Applying for British Citizenship.

Applying For British Citizenship?

• I am An American citizen ( I am Currently 17) When i Turn 18 i would like to Apply For British Citizen ship So i Am Able To join the united kingdoms army. How do i go about doing This (ps None of my family has british citizen ship they are all americans)

• Answer:

  Are you actually living in the UK? Do you have permanent residence (Indefinite Leave to Remain)? If you're not currently resident in the UK then it's unlikely you'll be able to gain British citzienship by naturalisation. If you are based in the UK and have been here several years then you ought to speak to your parents about what your legal status is in the UK & if it's possible for you to apply for British citizenship. In order to become a naturalised British citizen you must be, legally, living & working in the UK for a minimum of 5 years then apply for permanent residence (ILR). Once you've held ILR for a minimum of a year you can apply for British citizenship by naturalisation. The minimum the whole process could take is 6 years but it could be longer & you would need to get into the country first. If you cannot claim citizenship through a British parent (an Irish parent or a grandparent would be useful here too, Irish citizens are allowed to join the British army) you would need to claim British citzienship by naturalisation & to be quite frank, if you are 18, not currently living in the UK that's not going to happen any time soon. In order to get into the UK, legally, either you claim citzienship of another EU member state through a parent - unless it's Irish citizenship, citizenship of another EU member state won't get you into the British Army, but as a citizen of an EU member state you have the right to live in the UK & you would still need to become a naturalised British citzienship but it's just easier to get into the UK that way. The other route is a work visa - the minimum educational qualification to score highly enough to be considered for a work visa is a degree. British employers are also obliged in law to consider first British citziens, followed by citizens of other EU member states then non-EU nationals but the employer must still justify their choice to the Home Office/UK Border Agency. At the age of 18 with little or no academic credientials & no useful work experience behind you, unless you have a rare or exceptional talent that's in demand in the UK (unlikely), a British employer can't consider you for employment so that route is out. Studying in the UK immediately puts you out of the running for applying for permanent residence as the student visa is deliberately designed to be temporary & students are expected to leave when their course terminates.