British Naturilisation

[Fawaz]

Dear all

Can I Apply for British citizenship as I could not back to the country because of global pandemic in 2021? I have been living continously in the UK since April 2013. I've got settled status in June 2021 and British language and life in the UK test certificate.

Thanks all

[contorted_svy]

Where do you live now? Can you post a detailed history of your absences for the last 5 years (3 if you are married to a British citizen)?

[Fawaz]

I much appreciate your help.
I am an italian citizen who is currently living in the uk since 2023. Before the coronovirus restricionts I went back home and spent about 6 months in 2019. in 2020 the Coronavirus travel restriction took place. in may 2021 I applied for Setteled status under the EU settlment from italy and my application was successful. In June 2021 I came back to the UK in the middle of the global pandemic: travelling abroad was allowed but only wearing a face mask and providing a negative coronavirus test which I provided. Now I am thinking to applie for British Citizenship.

Does the Corona Virus restiction count into the 5 years that are required by home office for citizenship?

Thank you

[Fawaz]

Applogies: i am currently living in the Uk since 2013

[contorted_svy]

If you write a list of all the trips you have taken outside the UK, with exact dates you left and came back, I can compute the total of your absences and provide an answer. Were you out of the UK in 2020, during the whole pandemic? Or were you here?

[Ticktack]

If you meet all requirements, then you can apply. 5 years is concurrent, so you work your way down from the day you plan to apply.

So yes Covid years are currently part of it.

[Fawaz]

Could someone explain this please ?

-- from Home office website
Discretion over an applicant’s presence in the UK at the start of the qualifying period in exceptional cases
There may be special reasons, such as those relating to the applicant’s health, that prevented them from being in the UK at the start of the qualifying period. The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 introduced the power to treat the applicant as having fulfilled this requirement in the special circumstances of a particular case even though they were not in the UK at the beginning of the residential period.

Discretion to treat the requirement to have been in the UK on the first day of the residential qualifying period as fulfilled should normally be exercised if one or more of the following is met:

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 applicant is normally resident in the UK but there were exceptional reasons why they could not return from abroad at that time, such as illness, or travel restrictions due to a pandemic

[Fawaz]

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.

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:

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:

postings abroad in Crown service under the UK government or in service designated under section 2(3) of the British Nationality act 1981.

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

[contorted_svy]

If you post a history of your trips,with dates, I can advise on whether you need to ask for discretion or not. Without that, we are having a discussion about nothing.

[Fawaz]

Apologies for my late reply.

I've been absent from the UK the whole 2021, and came back on 11th June 2025. Plus in 2023 - 2024 - 2025 I took a few weeks holiday (94 days).

[contorted_svy]

I am sorry but that isn't clear to me. Could you write your list of absences like this:

dd/mm/yy Left - dd/mm/yy Returned

for each trip? It is important to understand if you were here in March 2020 as well.

[Fawaz]

Sorry about that
2020 -->the whole year - from 01 Jan to 31 Dec
2021 --> from 01 Jan to 11 June
2023 --> 28 Jan to 21 Feb
2023 --> 15 April to 25 April
2023 --> 15 Oct to 31 Oct
2023-2024 --> 30 Dec 2023 to 10 Jan 2024
2024 --> 16 March to 2 April
2025 --> 13 Jan to 4 Feb

[contorted_svy]

It is a requirement that you were physically in the UK on the first day of your qualifying period. As you returned to the UK on the 11 June 2021 you need to wait until the 12 June 2026 to apply. It's not a matter of number of absences, the issue is that you were absent from the UK 5 years ago, so you can't apply now.

[Fawaz]

The Home Office have a discretion to allow absences from the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel was severely restricted.
Discretion exists to allow absences up to 900 days in the five year period or 540 days in the three year period (for applicants who are married to British citizens).

[contorted_svy]

As I explained above the problem is not your overall number of absences but the fact you were absent from the UK 5 years ago, at the start of your qualifying period. That requirement can't be waived unless in exceptional circumstances.

[Ticktack]

The Home Office have a discretion to allow absences from the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel was severely restricted.
Discretion exists to allow absences up to 900 days in the five year period or 540 days in the three year period (for applicants who are married to British citizens).

COVID happened in March 2020, you'd left the UK 2 months (Jan 1) before that happened. Also the borders were opened in August, but you didn't come back until June 2021. How on God's green earth can you even blame that absence on COVID??

[Fawaz]

Nothing was for sure. That's the reason I got the covid-19 in September 2021 in the UK and had been in hospital under special treatment for over 12 days.
No need for your personal thoughts.

[contorted_svy]

My original point still stands. In order to apply for citizenship, regardless of discretion or number of absences, you had to be present in the UK on the first day of your qualifying period, 5 years ago, and you were absent until the 11 June 2021. You will qualify next year.

[paulina_wa]

Clearly, OP simply wants to hear a different answer and won't be satisfied until they do.

So here goes. It is completely up to you to apply when you want to. If you think you stand a chance of your application being accepted then go for it, it's your £1500 on the line.

However, naturalisation application approval is, for the most part, a pretty simple flowchart exercise. While discretion can indeed be applied to the presence on the first day of the qualifying period requirement you'd have to have an extremely compelling reason and I think "nothing was for sure, I had to spend 12 days in the hospital, and had to wear a mask on the plane" sadly doesn't cut it.

Again, if you think you can put forth a compelling case as to why you were absent at the beginning of the qualifying period (and for a long while into it), and why you are applying right now as opposed to waiting a year a bit, then go for it. Just don't be surprised or disappointed when your application is, nearly inevitably, refused. And who knows, maybe we're all wrong and you'll get lucky.

[contorted_svy]

For clarity, here is the relevant section of the guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark22

Presence in the UK at the start of the qualifying period
There are certain people who do not need to have been in the UK at the start of the 5-year qualifying period. These are:

applicants who are applying only on the grounds of Crown service

spouses or civil partners of British citizens in Crown or designated service overseas

applicants who are technically absent from the UK

All other applicants must have been physically present in the UK on the first day of the qualifying period. There is discretion to waive this requirement (see section on discretion).

In the UK at the start of the qualifying period
In most cases, we expect applicants to have been in the UK on day 1 of the qualifying period as this means they have completed the full 5 (or 3) years in the UK as required. However, there is discretion to waive this requirement in special circumstances.

To identify the start of the qualifying period you use the day after the application date minus the length of the qualifying period. For example in an application under section

6(1) made on 1 September 2022, the applicant must have been legally in the UK on 2 September 2017.

Discretion over an applicant’s presence in the UK at the start of the qualifying period in exceptional cases
There may be special reasons, such as those relating to the applicant’s health, that prevented them from being in the UK at the start of the qualifying period. The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 introduced the power to treat the applicant as having fulfilled this requirement in the special circumstances of a particular case even though they were not in the UK at the beginning of the residential period.

Discretion to treat the requirement to have been in the UK on the first day of the residential qualifying period as fulfilled should normally be exercised if one or more of the following is met:

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 applicant is normally resident in the UK but there were exceptional reasons why they could not return from abroad at that time, such as illness, or travel restrictions due to a pandemic

the applicant is a current or former member of the armed forces (see the section on armed forces applicants)

If you propose to exercise discretion, you should see appropriate evidence demonstrating why the applicant was unable to be present at the start of the qualifying period. For example, if this is based on health grounds, you should see relevant medical evidence.

This is what is relevant to you. If you want to request discretion on the presence in the UK at the start of the qualifying period, and in that include roughly 463 days of absence after that, which means you would need to ask for discretion also on the number of absences, this puts your application into shaky territory (as well as having to demonstrate why you didn't return sooner, as borders reopened in 2020, so the pandemic excuse wouldn't work after then, and you can't request discretion on two requirements). Is there a particular reason why you need to apply for British citizenship now? I would recommend waiting and having better chances of securing a positive outcome but at the end of the day it is entirely up to you.

[contorted_svy]

Made a mistake in replying to this thread, apologies.