rovers wrote: ↑Sat Oct 28, 2023 5:34 pm
Hello,
My wife has ILR and is preparing her application for naturalisation. Regarding proving continuous residence for the Qualifying Period, she can provide her passport for the relevant 3 year period but as she is an Australian citizen, she usually enters the UK through e-gates and doesn't get a stamp in her passport.
The guidance notes for evidence to be provided to satisfy residence requirements say you can use the following:
- passport
- Home Office records
- other evidence (employers' letter or tax and National Insurance letters)
As my wife hasn't been working for around 2 years of the 3 year period (and also hasn't been receiving benefits), we can't provide employers' letters and tax or NI letters for part of the period. Are there any alternatives?
And does "Home Office records" mean that we can provide the passport and rely on the government maintaining details of entry/exit at passport control, which can be used as proof for this application? I'm a little skeptical about relying on the case worker being able to access this information somehow.
Thanks in advance for your help
You can do a SAR with the Home Office (which may be incomplete) but we aren't entirely sure it is accepted as evidence (unclear to me what "Home Office records" means).
See this paragraph from page 16 of
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... df#page=16
The following can be used as evidence of residence:
• passports or travel documents which have been stamped to show arrival in the
UK and entry and departure from other countries: these should be checked
against the list of absences that applicants are asked to provide on the
application form
• Home Office records
• if the applicant does not have passports to cover the qualifying period, other
evidence such as employers’ letters or tax and National Insurance letters:
o in such cases you should assess whether there is sufficient evidence to
show that that applicant has been resident in the UK during the qualifying
period, giving them the benefit of any doubt where claimed absences are
within the limits we would normally allow and there are no grounds to doubt
the accuracy of the claim
You must not normally accept doctors' letters on their own as proof of residence.
However, if nothing else is available and the doctors can confirm that they have seen
the applicant on a regular basis during the period concerned these may be accepted.
If there are gaps in a person’s evidence of residence and it is clear from the
information available that they could not have travelled, you must accept this.
Examples of this might include a refugee who has no means of travel or where
immigration records confirm continuous residence.
If you are using end of 2020- end of 2023 as qualifying period, a small portion is covered by UK lockdowns during which your wife was not able to travel. Other than that, if you have any letters from DVLA, the electoral register, HMRC, or any other govt departments with your wife's name on it (including council tax).
If you have kids and the school can give you a letter where they confirm they saw your wife regularly (maybe also from your GP).
All advice comes from personal research and experience and should not be regarded as professional opinion.
