"Special circumstances" in GUIDE AN(AFD)

In the Guide AN(AFD), page 5, it says:

"The full residence requirements and the way discretion is generally applied are set out in the notes on section 2. Most applications that fail do so because applicants have applied even though they cannot satisfy the residence requirement to be present in the UK at the beginning of the residential qualifying period. Some discretion may be exercised over the other residence requirements if there are special circumstances. If you do not meet the residence requirements but believe that there are special circumstances in your case, you should explain them when you apply."

In section 2, discretion in regard to the amount of days in absence are mentioned.

What kind of special circumstances are they talking about in the quote above? Is it all other residence requirements except the one about being physically present on the day 5 years prior to applying (or application received), including the 12 month ILR/PR requirement for those not married (etc.) to a British national? Or only pertaining to situations mentioned in section 2?

Any idea?

Some people apply for ILR but don't get it approved till, say, 15 months after applying. When these people apply for naturalisation they don't neccessarily have to have had ILR for 12 months as their ILR application could be considered delayed, as without the delay they would have been able to get BC earlier. In cases like this the person concerened needs to explain this is the section on the form provided for this, and approving the case will be at the caseworker's discretion.

Thanks for your reply.

That's another possibility I hadn't thought of, and it makes perfect sense.

virtual-writer wrote: What kind of special circumstances are they talking about in the quote above?

You might want to read the IND policy document:
http://uk.sitestat.com/homeoffice/ind/s ... iew=Binary (pdf)

Thanks a lot JAJ.

There's a lot to read there.

Here is the full Chapter 18: Naturalisation at discretion