Naturalisation - a few complexities

[tamarin64]

I’m going to be applying for British citizenship (currently EU citizen) and would like some advice on the following points please:

1. I have about 515 days of absences in the last 5 years mainly due to long absences in 2020/2021 because of COVID. However, I have been resident in the UK since September 2015, so well over the 7 years required for them to be “normally disregarded”. I am likely to write that the reason for the long absence was Covid restrictions, but won’t dwell on it much and instead cite the 7-year residence discretion. I wanted to ask, however, what is the best way to also meet the home, family and estate condition. For this I was thinking:
   Home -> rental and employment contract
   Family -> am single with no children, therefore will just say that
   Estate -> I don’t own any property, so bank and investment account statements?
   Would this be sufficient?
2. At the beginning of my absence in 2020 I was sharing a flat with friends, and we eventually did not renew the contract. I came back in Summer 2020 and lived temporarily at a friend's place, then in a hotel for a bit and finally moved in with a friend in October 2020 on a proper rental contract. During this time I continued to use my old flat address as all my post was being redirected to a friend who would let me know if anything was delivered (he had set up the same for himself). I officially switched all accounts etc. when I moved in October properly to a pernament flat.
   I also applied and received my settled status in September 2020, using the old flat address I was receiving post at but not living at. I would like to be fully transparent so I wanted to ask what is the best way to present this in my address history. One option I was considering is inputting the full address history in the form (including all the places I stayed at temporarily) and then in the additional information box explain that my postal address was unchanged until I moved into my new rental permanently in October 2020. The other option I was thinking is to just put the one address I was using for any post and then explain in the additional information box including a list of places I stayed at temporarily. Please let me know if this won’t cause any issues and if I potentially need to get further professional advice on this.
3. Finally, my referees are a couple that live together. I assume that is fine?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[SupperDog]

1) This is the policy.
Where the applicant has absences of between 480 and 900 days for applications under section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981, or 300 and 540 days for applications under section 6(2) 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 residence (for applications under section 6(1)), or 1 year (for applications under section 6(2)), 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)) or 450 days (for section 6(2)) the period of residence must be at least 3 or 2 years respectively
• the excess absences are the result of:
o postings abroad in Crown service under the UK government or in service designated under section 2(3) of the British Nationality act 1981.
o accompanying a British citizen spouse or civil partner on an appointment overseas
• the excess absences were an unavoidable consequence of the nature of the applicant’s career, such as a merchant seaman or employment with a multinational company based in the UK with frequent travel abroad
• exceptionally compelling reasons of an occupational or compassionate nature to justify naturalisation now, such as a firm job offer where British citizenship is a statutory or mandatory requirement
• the applicant was prevented from being in the UK because they had been removed from the UK, and the decision to remove them was later overturned
• the applicant was incorrectly prevented from resuming permanent residence in the UK following an absence
• the excess absences were because the applicant was unable to return to the UK because of global pandemic

So you have to prove that you have established your home, employment, family and finances in the UK. Based on what you have said I think you can prove that you established your employment if you have a full-time permanent contract.

2) You are not asked to provide proof of address. You can fill in whatever address you have ever lived in.

3) No. Only one of them can be your referee and you have to find another.

[tamarin64]

Thank you for the advice! I did miss that bit about the referees not being related to each other as well! I’ll find someone else. It could potentially also be my flatmate (he meets the requirements), correct?

Regarding the establishment of my home, family and finances, what else can I then provide as evidence? I do have a permanent full-time job, so that’s easy. Financially about 90% of my assets are in UK institutions, what else could I provide other than bank & investment statements? And I have a rental contract for my flat, not sure what more I can evidence that my home is in the UK? Similarly with family, given I’m single and don’t have children, surely there’s not much else I could prove?

[contorted_svy]

No, your flatmate lives with you which I think makes them ineligible.

Send your rental contract, P60s and payslips to prove you are employed in the UK, I'd say bank statements and investment proof, that should cover all bases.

[SupperDog]

To my opinion you don't have to worry too much about it. As we have seen from others experience, Home Office is quite generous on the 450 days living requirements.

If you have a permanent job contract that's enough for proof of employment and if you have more such as rental agreement that's better.

You should also write in the application form and include a cover letter to remind the caseworker as some of them may not get your point of what you want to prove.

Also according to the levels of decision making policy, to give discretion for absences over 450 days but less than 730 days, a higher level of caseworker won't be involved, that means your application won't be delayed because of this.

[tamarin64]

Thank you both very much for all the advice! I will take it into account for my application and hopefully all will go well