Citizenship without sufficient residency

Hi

I am an Australian Citizen who first arrived to the UK in 2009 on a work visa. I have been employed by the same company ever since and got my ILR in July 2014.
But in March 2014, I was temporarily transferred by my company to work in Germany for 18 months (until August 2015).
I know that I do not meet the residency requirements for applying for naturalization/citizenship, but I understand that sometimes the Home Office/UKBA may sometimes award citizenship to people who don't meet the residency requirements.
Do I have a chance if I put in my application? I don't want to spend a thousand pounds on a lawyer if my chances of getting citizenship are zero.

Some more information about me:
- The company I work for is a huge British multinational company (one of the largest in the world)
- I have been employed with them since 2003 (from my time in Australia). I have always ever worked for this company.
- I was transferred to Germany on an internal company process called TIR (Temporary International Rotation) Program. Where a candidate is assigned temporarily to a different country/region for their professional development
- While I don’t own any property, the bulk of my savings, shares, bonds are all based in the UK
- Educated in Australia, I have a Master’s Degree in Engineering

Thank you

I doubt that your being in Germany for professional development/work would count as a compelling enough reason for the Home Office to grant naturalisation outside the rules.

Are you married to a British citizen? That would allow you to skip the one year wait.

Otherwise, I can see no way around it.

eddie_kash wrote:Hi

I am an Australian Citizen who first arrived to the UK in 2009 on a work visa. I have been employed by the same company ever since and got my ILR in July 2014.
But in March 2014, I was temporarily transferred by my company to work in Germany for 18 months (until August 2015).
I know that I do not meet the residency requirements for applying for naturalization/citizenship, but I understand that sometimes the Home Office/UKBA may sometimes award citizenship to people who don't meet the residency requirements.
Do I have a chance if I put in my application? I don't want to spend a thousand pounds on a lawyer if my chances of getting citizenship are zero.

...

Thank you

This goes into it in more detail, section 5
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... n_2015.pdf
- absences from the UK in the last year before application is filed are most critical.

An absence of 365 days may be considered out of limits by HO.
Due to your length of absence you may have to prove residency over past 7 or 8 years instead of the usual 5 years (for non-spouse route).

thanks folks. Seems like there is no chance then.