Unmet residency requirement discovered after application

ivg · Post by **ivg** » Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:21 pm

Hello everyone,
I submitted my application back in January and until yesterday I thought everything was fine. However yesterday I decided to re-read the guide book and spotted a requirement that I somehow managed to miss every single time I read it before, which is the one that asks you to be physically present in the UK on the day 5 years prior to the submission of the application. Sadly, that day 5 years ago I was not in the UK and I even disclosed this when listing the times I left the country. Needless to say, I'm now freaking out a little.

I can't explain how I managed to miss reading this requirement, but either way now it's too late. Has anyone been in this situation before or can advise on what to do at this point? I understand that I'm not meeting this requirement to the letter and that's entirely my fault, but for me to meet this requirement all I had to do was to wait 3 more days before submitting the application, and at that point in time 5 years ago I had been in the UK for 1 year and a half already.

I'm considering writing to the Home Office (not sure how yet) and disclose this mistake and hoping they can apply discretion, does anyone know if this is a good idea or all I can do at this stage is brace for impact?

secret.simon · Post by **secret.simon** » Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:58 pm

ivg wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:21 pm
hoping they can apply discretion

This is a requirement which the Home Office has no discretion to ignore (i.e. the law does not allow the Home Office to ignore this requirement).

ivg wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:21 pm
for me to meet this requirement all I had to do was to wait 3 more days before submitting the application

If you meet all other requirements, it is possible that the caseworker will write to you (most recent cases have involved email rather than post, but it could be either mode of written communication) asking you to redeclare the application to another date within two months of the original date of application.

That redeclared date will then be treated as the date of application. So make sure that you meet the absences and physical presence requirements as of that date.

HCJNL · Post by **HCJNL** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:33 am

I'm not a lawyer. But if I was in your shoes I would let them know immediately, not wait for the case worker to contact you or, worse, send you a decision letter which may be a rejection because of this. Very good if you can ask for the date of application to be 3 days later, because you are confident that everything will be in order then.
The case worker may still refuse your application, but the chances of a refusal will be less than if the case worker discovers it himself.

London22 · Post by **London22** » Sat May 01, 2021 9:51 am

ivg wrote: ↑
Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:21 pm
Hello everyone,
I submitted my application back in January and until yesterday I thought everything was fine. However yesterday I decided to re-read the guide book and spotted a requirement that I somehow managed to miss every single time I read it before, which is the one that asks you to be physically present in the UK on the day 5 years prior to the submission of the application. Sadly, that day 5 years ago I was not in the UK and I even disclosed this when listing the times I left the country. Needless to say, I'm now freaking out a little.

I can't explain how I managed to miss reading this requirement, but either way now it's too late. Has anyone been in this situation before or can advise on what to do at this point? I understand that I'm not meeting this requirement to the letter and that's entirely my fault, but for me to meet this requirement all I had to do was to wait 3 more days before submitting the application, and at that point in time 5 years ago I had been in the UK for 1 year and a half already.

I'm considering writing to the Home Office (not sure how yet) and disclose this mistake and hoping they can apply discretion, does anyone know if this is a good idea or all I can do at this stage is brace for impact?

I haven't seen the most silliest rule but this one.
You should vary your application or withdraw & reapply before they send you a refusal & you lose huge amount .
Goodluck

secret.simon · Post by **secret.simon** » Sat May 01, 2021 11:19 am

London22 wrote: ↑
Sat May 01, 2021 9:51 am
You should vary your application or withdraw & reapply before they send you a refusal & you lose huge amount .

Naturalisation is not an immigration application and can't be varied.

To the best of my knowledge, even if they withdraw the application, if they have submitted the biometrics, they will lose the entire fees (except £80, for the citizenship ceremony, which will be refunded).

The OP could write to the Home Office as suggested by the post preceding the previous post.

ivg · Post by **ivg** » Wed May 05, 2021 10:10 pm

Thanks everyone, I figured I had nothing to lose by letting the Home Office know about this mistake as they'd certainly they spot it independently anyway. I wrote to both nationalityenquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk and FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk on Tuesday but so far haven't received any response back other than the automated reply.

I'm hoping they'll let me redeclare my application a few days later or back, it was really trivial for me to meet this requirement and the sad part is that I have no one but myself to blame as the requirements are very clear on this point...

ivg · Post by **ivg** » Fri May 28, 2021 12:52 pm

As a follow up, the Home Office got back to me and is a somewhat positive news as they'll let me redeclare the application on a different date, though the next steps are a bit unclear (and I need to figure them out very soon since they gave me a deadline for next week). The email includes a copy of the original application's pdf (with the original/problematic application date) and it says: "Your application date will be the date that your re-declared application form is sent back to the email address and, to avoid any further problems, the application form should be returned before [next week]".

At this point I _think_ they're asking me to print the PDF, change the date with a pen, scan it and send it back? And also not sure what date they want me to add, but sounds like I should redeclare it to today or so rather than a date in January.

Would appreciate some thoughts on this if anyone has any experience with this sort of stuff, but at least not all hope is lost...

Djsuccess · Post by **Djsuccess** » Sat May 29, 2021 7:13 am

ivg wrote: ↑
Fri May 28, 2021 12:52 pm
As a follow up, the Home Office got back to me and is a somewhat positive news as they'll let me redeclare the application on a different date, though the next steps are a bit unclear (and I need to figure them out very soon since they gave me a deadline for next week). The email includes a copy of the original application's pdf (with the original/problematic application date) and it says: "Your application date will be the date that your re-declared application form is sent back to the email address and, to avoid any further problems, the application form should be returned before [next week]".

At this point I _think_ they're asking me to print the PDF, change the date with a pen, scan it and send it back? And also not sure what date they want me to add, but sounds like I should redeclare it to today or so rather than a date in January.

Would appreciate some thoughts on this if anyone has any experience with this sort of stuff, but at least not all hope is lost...

I am not sure why they sent you the pdf copy of your application. In the past, I believe just replying to the email was enough and the date of the reply is taken at the new application date. Since you have been sent the application form, I guess you can print the declaration page, and physically sign it. There is no harm in doing that atleast you will be covered in both ways

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Unmet residency requirement discovered after application

Unmet residency requirement discovered after application

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