In order to qualify to naturalise as a British citizen you will need to meet the following key requirements.

• You must be aged 18 or over.
• You must be of sound mind.
• You must intend to continue living in the UK, or to continue in Crown service, the service of an international organisation of which the UK is a member, or the service of a company or association established in the UK.
• You must be able to communicate in English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic to an acceptable degree.
• You must have sufficient knowledge of life in the UK.
• You must be of good character.
• You must meet the residential requirements (see below).

Residential requirements
To demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation, you must have:

• been resident in the UK for at least five years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
• been present in the UK five years before the date of your application; and
• not spent more than 450 days outside the UK during the five-year period; and
• not spent more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months of the five-year period; and
• not been in breach of the Immigration Rules at any stage during the five-year period.

Immigration time restrictions
You must be free from immigration time restrictions when you apply for naturalisation. Unless you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen, you should have been free from immigration time restrictions during the last 12 months of the residential qualifying period.
European Economic Area nationals and Swiss nationals
If you are a national of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, or you are the family member of such a person, you will automatically have permanent residence status if you have exercised EEA free-movement rights in the UK for a continuous five-year period ending on or after 30 April 2006. You do not need to apply for leave to remain. You should have held permanent residence status for 12 months before you apply for naturalisation.
Breach of immigration laws during residential qualifying period
You must have been in the UK legally throughout the residential qualifying period. We may refuse your naturalisation application if you have breached the immigration laws during that period.

The following are requirements you need to meet for us to naturalise you as a British citizen., if you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen.
You should read the information on this page before you make an application for naturalisation. You will need to pay a fee when you make your application. If you make an application for naturalisation and it is unsuccessful because you are not eligible for naturalisation, your fee will not be refunded.
There are seven requirements you need to meet before you apply:

• you are aged 18 or over; and
• you are of sound mind; and
• you can communicate in English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic to an acceptable degree; and
• you have sufficient knowledge of life in the United Kingdom; and
• you are of good character; and
• you are the husband, wife or civil partner of a British citizen; and
• you meet the residential requirements; or
• your husband, wife or civil partner is in Crown or designated service outside the United Kingdom.

Residential requirements

In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:

• have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
• have been present in the United Kingdom three years before the date of your application; and
• have not spent more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom during the three-year period; and
• have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the three-year period; and
• have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the three-year period.

Immigration time restrictions

You must be free from immigration time restrictions on the day you make your application.