Post
by ILR_Applicant_UK » Mon May 23, 2011 8:36 pm
The 450 and 90 day requiremnts are not mandatory, the home secretary has discretion over waiving these, if you have valid reasons. Some of these maybe
a) Away due to work reasons where your employer had sent you abroad.
b) Away to support family back home for reasons like illness etc..
Your case is a bit weaker IF you don't meet both the 90 day in the last yr + 450 day in the last 5 yrs requirement, its only weaker, not an outright rejection. I applied for my family naturalisation recently, and was recommened to hold my wife's application as she was away over 550 days and also away more than 90 days in the last 365 days. A bulk of her time away was due to accompanying me on medium term business stays abroad. I told the NCS lady I thought these two requirements were discretionary. She said yes they are, but your wife doesn't meet the 2 criteria. I asked her to send the application away anyway. Obviosuly, I haven't heard the fate of either of our applications, but the point I'm trying to make is these stays are discretionary - it maybe worth applying, the worst that can happen is you lost the application fee - I know the 600+ pound fee is substantial - the upside is substantial.
Ofcourse,there is another condition, and this is NOT discretionary - 5 years prior to the date you're submitting your naturalisation application, you have to be physically present in the UK, so even if you had gone away for 3 days to paris for a short holiday, you should not apply - your application will get rejected.