Applying for permanent residence in the UK

[Eirikur]

Mrs HS is Belgian and has lived in the UK for 30 years, holds a senior role in an international airline and has been married to me ( a true Brit) for 7 years.

When all this kicked in she was quite nervous of the future as no one was really declaring their position. As a result she applied for a Residency Card which involved completing an 82 page form and providing evidence of employment and residency. Once this was received, the uncertainty was still there and whilst my view of them never kicking out all EU citizens didn't reassure her, she decided to apply for a British passport.

The process for this is quite lengthy. She firstly took a British Citizenship exam and passed. Look it up, I guarantee 90 % of posters here would fail. The next stage was a personal grammar and conversation test where she had to specify 5 subjects and be prepared to have a conversation about them all which she passed. All this has cost around £200 to date. The next stage is to apply for a British passport. This CURRENTLY costs £1,500 and requires a ceremony where she needs to declare allegiance to the Queen. This stage of the process can take 12 months.

Not a moan (though I personally think the whole Brexit thing is a shambles) just relating her story for those in a similar position.

And that is not the end of the process, to get a first British passport she will take another 6 months after the citizenship ceremony. You need to give personal references, go to an interview where they ask things about your daily life such as how do you go to the supermarket and what is the colour of your front door, this is to find out if you really are who you say you are