Indefinite Leave to Remain - Absence

[HipHopShit]

I read this on another immigration website, but if you're applying for ILR based on long residence but lost your passport, how do you prove to the Home Office about your absences? Technically, even if you have a long absence from the UK, if that documentation was in your lost passport, how does the Home Office know about those absences if you don't declare them on the application form? I know that UK immigration control only started monitoring your exit from this country only in the last two years or so.
I won't support this practice, because the consequences of being caught will be huge. You are probably facing deporation and possible travel to the UK in the long term. But I'm just curious how the Home Office is ever going to find out your absences without your passport. I'm sure this must have been done in the past.

[miyoco]

I would be curious to know the answer to this one, because I just don't see how the Home Office can prove your absence without your passport!

[ppron747]

I think you are missing an important point, miyoco.

It is not the Home Office's responsibility to prove anything, in this context.

It is for the applicant to satisfy the Home Office that the statements he/she makes in the application are true. If the Home Office have any doubts, they can refuse the application. They don't have to prove the applicant is lying; they only need to suspect that the applicant is not telling the truth.

[HipHopShit]

Then how do you prove to the Home Office that your total absence over the 10 years was within 18 months?