Naturalization as British Citizen via discretion for absence requirement

[fastfourier]

Hello - I m EEA national who will be shortly applying for Nat as Brit Citizen (I have been in the UK since 2003) however I fail to meet the residency requirement with 688 total days of absence within the last 5 years and 94 days absence within the last year. The absence is due to the nature of my job/career therefore I would have to apply for discretion based on a qualifying period of 7 years. This raise the question of the requirement of being physically present in the country on the day of the application at the beginning of the qualifying period. The Booklet AN does not clearly states that this should be at the beginning of the 7 years for those applying by discretion. It might be logical that that should be the case but it is not written. Any idea? My problem is that on the date I would like to apply I was present in the country 5 years back whereas I was on vacation 7 years back.
Thanks

[alterhase58]

It's five years counting back from the application date, not seven. I am not aware of the "qualifying period of 7 years".

[alterhase58]

Apologies, I see that 7 year period now. The five year period is actually enshrined in statute so there is no discretion for that.

[secret.simon]

What is your job that requires so much travel outside the UK?

Can you argue that either one or both of these apply?

• the excess absences were an unavoidable consequence of the nature of the applicant’s career, such as a merchant seaman or employment with a multinational company based in the UK with frequent travel abroad
• exceptionally compelling reasons of an occupational or compassionate nature to justify naturalisation now, such as a firm job offer where British citizenship is a statutory or mandatory requirement

Remember that discretion is just that; discretion. And the caseworker may decide that it ought not to be applied in your case.

[fastfourier]

My job involves the delivery of training and consulting solutions to our clients worldwide so the absences are an unavoidable consequence of my job. The Booklet AN on page 7 indicates that there is discretion to disregard absences in excess of 450 but below 900 if all our requirements are met plus those other things like residency for 7 years, work related absences, links to the UK, assets and estates in UK and so on. Of course discretion is discretion and there is the risk of getting rejected but quite frankly I have been doing this job for 10 years now and the travelling is part of it and there is not much I can do about that. I believe the discretion process is also there for a reason so I am aware of the risk. In any case, my original question was not whether to apply or not via discretion but rather if the requirement of being physically present in the country 5 years before the date that the application will be received by the Home Office (page 7 of the guide AN) should be 7 years in my case.

Thanks

[secret.simon]

In any case, my original question was not whether to apply or not via discretion but rather if the requirement of being physically present in the country 5 years before the date that the application will be received by the Home Office (page 7 of the guide AN) should be 7 years in my case.

No, the requirement is very specifically for the start of the five/three (if applying as the spouse of a British citizen) year period preceding the date of application. It does not change to seven or any other number of years.

Be aware that there is no discretion to disregard if you were not physically present in the UK at the start of the relevant five/three year period.

[fastfourier]

ok - thanks secrect.simon