Advice for becoming a British Citizen

Neo187

Hi all,

I am British Citizen since birth and have recently got my married. My wife is Latvian by birth but has lived here for almost 10 years, 5 of which have been with me. We have a 2 year old daughter who has a British passport. I stupidly presumed that when we got married, she could easily apply for aBritish passport considering her husband and daughter are British!

However, it doesn’t appear as straight forward as this, and she is still required to take the Life in UK test as well as fill out a 100 forms. Is there no easy way around this? Just quickly looking at the Life in UK test, the questions seem absurd! I have a degree in history and even found some challenging! Don’t think many British citizens would be able to answer some questions!

Anyone have any advice on this? Can this test be retaken if she was to fail? Anyone else been in a similar situation?

Thanks all.

HappyMJ

Not easy is it....and not cheap either.

Yes it can be retaken as many times as required until she passes. Yes the questions are absurd. Just study the book and try and answer the questions to the best of her ability she'll get it eventually.

balletshoes

If your wife wants British citizenship, she needs to pass the Life in the Uk test.

I agree, the questions are stupid and fairly pointless. However, thems the rules, so get her the book to study, and when she's ready, she can take the test.

BigAunty

Latvia is in the EU so she should have no issues with employment, housing, benefits, education and so forth in the UK, complete freedom to travel in the EU.

What is the point or purpose or benefits of losing her Latvian nationality and gaining UK citizenship? I'm curious.

My friends here include those of French, Belgium, Greek, Swiss, Spanish, German, Irish and Italian nationality and not one of them has expressed any inclination to get British citizenship. At most the Greek guys came to the UK to try and hide from national service in the 90s.

duchy

I was wondering why she wants to renounce her Latvian citizenship too
Seems like a lot of faffing about for very little benefit.
There may even be advantages to your son later on in having a choice of citizenship.

Neo187

Well I was hoping she would be able to have dual British - Latvian passport. I guess I want her to get a British passport in case some ridiculous issues came about with EU requlations in future like if we pull out at some stage or something stupid like that!

TheEffect

BigAunty wrote: »

What is the point or purpose or benefits of losing her Latvian nationality and gaining UK citizenship? I'm curious.

duchy wrote: »

I was wondering why she wants to renounce her Latvian citizenship too
Seems like a lot of faffing about for very little benefit.
There may even be advantages to your son later on in having a choice of citizenship.

I could be wrong, but I believe Latvia changed their laws in 2013, meaning citizens of their country can now hold dual citizenship, as long as the other country is within the EU/NATO etc.

Chatalouge

Excuse me if i'm mistaken but dont you have to have permanent residency granted before you can apply to become a british citizen with a british passport? Regardless of being in the EU or not, i believe you still need to have permanent residency granted first. You have not mentioned this.

schwam66

yupp she can retake as many times as she needs, you can buy a book that has all the answers in it, she just obviously needs to read and study it and it will be fine....i have been through the same thing i am american married to an english woman and had to take the test, i am more british than the british now! no joke like you already no even someone that has lived her for 70 years wouldnt know half the crap in that test......all the best and goodluck

InsideInsurance

Chatalouge wrote: »

Excuse me if i'm mistaken but dont you have to have permanent residency granted before you can apply to become a british citizen with a british passport? Regardless of being in the EU or not, i believe you still need to have permanent residency granted first. You have not mentioned this.

Unless its changed recently then no on all counts.

PR only applies to EU citizens/ non-eu family members of a EU citizen. If you have no EU connections then generally you apply for ILR instead. BC requires you to have no immigration restrictions hence having to have one of these.

Of cause under the EEA route you are not actually applying for Permanent Residency, its automatic, what you are applying for is recognition that you have obtained it. Makes it a lot easier to have a stamp in the passport saying you have it than having to carry around the evidence of work, insurance etc each time you want to cross borders etc.

By being married to a BC you are effectively fast tracked to BC status as you can apply as soon as you've (automatically) obtained PR where as if you were not married to a BC you'd have to wait one year after becoming free from immigration restrictions. https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen/if-your-spouse-is-a-british-citizen

My wife had already obtained PR before we got married and had actually gone through the loops of getting the PR stamp because she had a non-EU passport so borders were a pain. Know a few friends who skipped PR and went straight to BC but when going for BC you send the same evidence as you would have for PR - the form has a special section for EEA nationals applying.

The Life in the UK test is a bit of an odd one given how poorly most natural born BCs would do on it. The wife actually enjoyed learning about the history in particular and passed first time without any problems.

London50

Personally I cannot see the point, I have lived in the UK for more years than I care to count but was not born here {or in Europe} and have never wanted or needed British Citizenship. I worked all my adult life in the UK, paid my taxes and never claimed benefits for the whole of my working life. The only slight problem I have is getting my passport renewed each time as it has to be done through the embassy in the UK so there are a few forms to fill.
I have read some of those questions and think most of the people born and bred here would have no idea of the answers so what chance has someone from outside have, still it gives the Government a few extra pounds to play with:0)