Naturalisation questions

[juniorcitizen]

Hi all,

I've been following this forum for a couple years, and its been a great resource. I'm applying for naturalisation on October 4 (NCS appointment at Wandsworth already booked) after having been in the country for five full years, the past year with an ILR. I have a few questions I just want to check:

1) Regarding days out of the country, I understand that the departure and return days do not count as days out. Just to clarify, some of my dates will appear as:

Departure: June 15 2005; Return: June 15 2005
Departure: July 1 2005; Return: July 3 2005

In these two examples, am I correct in marking these as 0 days out of the country for the first example, and 1 day out of the country in the second?

2) Regarding total absences out of the country, I'm well under 400 days in total for the past five years, including being under 60 for this past year. However, for the past two weeks and the next week and a half, I have been and will be working in Paris (with regular trips back to the UK). This time away will still keep me under the 90/450 day limits. Is there any chance that this block of time away, especially being so close to my application date, could impact my application? My boss has provided me a letter to include with my application in support of my application and that explains that my job does require regular travel to address business needs.

3) I'm going to need to do some travelling during October and November, while my application is under review, and with any luck, approved. I will be back in the UK regularly to receive mail etc. in case the Home Office attempts to contact me regarding my application. While my application is being considered, do the days I'm out of the country count against me?

Secondly, I understand that once I get naturalised I can get a "Right to Adobe" sticker in my existing passport, until I get my British passport. Does anyone know how one goes about getting this, and how long it takes to get?

Many thanks!

[Joseph]

juniorcitizen

In answer to your questions:

1. Your calculation is correct.

2. Since you are within the limits, there is no need to worry about your increased travel in the last few weeks. Don't even mention it.

3. You should be OK. Make sure that someone can read your mail in case they send your questions or requests for additional information. N.B. Make sure that you are in the UK when your application is received in Liverpool. To be totally safe, you should count about 5 working days from the time your application is received in Wandsworth, or wait for the acknowledgement to arrive from Liverpool, whichever comes first.

Regarding ROA, it takes almost 4 months to get a certificate of entitlement put in your foreign passport. Getting a British passport is much quicker (2 to 3 weeks without express service). Better to just get the British passport first, so you can travel, then get the certificate of entitlement when you know you won't be using your foreign passport.

Once you get your naturalisation certificate, you should be able to use your foreign passport's ILR to get into the UK for a few trips at least. A friend of mine who had urgent travel did this without problem.

Joseph