Post
by genorp » Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:36 pm
If you left on the 12th you don't count the 12th since you were physically in the UK that day. You'd still count the 13th even if it's the day you arrived at the other country because at no time on the 13th were you in the UK. So you would count the 13th, 14th, and 15th. You were present on the 12th. You were present on the 16th. 3 days total.
Use your stamps combined with the flight knowledge. So you know you arrived on the 26th to the other country because that's your stamp AND you know you left the UK on the 25th. Since that's the day you left you had to be physically present in the UK on that day so you don't count it.
That being said, that's for tallying up the number of days absent. The settlement application doesn't ask for a total. The caseworker will add it up but many people provide a spreadsheet with all sorts of helpful data. The settlement form specifically asks for the day you left and the day you returned and the reason. The naturalisation application guidance specifically mentions counting days and says: Insert the number of days you were away from the UK in the last column ignoring the day you left and the day you arrived back in the UK. The settlement guidance doesn't mention it.