How HO knows about absences from UK?

EU citizens and family members do not get stamps in the passport and do not fill landing cards.
We recently made a Serivece Request for personal information, and it returned with only one date - the date of person 1st entry to UK (on Family Permit).
It also was stated there that since there are no landing cards results could be very incomplete.
So, does it mean that HO fully relies on what people state in application about absences?

My personal concern is that one of our family members travelled substantially in their 1st year here, and we do not retain all the dates of travel. Our calculation is that is was a bit less then 6 months total (which was a huge relief), but what if in fact it was a bit more? (we are literally talking between 5.5 months and 6 months + a week)

Every application is signed as being truthful, etc, etc. Clearly they could ask for proof of the total number.
If you are not absolutely sure, include a comment that the number as you have calculated is approximate, due to not all information complete.

obormot wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:33 pm

Our calculation is that is was a bit less then 6 months total (which was a huge relief), but what if in fact it was a bit more? (we are literally talking between 5.5 months and 6 months + a week)

Wait one more month to make the application, and don't travel in the meantime. This way, you will be sure that total absences are less than 6 months.

Well, if I would be able to do it easily, I would.
However, we had that family member travelling in the middle of 1st year (one long trip, less then 6 months for sure, most probably around 5 - but we do not remember exact dates, and this is honest!) + at the end of the 1st year (2-3 weeks). So if that long trip is just a bit longer then what we estimated, then the first day to aply would be around May 2019. And this is a non-EU person, whose EEA2 would expire before that. And they need to travel.
At the end, I opted for saying in the online aplication "no trips more then 6 months", and saying in cover letter that we firmly believe it was less then 6 months abroad total on 1st year, but we did not retain any references so we cannot remember exact trip days. (In fact, there were some medical resaons behind that long abence to be so long, but if we are not asked we will not go into that)

obormot wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 18, 2018 1:27 pm

At the end, I opted for saying in the online aplication "no trips more then 6 months", and saying in cover letter that we firmly believe it was less then 6 months abroad total on 1st year, but we did not retain any references so we cannot remember exact trip days.

Good call.

My point was really to emphasize the fact, for anyone reading really, that the 5 years can be any 5-year period, as long as they are consecutive. You don't have to necessarily start the count exactly the first day you arrive in the UK.

However, in this particular case, the substantial absence being at the end of the first year and just under 6 months, it breaks up the first year in half (i.e. risk of loosing the first 6 months of stay and having to restart the clock after the absence), and you would need to wait for over 6 months, or even a year, to make sure absences were less than 6 months over a first eligible year.

As you are not sure and you believe in good faith that absences were less than 6 months, your decision seems to be the more appropriate.