British Citizenship

[Leo]

congratulations can I ask how many years it has taken you to get this far?

[IainBusby]

congratulations can I ask how many years it has taken you to get this far?

I met my wife in person for the first time in October 2005, got married in June 2006 and she arrived here at the end of September 2006. September 2008 we applied for and granted ILR and then one more year to qualify for British citizenship. Sent off the applications for citizenship at the end of October this year and that came through a few weeks later. So all in all, from arriving here through to citizenship was about 3 years and 3 months.

[sars_notd_virus]

I met my wife in person for the first time in October 2005, got married in June 2006 and she arrived here at the end of September 2006. September 2008 we applied for and granted ILR and then one more year to qualify for British citizenship. Sent off the applications for citizenship at the end of October this year and that came through a few weeks later. So all in all, from arriving here through to citizenship was about 3 years and 3 months.

Congratulations!!!! Can i ask if Louella bring Mary Grace straight away when she applied for settlement visa? as i have an 8 year old daughter and need to know if i can bring her with me to the uk when i applied for settlement ..tyvm!!

[IainBusby]

Congratulations!!!! Can i ask if Louella bring Mary Grace straight away when she applied for settlement visa? as i have an 8 year old daughter and need to know if i can bring her with me to the uk when i applied for settlement ..tyvm!!

Mary Grace was 8 years old when Louella got her visa and came here but we left her in the Philippines for almost a year until Louella had settled in and got used to things over here. Also at the time we didn't want to complicate things with regard to Louella's visa so, although it meant, making, paying for and going through another visa application process, we decided to wait a while and bring her here later.

With regard to bringing your daughter to the UK, I would recommend that you apply for her visa at the same time as your own if possible because, although it may take longer to process the visa application, it's much easier than trying to make a separate visa application from here in the UK to the British Embassy in the Philippines.

I don't know the situation with regard to your daughters biological father and this is usually the area which can be problematic when it come to getting a visa for a minor. Is your daughters biological father named on her birth certificate? Does he have contact with her? Does he support her in any way? You have to be able to show that you have sole responsibility for the child or that the biological father, if he is in the picture, has no objection to you taking her to live overseas.

Iain.