably get your passport? After you get your citizenship, getting the passport couldn't be easier...the forms are at the Post Office; just send in what they ask for and it comes back to you all done within a week.)

Now go out and get your British passport, you knucklehead.

...but they don't say anything about you waving bye-bye to Bush.

Well in that case I'm not so sure  Thanks for the info.

I can't for the life of me see anything but benefit having come from becoming a British citizen. I mean, I still had to pay taxes regardless. But now I can vote. I can buy property in the European Union. I can wave my British passport through the FastTracks.

Incidentally, you don't have to inform the US that you are dual. It's not really a change of status, it's just a bonus.

Here are 4 reasons to get UK citizenship.

1. Voting rights (and we learned in school that it's important to be a citizen, rather than a denizen);

2. Right to compete as an equal for employment in the entire EU (the ILR only gives this right for the UK);

3. Permanency. The ILR is not forever. If we leave the UK for more than 2 years, we lose it, just as would someone with a Green Card;

4. The idea of equality. I just got citizenship and I'm kind of working it out mentally what it means to be able to say that I'm British. It's just the idea of incorporation that an ILR doesn't give.

Everything LisaE said is true, but the thing about not telling the US. When you apply for a new US passport (as I have to in 3 months), the form specifically asks if you've become naturalized elsewhere in the interim and if so to give a separate letter indicating that you did/did not intend to renounce US citizenship.