Am I elgible to apply for British citizenship

[sruthigl]

Hi
Hope you are well.
I have a query about applying for British citizenship on which I would like your expert guidance and thoughts.
I got my ILR as a dependent in Oct 2022. my husband got his British citizenship after 5 year route in Dec 2023 on Tier 2 skilled worker visa. I became pregnant and decided to have the baby in India so I went to India on Nov 2022 and spent most part of maternity leave in India. I returned to the UK with baby in Aug 2024 and have been in UK for the last 6 months. That means I was outside UK for 622 days (1 year 8 months) Please advise whether I’m eligible to apply for British citizenship now.

Thanks in advance

[alterhase58]

Have a look at the guidance (if you haven't already):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark11
Absences under the 3 year route are excessive, probably beyond discretion.
Under the 5 year route (which you are allowed to choose) you are at the top end for discretion.
If you are not expecting to travel much in the foreseeable future you could perhaps wait a couple of years before applying.
Best to do the maths under both routes and see how long you would have to wait, or try for discretion, which is not assured.

[contorted_svy]

You can try to ask for discretion if you lived in the UK for at least 6 years (with no major absences in the year before the qualifying period starts) but you need to apply under Section 6(1) and go down the 5 year residence route.

[sruthigl]

I have lived in UK continuously without major absences for 5 years and 4 months. Will that help? Is there a home office helpline where I can confirm my eligibility?

[contorted_svy]

No, you need 6 years. There is a helpline but its outsourced and it is known for giving incorrect advice, advice in this forum is usually more reliable.

[secret.simon]

I returned to the UK with baby in Aug 2024 and have been in UK for the last 6 months.

Apart from the advice above, you should wait until you get your absences in the one year before date of application down to 90 days or less.

That is a separate absence requirement and discretion can be used to disregard only one requirement.

You'd also want to make sure that you were in the UK exactly five years before the date of the application (assuming that you are going down the Section 6(1)/five years application).