Excessive absences - supporting documents?

[red-sea-angel]

Hello all!

Apologies for posting a new topic, but despite extensive searching I cannot find an answer to my question....

My husband will be applying for Naturalisation shortly, based on 3 years QP as the spouse of a British Citizen...

As a direct result of his job, his absences have exceeded the maximum permitted within the QP (367 total, 98 in the last 12 months) so he will requesting discretion be applied when processing his application. My question is, what supporting documents are required when asking for said discretion? We plan to include of copy of the relevant section of his contract of employment, where is states travel will be required in order for him to perform his duties, and a letter from his employer/company stating the same. In addition to this, he will also include a cover letter explaining his work circumstances and stating that he is settled here, has his home and family here, as well as a large part of his estate. Will this be sufficient? Does anyone have any experience specifically relating to this?

One further question... He will be using the NCS, but would like to know how soon can you travel after submitting the application?

Many thanks for reading and any insight or assistance would be much appreciated.

[geriatrix]

how soon can you travel after submitting the application?

He can travel any day after his application has been "received" by the nationality department (not NCS).
So check with NCS you are going to how frequently they forward the applications to the nationality department and how long does it take to be received. Accordingly, plan travel dates.

See also 4. Excess absences in the 5(3) year qualifying period and 5. Excess absences in the final year.

[red-sea-angel]

Many thanks for your prompt response sushdmehta

We will definitely check the frequency of the submissions with the NCS he will be using.

Regarding the guidance notes you linked for me, much appreciated! After reading them through, I believe the relevant section to be paragraph 4.1.2 c, specifically the text I underlined;
"the excess absences to have been an unavoidable consequence of the nature of a career (for example a merchant seaman or someone in a U.K based business or employment which requires frequent travel abroad).

In your experience, do you think the documents I mentioned previously, along with a well written cover letter, ought to be sufficient to demonstrate he fits into the above?

I know discretion is always a very grey area and dependant wholly on the caseworker, so would just like to afford the application every possible chance!

Many thanks again for your time and effort.