Residency Requirement - 5 years - Discretion

[harika_85]

Dear,

I am in the UK since May 2007 as a Work Permit Dependent, and I got my ILR in Jan 2012 as a Tier 1 dependent (My husband shifted from Work permit to Tier 1).

We're planning to apply for naturalisation this year (my husband, myself and my daughter - born in India).

In the last 5 years however, my absences from UK are 490 to be precise (excluding the travel dates). I had these many absences because of the common reason - baby born in India. And due to some personal reasons, I got struck in India although I was on maternity leave (got it extended) during this period.

I believe discretion can be used in scenarios where the absences are upto 480, although the mandatory figure is 450. I am just wondering if discretion can be applied in my case?

I didn't travel outside UK after I got my ILR. It was just because one absence exceeding a year (Aug 2010 to Oct 2011), my total absences shot up.

During this absence however, I was on maternity leave, I paid my council tax (we rent our house), TV licensing, NI contributions etc.

My question to the forum is, are there any similar scenarios where people were absent in excess of 480 and still got favorable decisions during naturalisation.

Please advise.

Thanks,
Harika

[asim72]

Read section 4 of this document, and decide for yourselves where you stand, and whether you want to give it a shot. There won't be any further information available on this matter, I guess.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary