excess absence 335 days in past 3 years

[ashish79]

Hi All

I am married to a bc, i am wanting to apply for naturalization now, but am 35 days over the maximum 300 days that they would disregard in a 3 year period.

I meet all other requirements, good character, own property, my wife & i own a business in the UK, passed life in the uk test in 2009, passed English B1 test and i have only been away from the UK for 27 days in the past 16 months.

2015-16 27 days out of the country
2014-15 109 days out of the country
2013-14 199 days out of the country

Does anyone know what chances I may have if I applied now, i understand that it is down to the discretion of the case worker, but I wonder if anyone has any recent experience of applying when their have excess absences.
Thank you in advance for your help.

[secret.simon]

See Section 4 of Annex B of Chapter 18: naturalisation at discretion (nationality instructions) on how discretion is exercised as regards absences.

Remember that you must have been in the UK three years to the day before the date of application. So, if you applied today, you must prove that you were in the UK on 17/08/2013. There is no discretion on that and missing that requirement will mean a certain denial (with the Home Office keeping the fees of course).

Do you also qualify under the 5 years (Section 6(1)) route?

[Obie]

There is discretion to overlook a period of 2 months early application , and a re-declaration could be sent to applicant.

Therefore the views expressed by the previous contributor is not correct in that respect.

[noajthan]

Hi All

I am married to a bc, i am wanting to apply for naturalization now, but am 35 days over the maximum 300 days that they would disregard in a 3 year period.

...

Does anyone know what chances I may have if I applied now, i understand that it is down to the discretion of the case worker, but I wonder if anyone has any recent experience of applying when their have excess absences.
Thank you in advance for your help.

HO guidance suggests caseworker may look for evidence of 4 years residence in UK for absences over 300 days and up to 450 days.

Alternately, you could defer your application for a while so that the glut of absences in 2013-2014 'times out'.
(I leave calculating the period of postponement as an exercise for the reader).

[ashish79]

Thanks for your replies.

I have had ILR in the UK since 2009 so I have been here comfortably over 3 years. The only issue is that I have always been out of the country for around 4/5 months each year.

I was wondering if anyone knew the likelihood of how I the extra 35 days would be assessed....if i may be accepted as I have met all other requirements.

Thanks

[noajthan]

Its at caseworkers discretion so impossible to second guess without someone on the inside.