How does the UKBA count the absences?

If I travel out of the country on business, leaving on Monday morning and coming back Friday evening, - how long have I been out of the country?

a) 5 days – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
b) 4 days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
c) 3 days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

I am struggling a bit with understanding what exact definition the UKBA would like us to use.

gvmnt wrote:If I travel out of the country on business, leaving on Monday morning and coming back Friday evening, - how long have I been out of the country?

a) 5 days – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
b) 4 days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
c) 3 days – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

I am struggling a bit with understanding what exact definition the UKBA would like us to use.

HO doesn't count the leaving and returning day so in above case it will be 3 days.

UKBA only counts whole days. So day of Outbound Travel and Inward travel are not counted. Hence your Mon-Fri absence is 3 days absence assuming you leave on Monday and return on Friday.

jaskiratbaweja wrote:UKBA only counts whole days. So day of Outbound Travel and Inward travel are not counted. Hence your Mon-Fri absence is 3 days absence assuming you leave on Monday and return on Friday.

many thanks. is it spelled out somewhere "formally" on the ukba site, or it's just practical knowledge?

gvmnt wrote:

jaskiratbaweja wrote:UKBA only counts whole days. So day of Outbound Travel and Inward travel are not counted. Hence your Mon-Fri absence is 3 days absence assuming you leave on Monday and return on Friday.

many thanks. is it spelled out somewhere "formally" on the ukba site, or it's just practical knowledge?

The modernised guidance Indefinite leave to remain – calculating continuous period in UK (for example) refers to "absences" from UK. Clearly, on the dates you either leave UK or Enter UK, you are not absent from UK!!

push wrote:

gvmnt wrote:

jaskiratbaweja wrote:UKBA only counts whole days. So day of Outbound Travel and Inward travel are not counted. Hence your Mon-Fri absence is 3 days absence assuming you leave on Monday and return on Friday.

many thanks. is it spelled out somewhere "formally" on the ukba site, or it's just practical knowledge?

The modernised guidance Indefinite leave to remain – calculating continuous period in UK (for example) refers to "absences" from UK. Clearly, on the dates you either leave UK or Enter UK, you are not absent from UK!!

Thank you. But I can not find in the example provided a clear cut reference that the Enter and Leave days are to be counted. Which page / paragraph should I be looking at?

I do not know the exact location of where UKBA mentions this but I can tell you from my experience with UKBA. I had counted my total business absences to 216 excluding days of travel.

When UKBA returned my documents by post they also sent me spreadsheets that caseworked had used to count business absences and in that spreadsheet the total is also 216.

Hence I am absolutely sure that you do not need to count the days of travel.

How many absences do you have in total?

jaskiratbaweja wrote:I do not know the exact location of where UKBA mentions this but I can tell you from my experience with UKBA. I had counted my total business absences to 216 excluding days of travel.

When UKBA returned my documents by post they also sent me spreadsheets that caseworked had used to count business absences and in that spreadsheet the total is also 216.

Hence I am absolutely sure that you do not need to count the days of travel.

How many absences do you have in total?

thank you. i am still a year plus away from the ILR submission, but there will be probably anything between 500 and 600 of business absences, and probably up to 100 of personal. And given how many business absences i am going to have, it would be helpful to find a way to show as few as possible within the HO permitted guidance, etc.

the reason i am fretting is that, as far as i know, the tax people count your days of presence by whether you were in the country precisely at midnight.

push wrote:The modernised guidance Indefinite leave to remain – calculating continuous period in UK (for example) refers to "absences" from UK. Clearly, on the dates you either leave UK or Enter UK, you are not absent from UK!!

While looking for written confirmation of the calculation process followed I found this link

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c ... e?unfold=1

The specific Annex F, Chapter 5 of the Immigration Directorate Instructions mentioned in the response has since been replaced by Modernised Guidance, the link for which Push has posted above.

One instance where calculation is explicitly mentioned in on form EEA3

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... /eea31.pdf

Section 7 on page 15 asks details of all absences and question 7.2 specifically asks one to exclude days of departure and return.

Going by the first response, even though it is quite old, and what is mentioned on form EEA3, what Push has written above, that the days one entered and exited the country should be excluded in the calculation, would seem to make sense.

gvmnt wrote: thank you. i am still a year plus away from the ILR submission, but there will be probably anything between 500 and 600 of business absences, and probably up to 100 of personal. And given how many business absences i am going to have, it would be helpful to find a way to show as few as possible within the HO permitted guidance, etc.

the reason i am fretting is that, as far as i know, the tax people count your days of presence by whether you were in the country precisely at midnight.

My only guidance will be that you get a detailed letter from employer listing the absences and reason why you were required to travel and what was your role.