# Indefinite Leave to Remain!



## RoxyC (Oct 7, 2013)

Hi all,

I'm a South African living in London for what will be 5 years in Feb 2014. 
Just looking for a bit of advice with indefinite leave to remain. I'm here on an ancestral visa and read on numerous websites I can only apply 28 days before my visa runs out?!

I've heard it can take absolutely ages to process as well, any advice on going through agencies or solicitors or just applying myself? 

Also, was wondering-if because my dad is a British citizen, is there a quicker way to apply? 
Or -My partner of over 4 years who is an EU citizen settled in London?? 

There's a lot of info on the government websites and quite overwhelming to be honest. 
Anyone been through this recently? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks a million


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## Jem62 (Jul 25, 2012)

Have you explored whether you are entitled to UK Nationality on the basis of your father's UK Nationality?


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## RoxyC (Oct 7, 2013)

My dad has only recently received his British passport, (his parents being British, but he was born in Zimbabwe and not registered as a British citizen at birth). Therefore I don't really know much about the process of going about this. 
I'm doing some research at the moment, and hopefully with that and a bit of advice from here, I'll get this sorted!


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## shumifan49 (Sep 18, 2013)

AFIK if you have been in the UK for 4 years on a valid visa(s) you can apply for permanent residence. This is quite straight forward and you can do it yourself. Once you have had permanent residence for a year you can apply for naturalisation(but remember to ask the RSA permission for dual citizenship BEFORE being natauralised as you might want to go back, like me, some day and dual citizenship will be handy).
Dual citizenship will also help you to avoid visa charges if the RSA starts requiring visas from UK citizens, which they are talking about, if you want to visit the RSA.


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