1. You must have been physically present in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands on the day 5 years before the application is received by the Home Office. For example if your application is received on 20/1/2010 you should have been physically present in the United Kingdom on 21/1/2005. 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.
Question is: what does it mean to be present on the day of receiving application 5 years back?
Does it mean just on that day or also some period after?
If I applying trough the checking service does it mean the day of my appointment is the day of receiving application by HO?
...I eligible apply from 1 of December but from 9 of January 5 years ago I went abroad for 1 month..Is it OK to apply let say on 10 of December?I'm afraid because of Christmas my application can be lost in HO and case worker will get it only in January when I was away 5 years back. .
