An update on my quest to secure UK citizenship via the new path of having a grandmother born in the UK:
my application, which consisted of about 20 pages of question/answers (mostly very brief yes/no), some personal information, and two references, was submitted via my solicitor on 7 January
my biometrics were taken on 28 January; my solicitor had cautioned me that it might be weeks or even months before I was asked for them, so this went faster than I expected
my citizenship application was APPROVED on 26 February by the Home Office; my solicitor said he has never seen one approved so fast, and is probably due to the HO adding staff; I was expecting to hear something perhaps May/June
the final step to citizenship is waiting for an invitation from the nearest consulate to invite me to The Ceremony, whereby I take the oath and become a citizen that day; again, my solicitor says it could be weeks or months before I receive this invitation
Just to be clear, this is a special circumstance/path to UK citizenship. To illustrate: for my wife to become a UK citizen (or even get ILR status - Indefinite Leave to Remain), it would take a minimum of 5 years, even with me as a UK citizen. So this, in my own words, seems more like a registration of my right to citizenship, perhaps similar to a person born outside the UK to a UK parent. Most other paths to UK citizenship for “outsiders” is the 5+ years and thousands of GBP of expense. I feel very fortunate.
Thanks, Grandma!
Coincidentally, this article appeared in the last week on Bloomberg (should be a gift link)
Under this particular path, yes, specifically grandmothers. The new law was designed to rectify past discrimination against women, who had been prevented from passing on their UK citizenship to their children while the fathers could.
That’s not to say there isn’t a path for you, just not under this sub paragraph.
Interesting. My mother was born in the UK, as well as my grandmother. I assume that would theoretically make my path to UK citizenship as smooth as yours, if not more so.
That probably would knock you out under this particular sub paragraph, if your mum was able to pass on her citizenship to you but chose not to. Under this section there are some date range gates
But that might open other paths to you that I don’t have, and it is worth investigating if you are interested.
Note to those with Canadian ancestors: inspired by my journey, a former coworker found that Canada is much more lenient; he found via a Canada law office that he qualifies with a great-grandparent, and fortunately his wife also qualifies (independently) with a grandparent. Further, my former coworker was told that once he attains citizenship he can pass it to his children, should they wish. I have no such option for my children with UK.
Hmm my great^N grandfather is from Trois Rivières — not sure he was born there, but perhaps his kids were. Though that is a lot of documentation to dig up.
Hmm. My paternal grandfather was born in England to native English parents, then emigrated with them to the USA as a child. Everybody else in my upline is US-born and raised. I have no idea what sort(s) of UK citizenship granddad ever had.
Chasing down the birth records sounds doable. The question is whether there’s any point in digging further.
The insane cost of health care / health insurance in the US alone has got me thinking of relocating somewhere else upon retirement. This YT video short comparing US to French health care is crazy. Summary for those who don’t wish to watch the video: it’s a healthcare example for if you happen to get bit by a bat-- it’s cheaper (according to this video) to fly round-trip to France, stay in a hotel for two weeks and get the rabies shots at full cost without French health insurance than it is to get rabies shots in the US with health insurance.
That video was particularly relevant to me since I was given advice to get the shots a few months ago after I posted about my own ‘bat in the house’ experience (spoiler alert: did not get the shots, did not come down with rabies…so far ).
My wife’s employer already flies folks out of the country on their own private jets for some medical treatments. They are self-insured (whatever that all entails) so it’s pretty telling that they can save money flying folks to Mexico rather than treat them in a much closer regional medical facility/hospital.
Just curious - once you had all of your paperwork squared away, how long did it take for you to get your CDN Citizenship Certificate?
My wife is a naturalized Canadian citizen (I’m a US citizen), born in HK but moved to Canada when she was less than 1 year old. Our son was born in 2008 here in the US. Getting his Canadian Citizenship should be a no-brainer. We filled out the application for citizenship certificate along with the required docs and mailed them in. Aside from proof that the application was delivered (registered mail) and a receipt for the fee paid online, we’ve heard zilch from IRCC. I read somewhere that the backlog is around 6 months, but it’s been an entire year now, and he hasn’t even been assigned an AOR.
These are complaints in most countries. We have friends who emigrated to Portugal and they seem happy. They both speak the language, which makes things easier. There is at least one or two English-speaking enclaves where immigrants tend to buy homes, so property inflation is likely mostly confined to those areas. These same friends are unable to become Portuguese citizens, but they ARE getting Italian citizenship because of very old laws concerning Italian ancestry by at least one of them.
We had friends in Portland who spent a year in France. They weren’t trying to gain citizenship, just wanted to live there for a year. Total bureaucratic nightmare, as they had to renew their visas every three months - in French - and wade through the endless bureaus trying to get appointments, etc. Even with an English-speaking French lawyer, it was a total PITA.
You should have heard something by now, although processing times are all over the place (anywhere from a few days to 2+ years). I would submit a web form inquiry with the proof of delivery and receipt for the fee payment and see what IRCC tells you.
When you have a president/almost dictator talking about sending the military to places like Greenland, Panama, and Cuba, there is no “someplace safer”. I’ll stay inside the conquering empire rather than outside.
In the short term that may be wise, but the Empire doesn’t look to be in the upward part of the empire cycle at this point, once it starts to really crumble it may be better to be in the outside.
Bad news for me: It seems the door is 99% closed for anyone born in/after 1949. So age 76+ now. Simplifying a bit … to be eligible, a younger person than that also needs their parents to have had strong ties to the UK or UK government service. Which my completely USAian parents totally lack.
Almost sounds like a bunch of this was designed to protect the kids born in WW-II or the immediate aftermath, when people of legit UK ancestry were displaced all over the world and lots of paperwork was simply destroyed or never existed in the first place. These kinds of programs would let them (re)gain the UK citizenship they deserved.
But the thought also seems to be that by 1949 enough normalcy had been restored that anyone who ought to be entitled ought already have gotten their UK status regularized. No soup for you!
).