Applying for British citizenship

Route one: naturalisation after permanent residence

The most common route is naturalisation. It is open to you once you have lived in the UK for five years and have held indefinite leave to remain, or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, for at least twelve months. How to get there is explained on our pages on indefinite leave to remain and the EU Settlement Scheme.

On top of that: you are over 18, you were physically in the UK exactly five years before the Home Office receives your application, you prove your English, you have passed the Life in the UK Test, you intend to keep living in the UK and you are of good character. The day five years before your application is a trap of its own: if you were on holiday that day, the application can fail. GOV.UK works through an example in which someone has to wait four extra days for exactly this reason.

EU citizens with pre-settled status have a special route. If you have lived in the UK for five unbroken years and worked, studied or supported yourself during that time, you may be able to naturalise, but you will usually have to wait another year afterwards. GOV.UK names citizens of the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein for this; Switzerland is not on that list. Swiss citizens take the normal route through settled status. Many people now reach settled status without applying: since 9 April 2026 the Home Office converts pre-settled status automatically where tax and benefit records show 30 of the last 60 months in the UK. Children under 18, non-EEA family members, joining family members and anyone without those records still apply themselves, and their pre-settled status is extended by five years. Separately, since April 2026 pre-settled status can be removed from people who have clearly stopped living in the UK.

Route two: as the spouse of a British citizen

If you are married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen, three years of residence is enough. You still need indefinite leave to remain or settled status, but you do not have to wait twelve months: with ILR and three years you can apply straight away. The absence limit is 270 days over the three years and 90 days in the final year.

Marriage alone does not make you British. GOV.UK says so in plain terms: marrying a British citizen does not give you citizenship automatically. You have to apply as a spouse.

Route three: descent and registration for children

Many people reading this page are parents whose children have a British parent. The basic rule: British citizenship normally passes to children born abroad for one generation. A child born abroad on or after 1 July 2006 is automatically British if the mother or father was British at the birth and able to pass citizenship on. That can be a parent who was born or adopted in the UK, who naturalised, or who was abroad in Crown service.

If the British parent was born abroad themselves and is British only by descent, the chain stops: their children born abroad are not automatically British. For them there is registration, for example if the British parent lived in the UK for at least three years before the birth with no more than 270 days away, or if the child has lived in the UK with the parents for three years. Registration costs £1,000; anyone 18 or over also pays £130 for the ceremony.

One special case: if the father was British and the mother was married to another man at the birth, the child may not be automatically British and can apply on form UKF. Children born before 1 July 2006, or before 1983, fall under older rules that GOV.UK explains separately.

Born in the UK does not mean British

This surprises many people too: being born in the UK does not automatically make you British. It depends on the date of birth and the parents' status. For children born today, what matters is whether a parent is British or holds indefinite leave to remain or settled status. Children of parents with settled status are then automatically British.

Getting the British passport, from the UK or from abroad

After the ceremony you apply for your passport from HM Passport Office. In the UK an adult passport costs £102 online and £115.50 on paper. If you live abroad, in your home country for example, there is a separate route for applications from outside the UK. That also applies to children who are British by descent and need a first passport or confirmation of their citizenship.

With a British passport you no longer need an ETA to travel to the UK. In fact dual nationals who are British cannot get an ETA at all; they travel on their British passport or with a certificate of entitlement.

What happens to your current passport

For the UK, dual citizenship is no problem: Britain expressly allows it. The real question is what your home country says.

Many European countries now accept dual citizenship. Others still restrict it: some withdraw their nationality when you voluntarily take another, some let you keep it only with permission granted before you naturalise, and some have changed their rules over the years, so that people who naturalised in the past may be in a different position from people applying today. Check your own country's rules before you apply, with its nationality authority or its embassy in London, and get any permission in writing first.

More on the British side, children and older cases on our page on dual citizenship.

Is a British passport worth it?

For many people, yes. The passport ends every question about absence rules, proof of status and future settlement reforms. But it costs money and time, and in some home countries it needs permission first. And as a dual national you get no consular help from Britain in your other country of citizenship.

And once more, because the two are so often confused: a British passport does not make you taxable in the UK, and your home passport does not make you taxable at home. What counts is where you are resident. More in status and tax and in our overview of the UK tax system.

We advise you on whether, when and in which order to apply, and what it means for your tax and your assets in both countries.

Sources: GOV.UK: Apply for citizenship if you have indefinite leave to remain; GOV.UK: Apply for citizenship if your spouse is a British citizen; GOV.UK: Apply for citizenship if you have a British parent; GOV.UK: Dual citizenship; GOV.UK: Prove your knowledge of English for citizenship and settling; GOV.UK: Life in the UK Test; GOV.UK: Renew or replace your adult passport; GOV.UK: Apply to the EU Settlement Scheme; GOV.UK: EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) status automation update (9 April 2026)