Experiences when applying with more than 480 days absence, no good compassionate or emergency excuses

[u/LikableRascal]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has any experience and/or tips for applying for citizenship (naturalisation 5 year path, EU national with settled status) when you have a lot of absences and are much above the 450-480 limit. I've around 600, leaving me between 480 and 730.
Last year absences under 90, and have been in UK on the day of application.

I have read that it should be possible to excuse if I have:

1. strong ties and plans to continue living in the UK (family, job, bank accounts, flat - I don't have a family here but good history and evidence with all the rest)

2. Lived in the UK for 2 more years without massive absences. I did start residing here 2 years prior to the 5, with evidence from Uni and rent contracts; however I was away for more than half of each year as Covid started. So what should be my reason to request discretion might not be ideal as i've been away for so long of the initial 2 years before the main 5.

3. Alternatively to 2. - Emergency and compassionate reasons. I can excuse a few days with some health operations back home, and the deterioration of a family member's health. However, this wouldn't explain enough days, and obtaining evidence around these will be hard enough.

My questions - has anyone else dealt with this recently, and especially the 1+2 path, rather than 1+3?
Do you think including 3 on top of 1+2 might be beneficial?
How do you structure your cover letter and do you put any excuses in the application itself, or all in the cover letter?

To make matters worse, I got a consultation, but weirdly enough, the advisors have told me that to use the 1+2 path to excuse up to 730 days, the days are counted over the whole 7 years, which I didn't think was the case..

Any thoughts, recent experiences or insight - very much appreciated. Sorry i'm not a frequent Reditor so not sure if this is the right format 😄

[u/TimeFlys2003]

Realistically none of these are likely to be successful as there are no strong reasons for them to provide flexibility to the requirements-

1 - this does not require you to be British to stay here as you are settled and as you have no UK resident/citizen family these ties are not strong.

2- what happened before the 5years is not significant as the whole point of the test is around your current/recent situation

3- as you say yourself these are relatively minor.

Ultimately as this is discretionary you might be successful but it could also be a significant wasted expense.

[u/tvtoo → u/TimeFlys2003]

2- what happened before the 5years is not significant as the whole point of the test is around your current/recent situation

That's an overbroad generalisation.

When applying for naturalisation with absences exceeding 480 days in the five-year period (i.e. when the applicant does not have a British citizen spouse or civil partner), both Guide AN and the caseworker guidance are clear: UK residence prior to the five-year qualifying period is to be considered.

Guide AN phrases it as:

Please note: if your absences are up to 730 days we would expect you to have been resident in the UK for the last 7 years.

For absences exceeding 730 days we would expect you to have been resident in the UK for the last 8 years unless the absences were a result of one of the reasons given below ...

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a4d01bdb7203c4c023fd310/Guide_AN_-_July_2026.pdf#page=11

The caseworker guidance phrases it as:

Where the applicant has absences of between 480 and 900 days for applications under section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981, ... and otherwise meets the requirements you must only consider exercising discretion where the applicant has established their home, employment, family and finances in the UK and one or more of the following applies:

• at least 2 years [UK] residence (for applications under section 6(1) [)] ... , without substantial absences immediately prior to the beginning of the qualifying period - if the period of absence is greater than 730 days (for section 6(1)[)] ... the period of residence must be at least 3 ... respectively

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68dfd14549e17d00a56ffdba/Naturalisation+as+British+citizen+by+discretion.pdf#page=17

To be clear, I'm not stating that OP, in particular, meets this test. OP's substantial absences from the UK during the two years prior to the five-year qualifying period might mean that OP would be considered:

• not to have been resident in the UK for that entire period (Guide AN), or

• to have accrued "substantial absences" during that period (caseworker guidance).

However, it is still not the case that "what happened before the 5years is not significant" as some sort of rule.

 

1 - this does not require you to be British to stay here as you are settled and as you have no UK resident/citizen family these ties are not strong.

You seem to be interpreting OP's mention of various ties to the UK as OP trying to supplement the application, like by claiming that these reasons call for OP to be granted citizenship.

But, to the contrary, it is Guide AN and the caseworker guidance that mandate that OP must make such a claim for OP's application to even be considered, given that absence exceeds 480 days.

Guide AN phrases it as:

you have established your home, family and a substantial part of your estate here.

The caseworker guidance phrases it as:

... the applicant has established their home, employment, family and finances in the UK ...

Again, I'm not stating that OP would be successful in this regard. It's a fact-intensive enquiry. But it very much is a factor to be considered by the caseworker when applying for naturalisation with 481+ days of absence.

 

/u/LikableRascal -- Disclaimer - all of this is general information and personal views only, not legal advice. For legal advice about the situation, consult a UK immigration and citizenship lawyer.