Mistake on Naturalisation Application

[curiousmigrant]

Hello All,

I applied for naturalisation on 7th August 2023 as spouse of a British Citizen, having obtained ILR on 3rd July after 5 years on spouse visa(initial and extension).

I did my biometric on 4th September 2023.

It was after biometric that I realised that I had fallen foul of the ''Physically present at the start of the qualifying period'' requirement; as I was out of the UK between 3rd August 2020 and 10th August 2020.

I have read on this forum that sometimes, applicants are asked to re-declare and there are times the application just get refused outrightly.

I have also read the excerpt below from caseworker guidance note:

Cases where the requirement can be met by the date of consideration

Applicants are expected to meet this requirement, but there may be cases where the person has inadvertently applied on a date when they did not. The application form will ask applicants to agree that the Home Office use a different date as the date of application, if this would work to their advantage. If there has been a fee change between the original application date and the date that they can now meet the requirement (to have been in the UK at the start of the qualifying period), they must pay the fee in force at the time of the new application date.
Changing the application date in this way may be appropriate for applicants who did not meet the requirement to have been in the UK at the start of the qualifying period but meet the requirement by the time you consider their application. When you consider the application, you must assess whether the person would meet this requirement (and the other residence requirements) on either the date you are considering the application, or a date between their original application and consideration. If a person does not meet the requirements on the date of consideration, but will do so within the next two months, it may be appropriate to put the application on hold. If the person will not meet the requirement for some time, you must consider whether there are exceptional grounds to exercise discretion (see section on discretion).

My questions are:

1.Can I send an e-mail to the Home Office without being asked, to explain the situation and then inform them of a date that will be suitable without falling foul of the the physically present requirement?

2. I do not understand the application form referred to in the excerpt above: ''The application form will ask applicants to agree that the Home Office use a different date as the date of application, if this would work to their advantage as there was no such question'' as there was no such question when I was applying.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Ticktack]

Hello All,

I applied for naturalisation on 7th August 2023 as spouse of a British Citizen, having obtained ILR on 3rd July after 5 years on spouse visa(initial and extension).

I did my biometric on 4th September 2023.

It was after biometric that I realised that I had fallen foul of the ''Physically present at the start of the qualifying period'' requirement; as I was out of the UK between 3rd August 2020 and 10th August 2020.

I have read on this forum that sometimes, applicants are asked to re-declare and there are times the application just get refused outrightly.

I have also read the excerpt below from caseworker guidance note:

Cases where the requirement can be met by the date of consideration

Applicants are expected to meet this requirement, but there may be cases where the person has inadvertently applied on a date when they did not. The application form will ask applicants to agree that the Home Office use a different date as the date of application, if this would work to their advantage. If there has been a fee change between the original application date and the date that they can now meet the requirement (to have been in the UK at the start of the qualifying period), they must pay the fee in force at the time of the new application date.
Changing the application date in this way may be appropriate for applicants who did not meet the requirement to have been in the UK at the start of the qualifying period but meet the requirement by the time you consider their application. When you consider the application, you must assess whether the person would meet this requirement (and the other residence requirements) on either the date you are considering the application, or a date between their original application and consideration. If a person does not meet the requirements on the date of consideration, but will do so within the next two months, it may be appropriate to put the application on hold. If the person will not meet the requirement for some time, you must consider whether there are exceptional grounds to exercise discretion (see section on discretion).

My questions are:

1.Can I send an e-mail to the Home Office without being asked, to explain the situation and then inform them of a date that will be suitable without falling foul of the the physically present requirement? You can, but not sure if it would change anything. The case worker would most likely spot this anyways. If s/he is nice enough, you get emailed to redeclare as a favour.

2. I do not understand the application form referred to in the excerpt above: ''The application form will ask applicants to agree that the Home Office use a different date as the date of application, if this would work to their advantage as there was no such question'' as there was no such question when I was applying. The question isn't in the form as you're supposed to apply when you meet all requirements i.e physically in-country 3/5 years prior. You get that in the re-declaration form where the HO doesn't want to straight out deny you based on technicalities, but gives you chance to set the records straight.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[curiousmigrant]

Hi TickTack,

Thanks a million for your response.