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Discretion for British Citizenship when out of country days have crossed beyond 450 due to bereavement of a parent.

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2025 4:44 pm
by tonybaker
Hi

Dear moderators and group members – thank you so much for your unaverred support till now and a big big thanks for that

Total absence in last 5 years is less than 450 and less than 90 days in last 12 months however as there is a death of my parent, I need to stay back in my home country and due to this my total stay outside UK may come up to 465 days which is more than 450 days.

Does any discretion be exercised in this case from home office to consider my case stating bereavement of a parent' .I am having all medical documents/letters certified by doctor and death certificates issues by council.

Thank you.

Re: Discretion for British Citizenship when out of country days have crossed beyond 450 due to bereavement of a parent.

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2025 4:54 pm
by contorted_svy
That won't be a problem, absences up to 480 days in the 5 years qualifying period are usually accepted if you respect all other requirements. No need to attach death certificate or letters or anything like that either.

Re: Discretion for British Citizenship when out of country days have crossed beyond 450 due to bereavement of a parent.

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2025 5:12 pm
by tonybaker
Thank you for your quick reply.

Actually gov.uk website says 450 days in 5 years ,is there any link or description available from GOV.UK website about 480 days rules which can be used in case of any discretion exercised during bereavement of immediate family member. I would like to refer the section in my covering letter when applied.

Kindly request you to help me on this.

Many Thanks

Re: Discretion for British Citizenship when out of country days have crossed beyond 450 due to bereavement of a parent.

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2025 8:10 pm
by contorted_svy
The bereavement of a family member is not relevant. This is explained in the guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... accessible

Absences during the qualifying period
Where an applicant has spent more than the 450 days for section 6(1) applications, or 270 days for section 6(2) applications, outside of the UK during the qualifying period you must consider exercising discretion if they meet the other requirements.

Where the applicant exceeds the permitted absence by 30 days or less you must exercise discretion unless there are other grounds on which the application falls to be refused.