Naturalisation residence requirements after divorce from British citizen

[bmcgr]

I would be grateful if anyone can help clarify the position regarding the residence requirements for someone who wishes to apply for Naturalisation but is just about to finalise her divorce from a British citizen.
My wife's friend (Thai) has ILR and has been resident for just over 4 years and is about to take the Life in the UK test etc. with a view to applying for citizenship.
My understanding is that once her divorce goes through (in a few weeks probably) she becomes a single person and the 5 year residence requirement comes in. She obviously feels that she has been with her husband for 4 years and the 3 years requirement should hold. The husband is abroad now so he would not be in a position to endorse her application prior to the divorce finalisation.

[bmcgr]

I would be grateful if anyone can help clarify the position regarding the residence requirements for someone who wishes to apply for Naturalisation but is just about to finalise her divorce from a British citizen.
My wife's friend (Thai) has ILR and has been resident for just over 4 years and is about to take the Life in the UK test etc. with a view to applying for citizenship.
My understanding is that once her divorce goes through (in a few weeks probably) she becomes a single person and the 5 year residence requirement comes in. She obviously feels that she has been with her husband for 4 years and the 3 years requirement should hold. The husband is abroad now so he would not be in a position to endorse her application prior to the divorce finalisation.

[Gary & Nok]

Just my opinion and no doubt I will be corrected but I believe that when I went through this previously my (ex) wife was still legally married to me until such time as the divorce was final so in your friends case if she is able to get the naturalisation ceremony done before the decree nisi? (or what ever it is called) then she would be OK under the 3 year rule.

Again only my opinion so wait for the definite answer from the law knowledgeable.

[John]

bmcgr, until the Decree Absolute is issued she is still married to a British Citizen. So as long as she makes the application before the Decree Absolute is issued the 3-year requirement still applies. It does not matter if the Decree Absolute is granted after the Naturalisation application is made, even if that happens before the application is processed, or before the Citizenship Ceremony.

A further point. The husband does not need to "endorse her application", indeed he need not know anything about it. However she needs to provide evidence that she is married to a British Citizen and to do that she either needs to supply his British passport, or assuming he was born in the UK, a copy of his full birth certificate. If she does not currently have his birth certificate then as long as she knows his date of birth, and place of birth, she can order a copy of his full birth certificate, naming his parents.

If she cannot get hold of his passport (unlikely since he is abroad) or does not know the detail to enable her to get a copy of his full birth certificate, I think she will need to wait until she has been in the UK for 5 years, rather than just 3 years.

[bmcgr]

Thanks Gary & Nok for your reply. I think she is at the stage of waiting for the judge to approve the financial settlement and thus the decree absolute, which should be a few weeks apparently. The husband is abroad so he would not be able to come back and assist with the application. They should have done this after she had completed 3 years residence but that is in the past. As I say I could do with finding out if there is any circumstances where an ex-spouse can benefit from the 3 year rule or if she just becomes a person of single status and has to satisfy the 5 year rule. I can't see anything regarding this in the Home Office documentation. Would appreciate any help.

[bmcgr]

Thanks John, that throws some clarity on it for me. I can see now that the Husband does not ned to endorse it and that the application just needs to have the appropriate documentation e.g. Husband's birth certificate in this case. If she can get the application in before the Divorce is finalised then it is still seen as a valid application in terms of residence requirement even if the Divorce subsequently takes place.
Cheers