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Age

You should be 18 years old or above (see page on registration for children under 18 seeking to become British)

Registration: Information on eligibility and how to apply for registration of children under 18 as British nationals

Presence in the UK

You must have been present in the UK exactly 3 or 5 years (depending on whether you are married to a British citizen or not) before you lodge your application. Example: you are not married to a British citizen and you submit your application on 1^st June 2024; this means you need to prove you were inside the UK on 1^st June 2019. (There are potentially exemptions for this requirement if there are exceptional circumstances).

Residence in the UK

You must show you have been continuously, lawfully resident in the UK for 5 years immediately before lodging your application (NB this can be 3 years in the case of someone who has ILR through being married to a British spouse – please seek further advice if you’re not sure if this applies to you).

This means you have held continuous valid visas throughout the 5 years, and have not broken any immigration laws during that time.

Absences from the UK

You should not have:

• spent more than 450 days outside the UK during the 5 years before your application (or no more than 270 days outside in the last 3 years, if you're married to a UK citizen)
• spent more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months

Indefinite Leave to Remain

By the time you apply, you should have held Indefinite Leave to remain (ILR) for at least 12 months (this includes Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme). 

Please note the 12-month requirement does not apply if you are married to, or in a civil partnership with a British national.

Good character

Those seeking to become British must prove they are of ‘good character’. In assessing this requirement, the Home Office will look at things like criminality, breaches of immigration law, debt (such as NHS debt or Council Tax arrears) and other matters. Further guidance on how they assess this can be found here:

It’s very important that anything likely to fall under one of these types of behaviour is disclosed on the application form (if not, the application could be refused simply on the basis of not giving a full disclosure).

If you are not sure if you meet the good character requirement, please contact the Staff Immigration Service who can advise further.

You will need to provide the details of two people who have known you for at least 3 years, and can verify that your photo is a genuine likeness. 

By signing the declaration, the referee will effectively be telling the Home Office they know of no reason why you should not be registered as British.

First referee: can be of any nationality and should be a professional, e.g. a social worker, teacher, doctor, minister of religion.

Second referee: must normally be the holder of a British citizen passport and either a professional person or over the age of 25

Referees must:

• Not be a relative
• Not be a solicitor or agent representing you on this application
• Not be related to the other referee;Not be employed by the Home Office
• Not have been convicted of an imprisonable offence during the last 10 years (unless that conviction can be disregarded in line with the table shown in the Guide)
• Have known you for at least 3 years
• Be willing to give full details of their knowledge of the applicant
• Advise the Home Office of any reason why the applicant should not be registered.

Please see our information page on the Life in the UK test and English language requirements for citizenship:

Life in the UK and English language

You can apply online or else using a paper form. Using the online process is recommended as it tends to be quicker and it also means you don’t have to lodge original documents with the Home Office.

According to current Home Office service standards, most applications will take around 6 months to get a decision – though more complex cases can take longer.

For current application fees for form AN (naturalisation as a British), please check current UK visa fees on the Gov.uk website.  Bear in mind that you must have been physically present in the UK for exactly 5 years up to the application date.

Generally, you will need to provide the following documents in support of the application – all of these can be scanned and uploaded if you are using the online form:

• Evidence of ID ,e.g. your current passport and/or BRP
• Any passports/travel documents that you hold
• Evidence of IL,R e.g. your BRP or decision granting ILR/Settled Status from UKVI
• Evidence you have lived continuously in the UK for the past 5 years – passports held for that period; failing which official correspondence such as Council Tax bills, utility bills, bank statements, etc

Some countries do not allow their nationals to acquire a second nationality e.g. China;  some will only allow a second nationality to be acquired before a certain age. If you have any doubts on this, it’s important that you check the position with the authorities who issued your current passport before applying to become British.

Normally the Staff Immigration Service cannot advise on questions of nationality law relating to other countries; we would encourage staff members to contact the relevant Embassy/Consulate for information on this. We would be happy to sign post staff members where possible.