Address history during my absence from the UK

[smb24]

Hi,

I am looking to apply for Citizenship and was looking at the requirements and noticed the residence requirement.

I have not been outside the UK for more than 90 days in the past year and have not been outside the UK for more than 450 days in the last 5 years.

After I received my ILR, I went to India for 6 months. I am sure this would not cause an issue. But in the application form where I need to give my address history for the past 5 years, Do I mention my Indian address? or do I just ignore this period from the address history

Please suggest. Many thanks in advance.

[JohnnyZee]

Hi smb24 - I don't know how UKBA will deal with your case if you mention you have spent over 6 months out of the country. Not in terms of eligibility (clearly you meet UK residency requirements), but in terms of processing time. In other visa/immigration apps, any period of over 6 months outside of a country of "residence" breaks "residency". Hence, UKBA may require you to get a police check (or get it done themselves via gov't agencies) from the country you were visiting during that period. I am only speculating but I am trying to warn you as this may increase your processing time.

Also, what route did you use to get ILR? Tier 1, Tier 2 etc.? If Tier 2, does that allow you to leave your work for 6 months? I am again also mentioning this because UKBA will check that you have broken no immigration laws while in the UK.

[secret.simon]

JohnnyZee
From his posts, the OP applied for ILR in February 2014 through T1G.

As he travelled to Indian and stayed there for six months on ILR, he should be fine.

To the OP,
I would suggest that you provide the address. As JohnnyZee suggests, you may be required to get documentation from Indian authorities about your stay there, but that is only a possibility not a certainity.

[smb24]

Thanks a lot JohnnyZee and secret.simon for your responses.

I have checked my travel dates and I was in India between June 27th 2014 and December 17th 2015, so it is under 6 months.

Yes, I applied for ILR via the Tier 1 general route. I am certain I have not broken any immigration law ( I appreciate this is for UKBA to decide )

Yes, eligibility wise there is no issue, I am just confused as to how I put this in the application form.

JohnyZee, what sort of documentation do you think I might need from the Indian authorities?

Thank you

[JohnnyZee]

Hi smb24 - As I said, I was only speculating. But in any case, I think you will be fine as your time away was less than 6 months.

Were you staying at same address before and after the break? I am asking because there is a difference between physical address and travel history. You could have been out for 6 months but you could also have been registered at a physical adress in the UK. I don't know if the form AN allows for gaps in address but if you put India address for 6 months, UKBA may doubt your future intentions of staying in UK (again, more speculation)!