abscences from UK for Naturalisation

[hophop]

Hello,

Looking for help and ideas here. I will complete my 12 months on ILR in mid Mar. I was absent from UK for 70 days after getting ILR. I have to go away again in feb end for min 20 days for personal reasons (which i worried might extend).

Now i am trying to find a way to apply for naturalization before going away so that they wont count the next 20 days.

I spoke to NCS and they said they can take my application 1 or 2 max before the date of 12 months completion and they will send the documents straight away to home office.

I spoke to an agent and he said they can apply on my behalf while i am away. They will be able to return my documents.

Or i can keep the forms ready and ask my friend to apply on the due date and most probably by the time i hear anything from HO i will be back to UK.

So given the above case what do you guys suggest? Is it compulsory to be present in UK at the time of application?

Also please suggest me good agents from your experiences. (It wd be grt if dedicated thread to give feedback with our experiences with each agents)


Best Regards