Clarification about requirements to get British citizenship via "settled status" route

[Freddy84]

Hi All,

I read the requirements needed to get the British citizenship and I see that one of the routes is getting the settles status and then applying for citizenship after 12 months from the moment the settled status is granted.

However, reading the gov.uk website I found contraddictory (at least for me) info with regard to the requirements to get the settled status:

1) "If you have pre-settled status, you can spend up to 2 years in a row outside the UK without losing your status. You will need to maintain your continuous residence if you want to qualify for settled status."

2) "You can leave the UK during the continuous residence for up to:
• 180 days at a time
• 540 days in total"

I can't understand if someone with pre-settled status will be phisically outside the UK for more than 360 days during a 2 years period that will be used to achieve the 5 years of continuous residence required, would this way break the continuous residence rule and therefore wouldn't be eligible for settled status, and consequently to apply for British Citizenship.

Example: Someone moved from EU to UK on 01/01/2016, got pre-settled status on 01/01/2019 without having been out from the UK for a single day until then, and then would spend 70% of the time phisically outside the UK for the remaining 2 years (from 01/01/2019 to 01/01/2021) to accomplish the 5 years as required by continuous residence rule. Would this person be able to obtain the settled status (and then citizenship after further 12 months)?

Many thanks to anyone who could clarify this

Fred

[CR001]

Best not to confuse the EU settled scheme rules with the British nationality LAWS. They are separate and have different requirements completely.

Acceptable absences for one won't necessarily be accepted for the other.

[Freddy84]

Best not to confuse the EU settled scheme rules with the British nationality LAWS. They are separate and have different requirements completely.

Acceptable absences for one won't necessarily be accepted for the other.

Hi CR001 and thank you for the answer.

My objective is to get the British citizenship, so I suppose I should be looking at those requirements..
Do you know which are the acceptable absences in this case?

Many thanks,

Freddy

[CR001]

For citizenship your absence limits in the 5 years immediately preceding date of application is no more than 450 days in the 5 years and no more than 90 days in the final 12 months before date of application.

If you are married to a British citizen, the residence requirement is 3 years and the absence limit is 270 days in the preceding 3 years and again the 90 days in the final 12 months before date of application.

The absence limits are in addition to the mandatory requirement of being physically present in the UK, at the start of the 5 year qualifying period, corresponding to the date of application.

[Freddy84]

For citizenship your absence limits in the 5 years immediately preceding date of application is no more than 450 days in the 5 years and no more than 90 days in the final 12 months before date of application.

So those 450 days in the 5 years could potentially be all in a row and still I would comply with the requirements to apply for citizenship?

Say, I'm phisicallly in the UK at day 1, then I go somewhere outside the UK for 400 days, and day 401 I'm back to UK, and I won't go outside at all till day 1825 (=365*5...so 5 years)...then I would be ok to apply?

Isn't there the rule of being at least 180 days in the UK in any 12 months period?

Thanks

[CR001]

No, there is no 180 days rule for citizenship.

[Freddy84]

No, there is no 180 days rule for citizenship.

I see, ok thank you very much for the clarification, much appreciated