Proof of Living in the UK - non-EEA

[egiyige]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the middle of completing my naturalisation application and have some questions regarding proof of continuous residence for five years.

I am a non-EEA national and received my permanent residence in December 2018. And I had a 5 year residence permit as an EEA family member before this.

The guidance says that:

"If you are a Non-EEA National, you need to include your passport to prove you have lived in the UK for the relevant 3- or 5-year period.
If you do not have your passport or it was not stamped when you entered the UK, you need to include letters (for example, from your employer or government department) as proof.
Bank statements or household bills are not suitable proof you have been living in the UK."

I only travelled outside the UK twice for the past five years and each travel was about a month. However my passport was not stamped when I came back to the UK, I only have stamps when I entered the foreign country I travelled to.

Will I need to prove my residence in the UK? I can ask for letters from my university for 2013 - 2017 and letter from previous employment from 2017 to 2018 and current employment from September 2019. However, I was not in employment during Aug 2018 and Aug 2019. How shall I prove my residence in the UK in this case? I wasn't paying any bills as I lived with family. (I had a few letters from GP and hospital during this period but I am not sure if they are enough)

I am also not sure why they would need me to prove this as they should have records of people entering the UK?

Thank you for helping!!

[egiyige]