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Hi respected members

I'm also planning to apply for citizenship but in a similar situation regarding the first day of qualifying period. I was Absent from UK from Feb to Aug 2020. I was supposed to return Mid march but was unable to due to lockdowns in India at that time, except falling short on this 'first day' rule my application is otherwise straight forward? Do you think I have a chance under the highlighted point in above post under pandemic discretion.

your help is is much appreciated

How many absences do you have, also counting the 5 months in 2020 at the beginning of your qualifying period?

contorted_svy wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:04 pm

How many absences do you have, also counting the 5 months in 2020 at the beginning of your qualifying period?

Thanks for responding quickly,I received my ILR in Aug 2018.

Below are the dates I was away in the last 5 years from today

Feb 3, 2020 to Sep 9, 2020
Mar 27, 2022 to May 7, 2022
Sep 7, 2022 to Sep 17, 2022
Oct 16, 2022 to Nov 30, 2022
Aug 17, 2023 to Sep 25, 2023

It comes to a total of 359 days
If my understanding is correct I'm well below the allowed 450 day limit and none in the last 12 months
looking forward for your response.

Can you demonstrate you attempted to come back in 2020?

Hi Contorted-svy

There were series of local lockdowns up until July'20 and I was unable to move from my home town, however when they were lifted in July I was trying to book a ticket to comeback but there was unbelievable competition and I was never successful up until 9th September. I do have a record of one or two communications with travel agents trying to book a ticket and also I did book a ticket on 29th Aug but it was cancelled so had to wait until sep 9th to comeback.

Since I have ILR, I was not bothered with citizenship until now! but our circumstances have changed and we will be welcoming second child end of this year and wife wants to give child birth in India so that she could get support from her family. The whole reason me applying for citizenship is that I could pass my uk citizenship to the child and apply for their passport direct from India, and potentially saving ILR and then further BC cost which will be around £5K+, and financially I'm in a tight spot at the moment hence thinking all this.

hope this makes sense.

I am not personally aware of people who applied asking for discretion on this one requirement, but it is in the guidance and if you are not asking for discretion on anything else and can demonstrate that you tried to come back but were not able to, you can try. You should know though that success is not guaranteed and you may lose the fee. Also you should keep in mind that most citizenship applications are processed within six months but some may take longer.

I think I will give it a try since it's a valid reason and was out of my control. Thank you so much for your advise have a great day.

Make sure to present all the evidence of local lockdowns at that point in time and the attempts you made to return. Good luck and come back to update us.

Sure will update how it went