Questions Regarding 'Proof of living in the UK'

[yhuangx]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am wondering if you can help to answer my questions regarding proof of living in the UK please?

I am a Chinese national, I obtained ILR through Tier 2 General on 29/08/2019, and I am now ready to apply for British citizenship.

I entered UK on 04/09/2014, but the passport I entered UK with was destroyed in a fire, in May 2015 I have obtained a new passport and the oldest entry stamp I can find is on 21/07/2016, this was stamped when I returned from holiday from France.

The new passport has also all the stamps of my travel, I didn't travel a lot during the last 5-6 years so there is no issue with my absence.

My questions are:
1) Is the new passport sufficient to be the proof of living in the UK for the last 5 years? The oldest stamp I have there is 21/07/2016? Will it be ok if my first entry stamp was not there as I entered UK originally on 04/09/2014?

2) Do I need to include a letter from my employer to prove my continuous living in the UK? (Ideally I don't want to involve my employer in this application).

Thank you so much, I know I am overthinking but I just want to be 100% sure that my current passport stamps are definitely enough to prove my living in the UK.

Yours sincerely,
Rebekah

[manci]

Vinny produced a very useful test run on the citizenship application process. Read in particular points 21 and 56 which are relevant to your situation

http://ssb22.user.srcf.net/law/citizenref.html

Pay particular attention to evidencing your physical presence in the UK on the day exactly 5 years before the date you apply. A convenient way of doing this, if you can, is by way of a bank card statement showing that you made a purchase n the UK on that day.

[onurdata]

Bank statements dont count as proof of living in the UK. Passports with all the stampped pages sufficient.

[manci]

A debit or credit card statement showing that the applicant made a purchase in the UK on the day 5 years before the date of the naturalisation application is accepted by the HO as proof of physical presence in the UK on that particular day.

[onurdata]

A debit or credit card statement showing that the applicant made a purchase in the UK on the day 5 years before the date of the naturalisation application is accepted by the HO as proof of physical presence in the UK on that particular day.

Completely irrelevant. Home office doesnt accept any bank or card statenents for citizenship applications. Stop giving false information

[dexmo]

A debit or credit card statement showing that the applicant made a purchase in the UK on the day 5 years before the date of the naturalisation application is accepted by the HO as proof of physical presence in the UK on that particular day.

Completely irrelevant. Home office doesnt accept any bank or card statenents for citizenship applications. Stop giving false information

Proving presence in the UK at the start of the qualifying period and proof of living in the UK are not the same thing. These are two distinct requirements and one has nothing to do with the other, i.e. both must be met separately.

True, UKVI will not accept bank statements as proof of living in the UK so the applicants are told to submit passports with stamps showing arrival in the UK and entry and departure from other countries, or other documents such as employers' letters or documents from HMRC etc depending on whether the applicant's passport is stamped on arrival in the UK or not (as is the case with EU nationals for example).

At the same time if the applicant was asked to prove his or her presence in the UK at the start of the qualifying period, a bank statement showing the applicant has made a transaction in the UK on said date will be accepted. UKVI, however, do not normally ask anyone to submit evidence of presence at the start of the qualifying period. The standard used here is to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt. That is, the applicant is asked to declare the dates he/she was out of the country in the qualifying period and providing, based on declared absences, the applicant was in the UK at the start and there's no reason to doubt the accuracy of the claim this will be accepted.

[manci]

UKVI, however, do not normally ask anyone to submit evidence of presence at the start of the qualifying period. The standard used here is to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt.

@dexmo - you may be right but I am not aware of the relaxed attitude of the HO you refer to in this regard. From Guide AN:

Most applications that fail do so because applicants have applied even though they
cannot satisfy the residence requirement to be present in the UK at the beginning
of the residential qualifying period.

Not to risk refusal I would suggest that applicants should always submit evidence of their physical presence in the UK on the day at the start of the qualifying period.

[manci]

For the record, the OP's original question was about proof of residence in view of the loss of one of his passports which covered the early part of the qualifying period. I referred him to points 21 and 56 in Vinny's post but also drew his attention to the additional requirement of having to prove physical presence in the UK on the day at the start of the qualifying period.

[dexmo]

UKVI, however, do not normally ask anyone to submit evidence of presence at the start of the qualifying period. The standard used here is to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt.

@dexmo - you may be right but I am not aware of the relaxed attitude of the HO you refer to in this regard. From Guide AN:

Most applications that fail do so because applicants have applied even though they
cannot satisfy the residence requirement to be present in the UK at the beginning
of the residential qualifying period.

Not to risk refusal I would suggest that applicants should always submit evidence of their physical presence in the UK on the day at the start of the qualifying period.

Submitting the evidence certainly won't hurt but is not required which is why UKVI don't normally ask for any evidence relating to this. The requirement is met with a simple declaration. Members on here who have reported getting an email from UKVI asking them to re-declare the date of their application because they've not realised one of their declared absences had fallen on the date their qualifying period started have so far, in all cases, just been asked to re-declare the application date. We've yet to hear of any cases where UKVI have actually asked for evidence of physical presence at the start of the qualifying period.

[dexmo]

For the record, the OP's original question was about proof of residence in view of the loss of one of his passports which covered the early part of the qualifying period. I referred him to points 21 and 56 in Vinny's post but also drew his attention to the additional requirement of having to prove physical presence in the UK on the day at the start of the qualifying period.

The discussion did get carried away a bit. To answer the original query, in absence of a passport or travel document covering the whole of the qualifying period applicants whose passports don't get stamped on arrival in UK (EU nationals for example) should indeed submit other evidence such as employer's letter, P60s or tax and national insurance letter. If the OP wouldn't like to ask the employer for a letter I would suggest requesting employment history or tax and national insurance confirmation from HMRC.

[manci]

I entered UK on 04/09/2014, but the passport I entered UK with was destroyed in a fire, in May 2015 I have obtained a new passport and the oldest entry stamp I can find is on 21/07/2016, this was stamped when I returned from holiday from France.

We don't know the details of the OP's circumstances but from his original post (above) it may be that the lost passport is not an issue at all if he can use a qualifying period starting 21/07/2016