Saturday 17 September 2011

Time to apply for naturalisation for British citizenship

So funny that as I typed in that title for the post my spell check wanted to change the s to a z. I really like using the z instead of the s, but I've lived in London long enough now to have to sucumb to the fact that I use the letter s and u where I wouldn't normally before. I think that fact alone should qualify me for citizenship :)


I am coming up on three years here in London on my ILR visa, which means I've lived here long enough to now apply for naturalisation and get a lovely passport with a unicorn and lion on it.


In preparation I've already printed out the AN form and guide book and it seems pretty straightforward. You need to have two references (people of a certain professional standing who have known you for 3 years), a record of every trip you've made out of the country, your proof of passing the Life in the UK test and a fee of £836. At least that's what I can remember off the top of my head. 




You have to prove that you've been with your partner and that you've spent a specified amount of days here in the UK. I am not worried about filling out the actual form, although I don't feel 100% about where I've put my Life in the UK certificate, I am sure it's somewhere.


I am going to have the application reviewed by the nationality checking service. A friend of mine had her application checked and she said it was definitely worth it. 


Needless to say that I am pretty excited and it feels like a long time coming. It will be interesting to see how long the actual process will take from me sending it off to receiving the passport. I am expecting it to take at least three months. We shall see. 


If anyone knows of any good blog posts of other people's experiences or your own, please post them in the comments and I'll add them into a new post.







 
Real Time Web Analytics