URGENT HELP: Citizenship application with Covid-related absences

[phil_a]

Hi team,

I'm reaching out in a pretty urgent situation where I have to submit my citizenship application by tonight. I've gone over the 450 limit over the past 5 years due to two prolonged pandemic-related absences in 2020. I'm now at 487 days and if I don't apply now, next time I'll be eligible is 2026. I satisfy every other requirement and I've written a nice cover letter explaining how covid affected my absences, but I'm just not sure it's gonna be accepted as a justification. I've spoken to a lawyer as well but they said what's in the guideline about pandemic-related absences is open to interpretation. Some forums say that you need evidence of cancelled tickets and so on, but the regulation is very vague so I'm really not sure.

Basically, I had two absences. One of them I went home for 110 days as I left to go check on my family's wellbeing as my mother was suffering mental health problems due to the lockdown and then stayed back as I have a congenital heart condition and didn't want to travel during high infection rates (also flights were not readily available and extremely expensive). Second absence, was home for 67 days. I had a planned surgery back in my home country for which I had to leave early as the airports were shutting and I would've missed it, and then was advised to not travel until I was fully healed to avoid risk of bleeding etc if i was infected (I removed my tonsils and excessive coughing could've done that).

Worth mentioning I've lived in the UK for 7 years, having studied and then stayed for work. All my life is based here and I also have Settled status.

Pretty complex case and I'm very unsure as to what to do, so if anyone could help me with this decision by end of day you would literally be a life saver.

Thank you so much in advance!

[contorted_svy]

It really depends on when you were absent. If some of these days were during the first lockdown and you could demonstrate that there were no flights, that would be potentially acceptable. But when flights resumed, it's way less likely they would accept the pandemic as a justification. Having surgery in another country definitely doesn't count as a valid justification that would be waived unfortunately. Up to 900 days, absences are disregarded if you meet all other requirements AND you can demonstrate you established your home in the UK (eg you bought a house) and/or your family (eg got married to a Brit). Read here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... d_0709.pdf page 10. As your absences are up to 730 days they would expect you to have lived in the UK for 7 years. If you can do all of this, then apply, but be mindful you could be rejected and lose the fee.

[phil_a]

Thank you so much!!

My first absence was during the first Covid wave in May 2020, and the second one during the second wave in November 2020. I understand it for the second one, a medical reason doesn’t constitute a justification based on a global pandemic, however, in my view, it does sound as grounds for “not being able to return to the UK due to global pandemic” as I was advised not to do so because it was a direct threat to my health which was brought by the pandemic.

In regards to being able to prove that flights were unavailable/expensive, I’ve tried looking up on Google whether I can find historical flight data and this is not easy to prove at all.

Thank you for the guide you attached, this is one I haven’t seen before, and if my interpretation is right since I have under 730 days, I don’t need to prove an exception reason, but only that my life, career, finances and estate are based in the UK. Is this the case? I’m still writing my cover letter explaining why I have those extra days because of Covid, but it sounds like as long as I’m well established in the UK. I don’t need to prove something further than that. I don’t have any estate here per se as I’ve only been here for seven years, but I have bank accounts that show transactions as well as doctors, appointments etc.

What is your view based on this?

[contorted_svy]

By "estate" they mean all of your possessions, eg if you bought a house here, and if you no longer have a bank account in your country but just in the UK, plus the fact you work here, that could be proof that you established your life here.

The second absence wouldn't be judged reasonable - you were not prevented from coming back by the fact that there weren't flights, so that wouldn't suffice (the fact you were told it was a threat to your health stands, but it was your choice to come back or not, you had the opportunity and made a choice not to. the reason doesn't matter). For the first lockdown, I am not sure how you can prove that there weren't flights available to come back, given that you travelled outbound - maybe look up old news to know the exact date borders reopened? That would be information in the public domain, so nothing you'd need further proof of. But again, I don't know for sure.

The guide I linked is the general guidance for citizenship. I recommend you read it in full and check in detail if you meet all requirements. Check also this one https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... retion.pdf page 17:

Where the applicant has absences of between 480-900 for applications under
section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981, or 300-540 for applications under
section 6(2) and otherwise meets the requirements you must only consider
exercising discretion where the applicant has established their home, employment,
family and finances in the UK, and one or more of the following applies:
• at least 2 years residence (for applications under section 6(1)), or 1 year (for
applications under section 6(2)), without substantial absences immediately prior
to the beginning of the qualifying period. If the period of absence is greater than
730 days (for section 6(1)) or 450 days (for section 6(2)) the period of residence
must be at least 3 or 2 years respectively
• the excess absences are the result of:
o postings abroad in Crown service under the UK government or in service
designated under section 2(3) of the British Nationality act 1981.
o accompanying a British citizen spouse or civil partner on an appointment
overseas
• the excess absences were an unavoidable consequence of the nature of the
applicant’s career, such as a merchant seaman or employment with a
multinational company based in the UK with frequent travel abroad
• exceptionally compelling reasons of an occupational or compassionate nature
to justify naturalisation now, such as a firm job offer where British citizenship is
a statutory or mandatory requirement
• the applicant was prevented from being in the UK because they had been
removed from the UK, and the decision to remove them was later overturned
• the applicant was incorrectly prevented from resuming permanent residence in
the UK following an absence
• the excess absences were because the applicant was unable to return to the
UK because of global pandemic

If you can prove (and explain in the cover letter) that at least one of the above applies (plus having established your home/employment/family/finances in the UK) that will be enough. But they will be able to decide whether to accept your application or not.

[phil_a]

Thank you! I’ve been in the UK for 7 and a bit years so I think I can claim the first bullet point! Not sure what they mean by “substantial absences” as I was a student at the time so spent a significant amount of time at home, so hopefully that will suffice.

Really appreciate it!!