Citizenship Excess Absences Cover Letter and Questions

[mkpvb]

Hello all,

I have been reading a lot of posts on the forum which provided a lot of help and asnwers but still have a few questions.
Situation:
Full resident in the UK since 2010. ILR since 2019. UK university diploma. Fully employed on a permanent basis since 2015. Passed life in the UK test. Under 90 days absences in the past year.
Only issue: 555 days of absences in the last 5 years. Most of these( 313 days between September 2020 and January 2022. Did come back and forth 4 different times) during Covid when I went back home due to some personal mental health issues( can provide UK doctor's letter) as well as COVID related issues of parents. Do not have any cancelled flight evidence.
Only 80 days total absences in the 2 years previous the qualifying period.
A) In your opinion, would I still be eligible for the Home Office to apply discretion? I do meet all other requirements, I can provide evidence of 7 years plus of residence( letting contracts as well as employers letters and HMRC documents).

B) Second question I wanted to ask is around the Cover Letter. At the end of the application form there are 4 questions. Should I do a separae cover letter or explain in these fields everyhting there is to explain and the conditions under which I am asking them to exercise discretion.
1)Please tell us which of the requirements you do not meet and the reason you do not meet them.500
characters
2) Are there any reasons why you cannot meet the requirements to become a British citizen (for example,
you have had too many absences from the UK)? 5000 characters
3)If you do not meet the statutory requirements to become a British citizen, are there any special circumstances why you think the Home Secretary should still grant your application?
Please confirm which requirement(s) you think you fail to meet and what special circumstances should be considered. 5000 characters
4)Do you have any other details that you would like to be considered regarding this applicant and their
application to be registered as a British Citizen? 500 characters

Questions I have:
Should I explain in question number 2 why I have so many absences in the qualifying period and then explain in question number 3 that I have 7 years of residence as well as list there all addreses and all entry and exits for the additional 2 years? Should I still do a separate cover letter?
Initially I tried to list my 7 years address history and 7 years entry en exists in the initial form( but did not have enough entry field and also they only asked for 5 years so wanted to comply with the request)
Should I wait for them to request my entry and exists for 7 years and addreses or should I mention this and list them in question 3?
I am keen to explain the 7 years residence as that seems to be the only condition through which Home Office can exercise discretion.
Any other things I should consider mentioning?

Many thanks!
Looking forward to hearing some view and maybe inputs from others in similar situations.

[contorted_svy]

Hello all,

I have been reading a lot of posts on the forum which provided a lot of help and asnwers but still have a few questions.
Situation:
Full resident in the UK since 2010. ILR since 2019. UK university diploma. Is this a degree or diploma? The two are different. Fully employed on a permanent basis since 2015. Passed life in the UK test. Under 90 days absences in the past year.
Only issue: 555 days of absences in the last 5 years. Most of these( 313 days between September 2020 and January 2022. Did come back and forth 4 different times) during Covid when I went back home due to some personal mental health issues( can provide UK doctor's letter) as well as COVID related issues of parents. Do not have any cancelled flight evidence.
Only 80 days total absences in the 2 years previous the qualifying period.
A) In your opinion, would I still be eligible for the Home Office to apply discretion? I do meet all other requirements, I can provide evidence of 7 years plus of residence( letting contracts as well as employers letters and HMRC documents). Yes you can ask for discretion. No problem if you don't have evidence of cancelled flights during COVID as you have the two years before the qualifying period. How many absences did you have in these two years (6 and 7 yeras ago)?

B) Second question I wanted to ask is around the Cover Letter. At the end of the application form there are 4 questions. Should I do a separae cover letter or explain in these fields everyhting there is to explain and the conditions under which I am asking them to exercise discretion. You can write in those fields "please see cover letter" and elaborate in a cover letter as you say.
1)Please tell us which of the requirements you do not meet and the reason you do not meet them.500
characters
2) Are there any reasons why you cannot meet the requirements to become a British citizen (for example,
you have had too many absences from the UK)? 5000 characters
3)If you do not meet the statutory requirements to become a British citizen, are there any special circumstances why you think the Home Secretary should still grant your application?
Please confirm which requirement(s) you think you fail to meet and what special circumstances should be considered. 5000 characters
4)Do you have any other details that you would like to be considered regarding this applicant and their
application to be registered as a British Citizen? 500 characters

Questions I have:
Should I explain in question number 2 why I have so many absences in the qualifying period and then explain in question number 3 that I have 7 years of residence as well as list there all addreses and all entry and exits for the additional 2 years? Should I still do a separate cover letter?
Initially I tried to list my 7 years address history and 7 years entry en exists in the initial form( but did not have enough entry field and also they only asked for 5 years so wanted to comply with the request)
Should I wait for them to request my entry and exists for 7 years and addreses or should I mention this and list them in question 3?
I am keen to explain the 7 years residence as that seems to be the only condition through which Home Office can exercise discretion. You don't need to explain why you were absent as you are providing the extra 2 years before your qualifying period started. You can provide in your cover letter the absences you had in the 2 years before the qualifying period starts (I would do this to prove you didn't have substantial absences before the qualifying period starts). Addresses should not be needed so only provide them if UKVI asks directly. I would recommend you cover this and the fact you are asking for discretion in a cover letter
Any other things I should consider mentioning?

Many thanks!
Looking forward to hearing some view and maybe inputs from others in similar situations.

If your passport gets stamped you don't need to provide employment documents or anything (letting contracts would not be accepted as evidence anyway).

What you do need to provide is evidence of the following:

Where the applicant has absences of between 480 and 900 days for applications under section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981, or 300 and 540 days 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:

So you can provide your current letting contract, current employer letter, a yearly bank statement that you should be able to request from your bank, any evidence of the fact you have family here. All this will need to be explained in the cover letter as well.

[mkpvb]

Hello.
Many thanks for the answer.
It is a degree. I did a 5 year engineering masters degree in Scotland.

In year 6 and year 7 I had about 80 days of absences( about 40 each year).

You mention to say "please see cover letter". Is there any benefit in doing a separate cover letter and not explaining these points as an asnwer to question 3 which states:
"If you do not meet the statutory requirements to become a British citizen, are there any special circumstances why you think the Home Secretary should still grant your application?"
I also did not see a separate field on the online form for a cover letter, hence why I was keen on explaining the absences in year 6 and 7 in the field to the question above.

In terms of providing evidence for "the applicant has established their home, employment, family and finances in the UK,".
I can provide letting contract, employer letter, bank statement but in terms of family I am a bit lost as I do not have a partner at all.( I guess I am not the only single person that has applied for citizenship so wondering what is their stance on this?. )

[contorted_svy]

It is your choice if you want to answer those questions in a cover letter or not. Personally, as you have more documents to include and you also may want to include trips in years 6-7, I would suggest you write a cover letter anyway and answer those questions in it so you are not limited by the character count, but of course this is entirely up to you. No problem if you don't have a partner at all - it may potentially raise eyebrows if you had a partner in another country. As long as you don't own, eg houses abroad this should be enough.

There is no requirement for a cover letter formally but you can choose to upload one on TLScontact before your biometric appointment anyway. I personally felt better writing a cover letter as those fields don't accept special characters so it's for example difficult to input dates. There is no explicit downside to a cover letter, the caseworker will review everything you submit. I would say if one is asking for discretion a cover letter is more useful.

The only thing that I didn't mention is to make sure you were present in the UK on the day 5 years + 1 day before the day you plan to apply.

[mkpvb]

Many thanks for the asnwers!
Yes, I was in the UK 5 years prior on the day. Basically I do match all requirements apart from the 450 days in 5 year and also the "family" point( I do not have a partner nor any property abroad). My only family are my parents who still live in my country.
What is TLSContact?
I have filled in the online application here: https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/next

[contorted_svy]

It's the service you will need to use to book a biometric appointment. As long as you show your life is established here, there is no requirement to have your family physically in the UK.

[mkpvb]

Many thanks for your answers.
I have reached the stage of uploading my documents and have a few questions:
1. How important are the categories on the TLS page? For example, for the referee letters I have put them under Sponsors as there does not seem to be a specific category for the referee letters.
2. For the passport, I have uploaded the front page as the rest of my passport is empty. I have seen on this forum and in a few other places that people suggest to upload all pages even if empty but there is no such indication anywhere on the official website. Should I upload all pages of my EU passport even if they are empty?
3. My passport is from 2022. I do have a picture of the front page of my old passport. Should I also upload that one?
4. Back to categories of files. Some files like P60s I am using both as financial evidence but mainly as proof of residency. What should I do in terms of category?( In terms of proof of residency the category also lists bills but the official documents state that bills are not considered proof of residenct and that P60s are better)

Many thanks!

Paul.

[alterhase58]

Many thanks for your answers.
I have reached the stage of uploading my documents and have a few questions:
1. How important are the categories on the TLS page? For example, for the referee letters I have put them under Sponsors as there does not seem to be a specific category for the referee letters.
Those categories are not important. Caseworkers will look at all documents. Loading into"Other" category is ok.
2. For the passport, I have uploaded the front page as the rest of my passport is empty. I have seen on this forum and in a few other places that people suggest to upload all pages even if empty but there is no such indication anywhere on the official website. Should I upload all pages of my EU passport even if they are empty?
In case they ask for all pages later why not load all?
3. My passport is from 2022. I do have a picture of the front page of my old passport. Should I also upload that one?
Only current passport is needed.
4. Back to categories of files. Some files like P60s I am using both as financial evidence but mainly as proof of residency. What should I do in terms of category?( In terms of proof of residency the category also lists bills but the official documents state that bills are not considered proof of residenct and that P60s are better)
Ignore the categories. Note the systen is also used for other applications. P60s are proof of residence. Financial evidence is not required.
Many thanks!

Paul.

[contorted_svy]

I would upload all pages of passports from the qualifying period,.so also the old passport expired in 2022. It's free to scan and upload so why not for peace of mind. Categories on TLS contact dont matter and some names will be more relevant for visa applications. Just upload what the gov.uk checklist says and don't worry about the headings there.

[mkpvb]

Many thanks all for the replies and information.
I have applied and went for the biometrics today.
Hopefully my case will be successful but will update here once I have an answer. Hope the wait won't be too long.
All the best!