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The residence requirements for naturalization...
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. .

It does just mean on that day 5 years ago. It is wise, however, to give yourself a buffer of at least a few days either side to allow for any issues with the post. Since you seem to have been in the UK for over a month after December 1st you should be fine.

It refers to when the application is received by the HO, not the NCS appointment (there is no obligation to even use the NCS). This is normally counted as the first full day after the application is received in the post. Make sure that you get the post office tracking number from the person who does your NCS appointment, so that you can retain your proof of when the HO received it. The NCS should use special delivery and it should get to the HO on the next working day after your appointment.

Make sure that your absences do not exceed the limits given in the guide.

Thank you for your comprehensive reply