Requirement to be out of UK before apply for naturalisation

[rahul8055]

Dear Friends,

I received my ILR status in June 2012 allowing me to apply for naturalisation in July 2013.

My company is sending me to India for company business (secondment) and I am staying there for at least one year. Could you clarify the following points:

1) Will I be able to apply for citizenship in July 2013, at that time I will be in India? If not, can I apply for citizenship when I return to the UK?
2) What is the maximum time limit I can stay out of the UK before my ILR status runs out? My company is looking to keep me on secondment for as long as possible but I don’t want to jeopardise my chances of getting citizenship due to being out of the country for too long.

Please do not refer below link,
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... uirements/

Thanks and kind regards,

[solospy]

The maximum you can stay out of the country is 90 days per year.
If you are staying for the whole year, its highly unlikely that you will meet the residential requirement to get your naturalisation.

[Gyfrinachgar]

(1) Absences exceeding 180 days in the last year (90 days official maximum) should only be disregarded "in the most exceptional circumstances". I doubt that your case fits that bill. You can apply once you are back in the UK and have stayed there for at least 275 days (assuming that your total absences from the UK in the last 5 years do not exceed 450 days at that point, and that you were present at the begin of the qualifying period).

(2) You will loose IRL status after 2 years absence from the UK. Visits/short stays in the UK do not reset IRL/PR-countdowns. If you will be in India for up to (but not more than) two years, there is no problem on that end, though.

See here and here and here for similar cases.