extend ilr or go for citizship

hi guys need some advice please,im uk citizen and wife a american we got married in febuary 2010 in the states she came over on a spousal visa for two yearsfrom May 2nd 2010,do we go for citizenship now and if so what do the two referees have to put in their statements about knowing her?? or do we renew ILR.....need help more on the Citiizenship than anything. cheers and beers and thanks for replies

,do we go for citizenship now and if so what do the two referees have to put in their statements about knowing her?? or do we renew ILR.....need help more on the Citiizenship than anything. cheers and beers and thanks for replies

Her ILR does not expire, unless she has resided outside England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands for 2 years.

If British citizenship is what she wants, she could have applied as soon as she had ILR. Have a read of the requirements-
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-an-guidance

ILR is permanent as long as you remain living in the UK, so you don't need to 'renew' the ILR, but if you don't apply for citizenship, you will need to get a new BRP card with updated photo/personal details every 10 years... same as you do with a photo driving licence.

Having said that, if you can afford to apply for UK citizenship, I would definitely recommend it, as it means you don't have to worry about ILR anymore, you will have the right to vote in the UK, and you will always have the right to live in the UK, even if you move abroad for a number of years.

The referees just need to fill out a form as part of the citizenship application.

I believe it asks for:
- how the referee knows the applicant (i.e. a short sentence stating how they know them) and their age and profession
- referee's name, date of birth and sex
- referee's address, phone number and email address
- referee's UK passport number
- referee's signature

You can see the paper version of the citizenship application here, which has the referee form on page 20-21:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/become-a-british-citizen-by-naturalisation-form-an

If British citizenship is what she wants, she could have applied as soon as she had ILR. Have a read of the requirements-
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-an-guidance

Yeah, she was eligible to apply for citizenship after 3 years in the UK (so about 1 year after she was granted ILR)... which would have been in May 2013.

Unfortunately, it's a lot more expensive to apply for citizenship now than it was back in 2013... the current citizenship fee is £1,330, but it was only £874 in 2013.

Another vote for go for citizenship.  The consensus is that the citizenship application is fairly easy.

These are the bullet points:

• im uk citizen
• wife a american
• we got married in febuary 2010 in the states
• she came over on a spousal visa for two years from May 2nd 2010

These are your questions:

• do we go for citizenship now?  if so what do the two referees have to put in their statements about knowing her??
• or do we renew ILR?

What happened at the end of the spouse visa?  Did she get IRL then?  Have you stayed continuously in the UK since then?

The referees will fill out a basic form with their personal details, stating how long they have known your wife and in what capacity (e.g., "I am her GP", or "we used to work together").  Then there's a bunch of pre-written statements that they'll affirm when they sign the document (things like, "I am not related to the applicant," and "I have known the applicant for at least three years").