if you've arrived here for more information... |
If you've arrived here from a search, and want more information, please read the entire page--many of your questions may be answered here or from the links I've set out below. If you still have questions, or just want to chat, please feel free to e-mail me from the link below. |
immigration subjects i can't help much with |
As I'm a native U.S. citizen and was naturalised as a British citizen, I can't pretend that I know much about gaining U.S. citizenship without losing one's native citizenship. I also know little or nothing about green cards or residency in the U.S. A google search will probably turn up more than you need to know about these subjects. I would be very loath to use law firms or immigration advisors turned up in a websearch, though. |
i wish to apologise for losing some e-mails to my old address |
As my old e-mail address has been overwhelmed by spam, I've occasionally (most recently 2 January 2003) accidentally deleted e-mail messages sent from this web page. I am really sorry about this; if you sent me an e-mail and haven't heard from me please resend it to me and please accept my profuse apologies. I have encoded my new e-mail address and hopefully the spam-bots won't pick it up, but the address will work for you. Profound apologies, again! |
I would have been surprised years ago had anyone told me that I'd be a British citizen someday. However, it happened. How did it come about, and why should anyone care?
When I accepted a job in London, I received a 4-year work permit. This permit, I discovered later, could be converted to what the British refer to as "indefinite leave to remain"--the British equivalent of a U.S. Green Card. Once I had had indefinite leave to remain for a year, I could apply for British citizenship. So that's what I did.
When I first thought about coming to live in London, I felt that life here would probably be very inferior to what I had lived in San Francisco. I have been surprised and pleased by the quality of life in London. Other than the fact that you can't get San Francisco sourdough bread, or grits (at least I don't think you can--I may be wrong and if anyone knows where these items are obtainable here please e-mail me!), life here was extremely pleasant. The food was varied and great. I had had nightmares about being force-fed steak and kidney pie, toad in the hole, bubble and squeak, topped off by spotted dick. I've made bubble and squeak (and very good it is, too), but I've never been confronted with any of the others on my or any other table. Instead there are wonderful fresh ingredients from all over the European Union and further away, great chefs in some of the best restaurants in the world, ethnic supermarkets to rival anything anywhere else. We are very close to all parts of the continent, and travel is relatively easy (when there isn't a mad-cow or foot-and-mouth scare going on...). Society is relatively enlightened--gay life here is fairly good compared to how one might have to live in parts of the U.S. I decided I wanted to stay.
Once I had decided to pursue life here, I realised that I would have to become a citizen. Living in any society without having civil rights and responsibilities (except for paying taxes) would be difficult for me. I have followed U.K. politics for years now, and every time there is a local or a general election, I always feel a bit left out. I was not eligible for jury service, which would have been a very interesting slice of London life. Now I have those rights and responsibilities.
The channel I used was the work permit. The current law (see the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website for up-to-date information) states that someone who is in the UK legally for four years may then apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). This allows you to live and work in the UK. There is now a fee for this service--see the IND website for the current price. It only took me a week after filing the form to get my passport back.
After a year with ILR, you may apply for British citizenship. This process involves again, filling out a more detailed form, paying a fee, and then waiting while my application rose to the top of the pile. When the IND was ready to consider my application, they asked for my passport. Once they had seen that, they returned a form saying that once I took an oath and returned it to the IND, I would be a British citizen. I did that, and got my naturalisation certificate in a week or two.
Note that all forms are downloadable from the IND website. This saves a great deal of running back and forth to the IND for forms and information.
This is a question that I'm often asked. I'm afraid that my answer has to be: stay within the law, always! If you're currently working in a job that might be a specialised one (a software developer, or an urban planner, for example), it's quite likely you may be eligible for a visa that allows you to look for work here. The name and qualifications for this visa change almost by the day, so look at the IND website for up-to-date details.
Your current employer may have a British office and if you can get transferred to that office, they will do all the legwork and get you the work permit. You could also be recruited by an employer here who follows the rules (if you're interested see the IND website but there are too many to list here). These are good legal ways of getting here.
Otherwise, it's very difficult to get here legally. Please don't think that just coming in as a tourist and looking for work will be effective. It won't. When you are found, you will be deported and will be denied entry to the UK for a period of time. Coming in and getting married while here is also more difficult. You will have to apply for a spousal or fiancé(e) visa, which cannot be issued in the United Kingdom. You'll have to go back to your home country to apply. It might be refused, and then where will you be?
If you're very poor and wanting to come in and work illegally, please be aware that this has killed people, most recently the Chinese cocklepickers at Morecambe Bay who were drowned when the tide rose and their bosses fled, leaving them to die. You will be constantly aware that the Immigration officers may be just around the corner. Your life is not worth it. Look for legal ways of immigration.
It is commonly thought that U.S. citizens cannot be dual citizens. This is no longer true, although at one time it was. Various court decisions and legislative acts have made it possible for every American citizen. When I first thought of the idea, I started to do research on the net, and these links below include those I referred to then as well as new ones I've come across since I was naturalised. I am very grateful to their authors and maintainers.
| Dual Citizenship FAQ | This is the best site for a discussion of dual U.S. and A.N.Other citizenship I have ever seen. It is comprehensive, interesting, personal (the author and his family are dual U.S./Canadian citizens), and fairly-well up-to-date. I am grateful for his help and recommend the site to all U.S. citizens who are contemplating dual citizenship. If you have questions about the how-to's of dual U.S. and other country citizenship, this is the place you need to visit. |
| U.S. State Department |
The U.S. State Department has objections to the concept of dual citizenship. For one thing, at a time of emergency in one's non-U.S. country, a dual U.S.-Other citizen may fall upon hard times and need U.S. consular assistance which the embassy or consulate is unable to provide because of conflicts between your nationalities. I hope this will not be the case in the U.K. |
| Pledging multiple allegiance |
This is a very interesting article on the prevalence of multiple allegiances and dual citizenships throughout the world. |
| Dual citizens in America |
This article, from the year 2000, talks about dual citizenship in general and those in American who have dual citizenship in particular. It has a (4-year-old but still useful) table of countries allowing dual citizenship along with a plethora of footnotes detailing the fine print for some of those countries. Well-worth a read. It's a .pdf file so have Adobe Acrobat available. |
| Links page on citizenship |
This page contains links (at this writing, the latest one is from November 2003) having to do with citizenship questions generally. However, it's a good place to dip into if you're interested in becoming a dual or multiple citizen and want to learn more about the subject in general. |
| U.K. Yankee website |
This website is the place to go if you're a Yank living or working in the U.K. There is much information that will help you to integrate into British society and understand the culture here. The forums are also interesting and informative; I contribute occasionally and, since they've put this page up as a helpful link for those who wish to become dual citizens, I thought I'd reciprocate! |
| prettygoodbritain.com |
Another website by a transplanted American in the UK. His "Links" page is also prettygood. |
| Federal Voting Assistance Program |
If you want to vote in US Federal elections, then you have to activate your registration. Basically, you register in the place where you last lived in the United States. I last lived and voted on Castro Street in San Francisco, so my registration as a Federal voter remains there. Each year (usually in January) you must file a form available on this website with the voter registrar for your state. Some states and territories will not allow this form to be printed out and posted; some need to be notarised (at your nearest US Consulate or Embassy) before being filed. Check the website for the rules of your particular state. If you are an overseas US citizen by birth and have never lived or voted in the US, you may register and vote at the last place your US parents lived and voted. But whatever you do, register and vote! It's your patriotic duty and your right. |
The U.K. government has been one of the very best in providing online information and assistance to people with immigration and nationalisation difficulties or questions. From the time I arrived here, I've been able to check out my immigration status, download forms, and get more information from the Immigration and Naturalisation Directorate's webpage.
| Immigration and Naturalisation Directorate |
This is the homepage of the Immigration and Naturalisation Directorate, the department of the Home Office which handles immigration and naturalisation. It is fairly comprehensive. Once you get in it it's great. There is advice on how to apply for permanent residency (which I did in December 1998), how to apply for naturalisation, and the requisite forms, instructions, and fee schedule. |
| Unmarried partner immigration |
One of the difficulties gay men and lesbians who move away from their home countries face is how to legally stay in their new country. This is especially difficult when they have entered into a relationship there. In the past, many have contracted sham marriages with third parties in order to stay. Now, the U.K. has provision for unmarried heterosexual and homosexual partners to gain leave to remain. Wai-Liang has received leave to remain under this regulation. Click here to read how we did it. Note that the IND changes its website as often as many people change their underwear, so this page may yet again change location. (as it did in December 2004 and July 2006!) Use the "Search" page on the main IND website and enter "partner" to find it. |
| Civil partnerships to come December 5, 2005 |
The UK has recently approved legislation that will allow unmarried same-sex partnerships to be registered in the United Kingdom. There are lots of things that will change, and one of them is immigration. The link to the left is to Stonewall, the UK equality organisation, and it gives a good summary of what this bill has done for the status of lesbian and gay partnerships. There are lots of subsidiary links there detailing the text of the bill and the other explanatory notes about the bill's effects. The Home Office, on the other hand, has nothing I can discover on their site having to do with the bill. Typical government. |
As an American, with cultural biases ingrained in me from childhood, I found it easy to understand why someone might want to come to the U.S. and become an American citizen. I had a lot of trouble with the concept of an American going overseas and becoming a foreign citizen. Friends of mine still insist that there is something vaguely un-American about that, even though it's permitted under the law. But I persevered, and I'm now fully integrated into British society. One side effect of living here is this: I don't want to go back to the U.S. to live. I've been spoiled by London and Britain. Oh, well, no harm done.
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