Can I apply for UK citizenship 90 before the actual 5 year r

[illmatha]

Can I apply for UK citizenship 90 days before the actual 5 year residency anniversary?

each year i am allowed to be away from the country for 90 days. it means during my final year ( i.e. my 5th year ) if i am absent from the UK FOR ZERO DAYS then I should be allowed to apply for citizenship 90 days earlier, right? because i will meet the "5 year residency" requirement anyway!


essentially, it means for UKBA " 1 year = 1 year minus 90 days ( i.e. 365-90 days ) "

so, im asking, has any1 applied 90 days earlier??

[addh]

No

[friendinneed]

You are required to be resident (ie this is the country you are living in, your main home is etc) for 5 years which is requirement one. Requirement two is that you havent been outside of the country for more than 90 days in any one year.

You have to meet both requirements independently and simply because you go on a 60 day holiday doesnt mean you cease to be resident in the UK, your just not physical present for that period.

In short, you cant apply 90 days early.

[illmatha]

You are required to be resident (ie this is the country you are living in, your main home is etc) for 5 years which is requirement one. Requirement two is that you havent been outside of the country for more than 90 days in any one year.

You have to meet both requirements independently and simply because you go on a 60 day holiday doesnt mean you cease to be resident in the UK, your just not physical present for that period.

In short, you cant apply 90 days early.

each year I HAVE to be physically present for "365-90 days". because they allow you to be physically ABSENT from the UK for "90 days in 1 year". So it would be MEANINGLESS for UKBA to say "you have to be physically present for 365 days."

so in effect, if one has has stayed at least 365-90 days in the UK, then that year is regarded as FULL 1 YEAR. this implies, if we follow my orignal argument, one should be allowed a citizenship 90 days earlier.

the only reason they don't make this condition EXPLICIT is because MOST people are likely to be absent from the UK, SO, they say residency requirement is 5 years exactly with maximum 450 days absent. UKBA are ONLY CONCERNED WITH the STAY IN THE UK which has to be MINIMUM 365-90 days. they don't care where you go for 90 days. So effective year is 1 Year minus 90 days.

[friendinneed]

Ultimately it is up to you and you can have the argument with UKBA if you want.

Residency, which is what the requirement is, does not equate to being in the country 100% of the time. I dont suddenly become a resident of Dubai when I went on holiday last month even if i was physically in that country rather than here. The requirement is 5 years residency and not 5 years present therefore lack of holiday doesnt reduce the requirement and nor can you count time spent in the UK on visitor visas as during this time you arent legally resident even if you are physically present.

[illmatha]

Ultimately it is up to you and you can have the argument with UKBA if you want.

Residency, which is what the requirement is, does not equate to being in the country 100% of the time. I dont suddenly become a resident of Dubai when I went on holiday last month even if i was physically in that country rather than here. The requirement is 5 years residency and not 5 years present therefore lack of holiday doesnt reduce the requirement and nor can you count time spent in the UK on visitor visas as during this time you arent legally resident even if you are physically present.

here, http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/n-400instr.pdf

please read "When Should I Use This Form?" in that pdf – btw it's for US citizenship. i just want to show you what i mean.

Americans have the SAME 5 year residency requirement. BUT they made it explicit and said "If you are applying based on five years as a lawful permanent resident..., you may apply for naturalization up to 90 days before you meet the ''continuous residence'' requirement."

and this will tell you "what continuous residence" mean?

http://www.immihelp.com/citizenship/nat ... ility.html

[blacksta]

Comparing oranges to apples. Two different countries and law. I guess the utlimate solution is to find out applying 90 days early in the U.K

[friendinneed]

Americans have the SAME 5 year residency requirement. BUT they made it explicit and said "If you are applying based on five years as a lawful permanent resident..., you may apply for naturalization up to 90 days before you meet the ''continuous residence'' requirement."

They dont have the "same" requirement, it happens that they both have a requirement of 5 years.

The US law explicitly says you can apply 90 days before you are eligible (and doesnt say you can deduct non-holiday off so can apply 180 days early).

The UK law explicitly says that you must be eligible on the day the Home Office receive the application.

For UK, you therefore can technically send the form a day or two early, depending which postal class you use, but still must be a completed 5 years residency at the point UKBA receive it.

[illmatha]

Americans have the SAME 5 year residency requirement. BUT they made it explicit and said "If you are applying based on five years as a lawful permanent resident..., you may apply for naturalization up to 90 days before you meet the ''continuous residence'' requirement."

They dont have the "same" requirement, it happens that they both have a requirement of 5 years.

The US law explicitly says you can apply 90 days before you are eligible (and doesnt say you can deduct non-holiday off so can apply 180 days early).

The UK law explicitly says that you must be eligible on the day the Home Office receive the application.

For UK, you therefore can technically send the form a day or two early, depending which postal class you use, but still must be a completed 5 years residency at the point UKBA receive it.

I said "...the same '5 year' residency requirement." The amount of time is what I was talking about. I didn't say every condition is same.

Yes. The UK law explicitly says "you must be eligible on the day the Home Office receive the application, BUT, it also says 'with 450 days absent in 5 year from the UK'"

What UKBA want to see is that a person has STAYED in the UK for at least 365-90 day in 1 FULL YEAR - do you agree? - (or in other words, the ACTUAL (or effective) residency in the UK = stay in the UK) and thus one must stay at least 5 year WITH 450 days absent from the UK to qualify for citizenship (since the ACTUAL (or effective) residency in the UK = stay in the UK). BUT IF a person is continuously staying in the UK for "5 year minus 90 days" then, logically, he has satisfied the residency requirement. After this time even if he goes anywhere at all, he WILL qualify for citizenship anyway and a person with a good intellect would not reject such applicant.

Don't you think so?

Plus they take 6 months to process an application which is 180 day!

[VoipGuru]

25 may 2011 - Got ILR (2+3 years)

25 May 2012 - CAN I apply citizenship (form AN) via NCS ?

[jms_uk]

a person with a good intellect would not reject such applicant.

Well, as you are not keen on everyone's advice here, I hope you have £851 to spare, when you apply 90 days too early.

And please, do come back to us to tell us how it went!

[fev]

Americans have the SAME 5 year residency requirement. BUT they made it explicit and said "If you are applying based on five years as a lawful permanent resident..., you may apply for naturalization up to 90 days before you meet the ''continuous residence'' requirement."

They dont have the "same" requirement, it happens that they both have a requirement of 5 years.

The US law explicitly says you can apply 90 days before you are eligible (and doesnt say you can deduct non-holiday off so can apply 180 days early).

The UK law explicitly says that you must be eligible on the day the Home Office receive the application.

For UK, you therefore can technically send the form a day or two early, depending which postal class you use, but still must be a completed 5 years residency at the point UKBA receive it.

I said "...the same '5 year' residency requirement." The amount of time is what I was talking about. I didn't say every condition is same.

Yes. The UK law explicitly says "you must be eligible on the day the Home Office receive the application, BUT, it also says 'with 450 days absent in 5 year from the UK'"

What UKBA want to see is that a person has STAYED in the UK for at least 365-90 day in 1 FULL YEAR - do you agree? - (or in other words, the ACTUAL (or effective) residency in the UK = stay in the UK) and thus one must stay at least 5 year WITH 450 days absent from the UK to qualify for citizenship (since the ACTUAL (or effective) residency in the UK = stay in the UK). BUT IF a person is continuously staying in the UK for "5 year minus 90 days" then, logically, he has satisfied the residency requirement. After this time even if he goes anywhere at all, he WILL qualify for citizenship anyway and a person with a good intellect would not reject such applicant.

Don't you think so?

Plus they take 6 months to process an application which is 180 day!

What UKBA wants to see is the dates not the days as such. They allow you to have time out of the country but they determine your 5 years residency I believe like this if you arrived on 1 May 2005, on 1 May 2009 you will be eligible to apply for ILR and say if your ILR is granted on 1 June 2009 you can apply for citizenship 1 June 2010. Plus they look for how long you have been absent between those dates and this is when that 90 day allowance kicks in. If one follows your logics (365-90) and never leaves the country within 5 years then one can apply for ILR almost a year and a half earlier because he spent necessary amount of days in the country. Unfortunately it doesn’t work this way.

These are residency requirements you can find on UKBA website. If you apply 90 days before the end of your qualifying period you have to make sure you were in the country 5 years ago on the same date or a day later plus you have completed 12 months on your ILR.

The residential qualifying period is calculated from the day when we receive your application. Most unsuccessful applications fail because the applicant was not present in the UK at the beginning of the residential qualifying period. You must make sure you meet this requirement before you make your application. For example, if we receive your application on 25 March 2010, you must show that you were in the UK on 26 March 2005.
• been resident in the UK for at least five years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
• been present in the UK five years before the date of your application; and • not spent more than 450 days outside the UK during the five-year period; and
• not spent more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months of the five-year period; and
• not been in breach of the Immigration Rules at any stage during the five-year period.

[hsmpengineer]

please apply 90 days early and let us all know hows it goes. good luck, i mean it! :)

Does anyone fancy taking one for the team and applying 180 days early as well? The more experiments we have the better eh. ;)

[JulesN19]

The relevant statute explicitly provides that you must have been physically present in the UK at the date that begins the five year period ending with the date of the application (unless one of the relatively uncommon exceptions applies).

(1) Subject to paragraph 2, the requirements for naturalisation as a British citizen under section 6(1) are, in the case of any person who applies for it—
(a)the requirements specified in sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph, or the alternative requirement specified in sub-paragraph (3) of this paragraph; and
(b)that he is of good character; and
(c)that he has a sufficient knowledge of the English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic language; and
(ca)that he has sufficient knowledge about life in the United Kingdom; and
(d)that either—
(i)his intentions are such that, in the event of a certificate of naturalisation as a British citizen being granted to him, his home or (if he has more than one) his principal home will be in the United Kingdom; or
(ii)he intends, in the event of such a certificate being granted to him, to enter into, or continue in, Crown service under the government of the United Kingdom, or service under an international organisation of which the United Kingdom or Her Majesty’s government therein is a member, or service in the employment of a company or association established in the United Kingdom.

(2)The requirements referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(a) of this paragraph are—
(a)that the applicant was in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the period of five years ending with the date of the application, and that the number of days on which he was absent from the United Kingdom in that period does not exceed 450; and
(b)that the number of days on which he was absent from the United Kingdom in the period of twelve months so ending does not exceed 90; and
(c)that he was not at any time in the period of twelve months so ending subject under the immigration laws to any restriction on the period for which he might remain in the United Kingdom; and
(d)that he was not at any time in the period of five years so ending in the United Kingdom in breach of the immigration laws.

(3)The alternative requirement referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(a) of this paragraph is that on the date of the application he is serving outside the United Kingdom in Crown service under the government of the United Kingdom.

US immigration law is not particularly relevant because it is phrased differently.

[bcquestions]

Hey, you might want to read the link bellow, it clearly states what you are in doubt about.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... trictions/

Can I apply for UK citizenship 90 days before the actual 5 year residency anniversary?

each year i am allowed to be away from the country for 90 days. it means during my final year ( i.e. my 5th year ) if i am absent from the UK FOR ZERO DAYS then I should be allowed to apply for citizenship 90 days earlier, right? because i will meet the "5 year residency" requirement anyway!


essentially, it means for UKBA " 1 year = 1 year minus 90 days ( i.e. 365-90 days ) "

so, im asking, has any1 applied 90 days earlier??

[Saty]

My query is regarding the UK Naturalisation 5 years qualifying period. Going through UKBA website, they mentioned that the absence should not be more than 450 days in the 5 years qualifying period where in the last year the absent should not be more than 90 days.
Lets consider it as Year 1, year 2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5.
If the person has total absent less than 450 days in the last 5 years qualifying period but one of the absent is approx 400 days between year 3 and year 4 (the absence is after getting ILR), Is he eligible to naturalisation provided the absent in the year 5 is less than a month only.
Upon looking into UKBA website, they just mentioned 450 days but it seems it is ideally 90X5=450 days means in every year the absent from UK should not be more than 90 days although this is not explicit.
Can someone let me know if a person is Out of UK for 400 days in a single absence but during the qualifying 5 years, the total absence is less than 450, can he apply for naturalization.

NCS has rejected my application saying that I am not eligible as my one gap is 400 days, inspite of the fact that my total absent in the last 5 years are less than 450 days.

[santoshganpath]

Hello illmatha

The one year or 365 days rule is a must for everyone after ILR for Naturalisation. I understand your logic but this 90 day exception is for people who are out of the country for various reasons (Holiday, Business etc). If you haven't gone anywhere out of the country for 1-year after the ILR, that might be your personal circumstances but you are only allowed to apply after this mandatory 1-year to apply for Naturalisation.

90-days provision is given to applicants as different people may have different circumstances and HO cannot expect them to stay at one place continuously for 1-year without going elsewhere. This can be for a holiday, business etc etc.

If you still chose to apply, its up to you and we all would like to know the outcome.

Regards...
Santosh

[Jambo]

Can someone let me know if a person is Out of UK for 400 days in a single absence but during the qualifying 5 years, the total absence is less than 450, can he apply for naturalization.

Yes he can. NCS are wrong (ask them to call the HO to verify).

[parry316]

The Rule Says
ILR
5 years Residency (6 months abences allowed each year)

for eg. 5 Feb 2009 till 4 Feb 2010 Year 1 180 days abscences allowed
for eg. 5 Feb 2010 till 4 Feb 2011 Year 2 180 days abscences allowed
for eg. 5 Feb 2011 till 4 Feb 2012 Year 3 180 days abscences allowed
for eg. 5 Feb 2012 till 4 Feb 2013 Year 4 180 days abscences allowed
for eg. 5 Feb 2013 till 4 Feb 2014 Year 5 180 days abscences allowed.
Can apply for ILR 30 days before you are eligible for ILR
This means you can apply to UKBA on 5 Jan 2014.

and for Citizenship (assuming you are carrying on from the above)
for eg 5 Jan 2014 till 4 Jan 2015 Year 6 90 Days abscences allowed.
Your eglibility will still be 4th Jan 2015 and not 90 days before this.
You will have to complete the 12 months under the ILR within which a max number for 90 days will be overlooked if for any reason you were out of the country. But the main thing is to complete this 12 months. you cannot apply 90 days before completing the 12 months.


LOL @ hsmpengineer - Does anyone fancy taking one for the team and applying 180 days early as well? The more experiments we have the better eh.

[SouthWest1]

parry316

your comments are bit late. in fact 2 years late
above posts were in May 2012

[parry316]

Yeah i didnt realize this.

So anyway, did anyone end up applying 90 days before being eligible for citizenship?

Im due to apply in july 2015. I m wondering if i should apply May 2015 to save the 3 months.

[milan69]

Parry, on what basis are you applying and how many absences do you have?