Becoming a British Citizen
This post is to help anyone who has an ILR (PR) in the UK, and is yet to apply for a British citizenship.
I will share my timeline and documents/snapshots along the way to help you understand the process.
If you are yet to apply for an ILR, please check out my post on getting an ILR in the UK.
Before the ILR, I had also applied for a Global Talent Visa, and if you plan to do the same, read more here.
So, firstly, here is my timeline from ever arriving in the UK for the first time, to getting a British passport:
There are three phases in this whole process
- naturalisation
- return BRP (ILR)
- passport
Naturalisation is the chunkier part, and let me break that process down next:
Naturalisation
There are quite a few steps within the naturalisation process. To kick-off the process, you must satisfy the following:
- having lived on an ILR for at least 1 year
- having lived in the UK continuously* for 5 years
* there are absence allowances that you can find here.
I came to the UK in Sep 2018 and received my ILR in Sep 2021, and hence satsified both the above criteria by Oct 2023. That’s when I applied. The following are the high level steps to perform in order to apply for naturalisation:
- apply for naturalisation online
- get declarations from two eligible* referees
- upload documents on UKVCAS website and book biometrics appointment
- go to the biometrics appointment
- wait for 3 months** for approval of citizenship application
- book citizenship ceremony with local council (borough) after 1-2 weeks***
- go to your ceremony, get your naturalisation certificate
* read more on referee eligibility rules here
** duration varies but various online immigration boards will tell you the wait time is roughly between 2-4 months, potentially upto 6 months
*** that’s the time it takes (I was told) to transfer your approval documents from the Home Office to your local council
Let’s go through each of these steps in little more detail:
Online naturalisation application
Online application needs quite a few details, as you will see in my application summary document:
Download this pdf here
An important part of this application is to figure out 2 referees. You have to add their name, email, address, etc. in this application, and later get them to physically sign a declaration.
You can complete this application in parts, and save your progress as you go. You’ll get such an email when you save your progress:
Once you fill in all the required fields, you may finish the application by making a payment. I was lucky to apply before the recent hikes in immigration fees in the UK, and had to pay 1330£. Once you pay, you should receive a confirmation email:
Once you’ve completed the application with the payment, you shall see such a page on the UKVI application portal:
As you can see, the next important step is to get signed declarations from the 2 referees.
And, you have 2 months from finishing this application to book your UKVCAS (biometrics) appointment. Let’s sort referees first.
Declaration from 2 referees
Following is the document you need to get signed by 2 different referees:
Download this pdf here
I was lucky to have 2 British friends of Indian origin who are Directors of Limited Company - ticking all boxes to satisfy the referee eligibility criteria. Make sure to have 2 such people in your mind while/before applying for naturalisation, as this becomes a bottleneck for many.
Uploading documents via UKVCAS
After you complete your naturalisation application on the UKVI website, you’re redirected (with login credentials) to the UKVCAS website to upload documents and to schedule biometric appointment. In the UKVI application, you can find the following document checklist:
Download this pdf here
Most of the documents listed overlap with what you had to upload during your ILR application, with the exception of referee declarations. To upload, you need to login to the UKVCAS website. Once you do, you receive a welcome email:
Download this pdf here
Once you upload your documents inside the UKVCAS portal, you can book an appointment for biometrics by making a payment for an available slot (139£ in my case). Once you do so, you should receive an email like the following:
Download this pdf here
Next step is to physically go for the biometrics on the scheduled date.
Biometrics and UKVCAS confirmation
UKVCAS usually sends you an email instructing about the day of the appointment, what to bring, when to arrive, etc. Mine looked like this:
Download this pdf here
On the day, visit the alloted UKVCAS centre, provide your biometrics. In a few days that follow, you should receive such an email from UKVCAS:
Download this pdf here
Now is the fun time. To just wait, for months :D
I recommend to not be bothered for at least 3 months since this confirmation email.
Good news : citizenship approved!
Some day after 2-4 months, you should hopefully receive an email that looks like the following:
Download this pdf here
Next step is to contact your local council to schedule your citizenship ceremony. I lived in Greenwich at the point and hence called the Greenwich Council.
They initally asked me to call back in 1-2 weeks as they hadn’t yet received the papers from the Home Office. Once they did receive, I scheduled my ceremony.
Below is my email exchange with the council:
Download this pdf here
Note that you must attend a citizenship ceremony within 3 months of your application being approved.
There are two kinds of ceremonies:
- Public: free of cost, but availability is sparse, you might get a date 1or 2 months later, and this ceremony takes place for for good 2-4 hours, and it covers a batch of people.
- Private: costs 165£ in Greenwich and 100+ in most boroughs, dates available in a week’s time, ceremony is only for you (and 2 optional guests of yours), and the whole thing takes 5-10 minutes.
I chose a private ceremony as public ceremonies weren’t available until 2 months later, and would take half of a work day.
The citizenship ceremony
I was accompanied by an official in the Town Hall into a ceremony hall, where I took oaths, sang the anthem, and was handed over the naturalisation certificate.
Details of the process are listed here
Return BRP (ILR)
After receiving the naturalisation certificate, you must return your BRP (ILR) card within 5 working days. You need to cut your ILR into 4 pieces and send in an envelope with a paper note mentioning your name, date of birth, and ILR number. Details here.
Once you have received the naturalisation certificate and returned the ILR, you may apply for your British Passport.
Passport
Getting a passport can be broken down into the following steps:
- online application and payment
- getting someone to confirm your identity
- sending naturalisation certificate and passport by post
- receiving application approval and the passport
Online passport application
You can apply for a passport online.
Unlike the naturalisation application process, the passport application process is much more straightforward.
Once you complete the application and make a payment of 82.50£, you shall receive an email like the following:
Download this pdf here
As indicated in the email, you then need to ask someone to confirm your identity.
Getting someone to confirm your identity
This someone needs to be eligible and there is a similar eligibility criteria as for the referee during the naturalisation application.
Hence, I asked one of my referees for this, and they kindly agreed to help (again).
Once you have that someone, you need to login to your passport application and provide their email id.
They will then be reached to provide some of their personal details.
Once they’ve confirmed your identity, you should receive an email similar to the following:
Download this pdf here
As the email says, you need to send the required documents to the indicated address (by post) - current passport and naturalisation certificate in my case.
Sending documents by post
Once you’ve sent the documents by post, you should receive such an email in a few days:
Download this pdf here
At this point, you just need to wait to hear any further updates from HMPO.
Successful application, receiving passport
If everything goes well, you should get such an email from HMPO:
Download this pdf here
You’re all set to receive your passport in a few days! HMPO also sends an email reminding you to sign on your passport with pen:
Download this pdf here
In a few days following the receipt of your passport, you should also receive the documents you sent by post in a separate envelope (naturalisation certificate and current passport).
Closing
This was my journey as an Indian passport holder to get the British citizenship and passport. India don’t allow dual citizenship and hence I had to give up my Indian citizenship.
If your country allows dual citizenship, the process might slightly differ, mostly in the passport application part, and not so much during the naturalisation application.
I hope this was useful. Thanks for reading. Good luck with your application !!