I have incomplete P60s and payslips and my SAR is a mess (British Citizenship Application).

[joe3311]

Hello dear friends, I'm writing both to see if a solution could be found for my case and also so that other people can have the answers for a similar case to mine, which seems to be not that common after using the search function.

Basically the gist of it is: I'm an EU citizen that has had Settled Status for 12 months, which makes me eligible for British Citizenship, which I want to do.

While trying to gather the required documents I noticed that I have serious gaps in my employment records, specifically the information regarding P60's and payslips covering the whole 5 years of qualifying time for citizenship. The information I have is incomplete and that information is not recoverable for me right now, meaning it is imposible for me to get the P60's or payslips that I don't have.

I read that in order to prove that you have been living in the UK for the required 5 years of qualifying time a SAR (subject access request), could be made and that it contained the information they have about your entries and exits in the UK.

Having received my SAR today, I noticed that the information is incomplete AND it also has errors.

I first arrived in the UK with an entry in January 2019 through the Eurotunnel coming from Germany. I had a brief trip to Germany made in February 2019 as well, returning on the same month to the UK. I then had a trip in 2023, with exit in January and return to UK in March of the same year (3 months outside UK), and my last trip was a brief 3 day trip to France in August 2024, with exit and return to the UK on the same month.

The problem I'm having is that my SAR does not show any of my initial entries and exits to the UK in 2019, only showing the last two trips and returns, the one in 2023 (3 days) and the one in 2024 (3 months).

To make things worse, there is a mysterious departure on my record on April 2020, with destination to Budapest, and NO ENTRY at all from said trip. I did not make that trip, so it must have been a mistake or someone used my passport data to travel on purpose.

It's very worrying because basically my whole entries and exits are a mess, and this means that:

1) I don't have a way of proving continuous residence with payslips or P60's and payslips, and,

2) My SAR doesn't seem to be useful either because not only it doesn't show my initial entry in the UK in 2019 (which is the key thing), but it also shows a mysterious trip with no return (the one to Budapest) that I never made, which could maybe be interpreted as an unknown long absence from the UK for me.

Sorry for the long post, I wanted to kindly ask anyone with experience: Is there any option for me considering all that I've said so that I can prove my 5 years of continuous residence?

Thank you very much for your kind help, and hopefully the answer or answers to this post will help people in similar situations as well.

All the best.

[contorted_svy]

It is a known fact that SAR records are not always complete - it is strange that you have a trip you didn't make on there though. I wouldn't even know how to go about to correct that. it's also in April 2020, when very few people would have been travelling!

Can you request letters from your employers that confirm dates when you were employed? That would work even if as you say you don't have payslips/P60s.

Your trips in 2019 are not relevant as only the last 5 years are needed, so from Feb/Mar 2020 onwards. You don't need to provide proof of your first entry in the UK.

[joe3311]

Thanks for your message. I could try getting letters from employers, but I've tried to chase all my payslips and P60s and stuff and it's been very hard. It was just a very unstable and weird time (with lockdown and stuff), plus it was a number of years ago. I went to the office of one of my previous employers and it simply does not exist anymore, they've ceased trading, so I was hoping that the SAR document would sort it out but unfortunately it seems that it will be unusable as it is. It would be great if they just accepted the HMRC 5 year work history letter, but I've read that they don't.

I read somewhere also that if you have been approved for Settled Status, you would only need to prove the last year of residence in the UK with payslips and stuff, but even that has contradictory information.

Much appreciated if anyone else has some insight or information about this particular case.

[contorted_svy]

What you are referring to at the end concerns the lawfulness of the residence - you still have to prove your residence though.

Can you please explain in detail, from 2020 to now, what are the mistakes on your SAR?

For gaps in your work records, give it a go with the employers that still exist - maybe that will help you cover some gaps.

Do you have letters from DVLA, NHS, HMRC? Those would also help. Failing everything else, try council tax in your name.

[razergd1]

As far as I know the HO didn't collect entry and exit records for EU nationals before Brexit.

Not sure about the mistake in your departure records. I think it doesn't really a big issue.

Do you have a government gateway account? If not create one and view your HMRC PAYE records. Those should be accurate. For the settlement scheme the HO used to do what it refers to as an automated checks for residency where it reviewed the applicants HMRC and DWP record to establish residency. I do believe this might be the case for citizenship application.

I suggest that you go ahead check the HMRC record online count every month you got paid as a month you are resident.
If you have complete record for 5 years printout a summary for each year and use this as a replacement for missing P60's.
Otherwise, submit an excel of your travelling history I believe this should cover you.

[contorted_svy]

As far as I know the HO didn't collect entry and exit records for EU nationals before Brexit.

Not sure about the mistake in your departure records. I think it doesn't really a big issue.

Do you have a government gateway account? If not create one and view your HMRC PAYE records. Those should be accurate. For the settlement scheme the HO used to do what it refers to as an automated checks for residency where it reviewed the applicants HMRC and DWP record to establish residency. I do believe this might be the case for citizenship application.

I suggest that you go ahead check the HMRC record online count every month you got paid as a month you are resident.
If you have complete record for 5 years printout a summary for each year and use this as a replacement for missing P60's.
Otherwise, submit an excel of your travelling history I believe this should cover you.

This kind of HMRC PAYE records is not, to my knowledge, accepted evidence. What they do for EU settlement is not the same as what HO expects for citizenship. I am a EU citizen and my SAR was mostly complete showing trips also before Brexit took place. OP must have had some bad luck. However as I explained above the relevant time period is 2020-2025, in that first part there would be little to no trips to be recorded anyway, and after the end of 2020 Brexit became official so I don't think that this, even if it actually happened, would affect OP in any way.

[joe3311]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I have obtained a letter that confirms employment that covers the period of time where I supposedly made that trip to Hungary, which I did not do, but that for some reason it came up on my SAR entries and exits check.

I will try to obtain also maybe a letter from the airline confirming that I did not board that plane.

So far what I have for my british naturalization aplication would be:

-My SAR request showing entries and exits to the UK (with justifying my presence during the period of time where I supposedly took a trip that I didn't do), which would prove that I have been living in the UK for the whole of the qualifying period of time.

-P60 from this year covering the last 12 months in which I've had EU settled status.

-Letters confirming EU Pre-Settled and Settled Status.

Obviously I would prefer to have P60's for every year and all that, but some of them are un-retrievable to me at the moment, so I was suggested to do a SAR, which I did, hoping that this would cover the whole 5 years of my qualifying period, plus adding the P60 from this year to cover the last 12 months that I've had settled status.

I'd like to kindly ask for your opinion if this would be enough to go forward with my application or would it be insufficient?

The gist of it is: Proof of living lawfully in UK during the qualifying period covered by SAR showing entries and exits (plus employment letter confirming I did not take that trip in April 2020), EU pre-settled and settled letters. Proof of the last 12 months in which I've had permanent status with a P60 from this year.

Anyone knows if this would be enough?

Thank you for your kind help and I intend to keep this thread updated with any new info to help others as well with similar cases.

All the best.

[contorted_svy]

You need proof of knowledge of English and to have taken the Life in the UK test. Other than this, I think your records are OK and the documents you list are sufficient. Write a cover letter to explain mistakes on your SAR and attach records that prove your version of facts.