Naturalisation. Residence requirements. Absences from the UK during the qualifying period
If you apply to naturalise as a British citizen, you must satisfy the residence requirements. One of these requirements is that the number of days on which you were absent from the UK in the period of 5 years ending with the date of the application does not exceed 450.
If you are married to a British citizen, the requirement is that the number of days on which you were absent from the UK in the period of 3 years ending with the date of the application does not exceed 270.
If you were absent from the UK for more than that, but you did not exceeded the permitted absence period by more than 30 days, the caseworker must exercise discretion to overlook this requirement unless there are other grounds on which the application falls to be refused.
If you were outside the UK for 480-900 days in the period of 5 years ending with the date of the application (or for 300-540 days in the period of 3 years ending with the date of the application, if you are married to a British citizen), the question is if you otherwise meet the requirements and if you have established your home, employment, family and finances in the UK.
If this is the case, then the caseworker may exercise discretion to overlook this requirement if you had a period of residence of between 2-3 years (1-2 years if you are married to a British citizen) without substantial absences from the UK immediately prior to the beginning of the period of 5 years ending with the date of the application (3 years if married to a British citizen).
Discretion to overlook this requirement may also be exercised if the absences are justified by the fact that you were pursuing your career (as an employee of a multinational company, for example, or as a seaman), or you were in the Crown service yourself, or accompanying your partner being in such a service overseas.
Lately, it has been accepted by the Home Office that a long absence may be justified if you were unable to return to the UK due to global pandemic.
Finally, discretion to overlook the requirement of not being absent from the UK during the qualifying period may be exercised where there are “exceptionally compelling reasons of an occupational or compassionate nature to justify naturalisation now” (quote from Home Office guidance). This may be the case where you have a job offer and a requirement for the job is to be a British citizen.
If you were outside the UK for more than 900 days in the period of 5 years ending with the date of the application (or for more than 540 days in the period of 3 years ending with the date of the application, if you are married to a British citizen), your application will normally be refused.
It is important to know that the day of departure from the UK and the day of arrival in the UK are considered days in which you were not absent from the country. If you left the UK on 1 March 2019 and returned on 5 March 2019, the days counted toward your absence from the UK are 2, 3 and 4 March 2019. Therefore, you will not be considered as being absent from the UK for 5 days, but only for 3 days.
If you want to apply for British citizenship or for a British passport and need specialist advice, feel free to contact me. Please note that I am an accredited immigration adviser, not an employee of the UK Visas and Immigration. I charge fees for the advice provided.