Confused about evidence of lawful residence: are P60s good enough?

[foobar1987]

First of all, I'd like to thank you for this forum: I found here many good answers to lots of questions, although I can't quite wrap my head around this...

EU citizen, I have been living in the UK for 6 years, and have held settled status for one year. On the very AN form, in the "Supporting evidence" section I read:

SECTION 3 Evidence of lawful residence during the 5 (or, if the applicant is married or in
civil partnership to a British citizen, 3) years before the date of the application: required for
applications made on the basis of residence in the United Kingdom: required for all applicants,
either:
• your passports
• letters from employers, educational establishments or other Government Departments
indicating presence in UK

(Emphasis mine.)

Given that my passport was never stamped when getting in and out of the UK, I am left with the second option. However, it would be very difficult indeed for me to track down and chase the various employers I had over the last 5 years (some of those companies may no longer exist). I however kept all payslips and P60s very diligently. Do they actually need those letters or can they be content with P60s and payslips?

Now actually, the "Guide AN - Naturalisation Booklet" says:

Applications made on the basis of residence in the United Kingdom
Evidence of lawful residence during the 5 years (or, if the applicant is married to or in civil partnership to a British citizen, 3 years) before the date of the application.
• Your passports
• If you are unable to provide your passport explain why and supply letters from employers (including start and finish dates), payslips, P60s, educational establishments or other government departments indicating the applicant’s presence in the United Kingdom during the relevant period

(Emphasis mine)

Can you tell me what's what? This is quite confusing.

I thank you in advance very much.

[alterhase58]

P60 are sufficient. You are not required to produce all documents listed.

[Rbgotpwr]

First of all, I'd like to thank you for this forum: I found here many good answers to lots of questions, although I can't quite wrap my head around this...

EU citizen, I have been living in the UK for 6 years, and have held settled status for one year. On the very AN form, in the "Supporting evidence" section I read:

SECTION 3 Evidence of lawful residence during the 5 (or, if the applicant is married or in
civil partnership to a British citizen, 3) years before the date of the application: required for
applications made on the basis of residence in the United Kingdom: required for all applicants,
either:
• your passports
• letters from employers, educational establishments or other Government Departments
indicating presence in UK

(Emphasis mine.)

Given that my passport was never stamped when getting in and out of the UK, I am left with the second option. However, it would be very difficult indeed for me to track down and chase the various employers I had over the last 5 years (some of those companies may no longer exist). I however kept all payslips and P60s very diligently. Do they actually need those letters or can they be content with P60s and payslips?

Now actually, the "Guide AN - Naturalisation Booklet" says:

Applications made on the basis of residence in the United Kingdom
Evidence of lawful residence during the 5 years (or, if the applicant is married to or in civil partnership to a British citizen, 3 years) before the date of the application.
• Your passports
• If you are unable to provide your passport explain why and supply letters from employers (including start and finish dates), payslips, P60s, educational establishments or other government departments indicating the applicant’s presence in the United Kingdom during the relevant period

(Emphasis mine)

Can you tell me what's what? This is quite confusing.

I thank you in advance very much.

I’m also an EU national I applied last month with Settled Status + 1 year.

Lawful residence for us is exercising treaty rights, working, studying, or self sufficiency

Payslips will be enough.
You will need letters OR payslips for the five year period. But I would also include tenancy agreements, proof of where you lived. Council tax letters etc. Payslips are enough to proof you were lawfully in the UK, and that the UK was indeed your place of residence.

This should also be confirmed through your NI number which you can give when completing the application and can be checked

[alterhase58]

Most applications are granted with just the documents required. There is no need to provide additional documents just in case.

[foobar1987]

Thank you all for your kind replies.

OK then, I'll present all my P60s and nothing else. I got confused because the list of acceptable documents on the form AN differs from the corresponding list on the official guidance. Moreover, when presented with a comma-separated list I am generally confused as to the implied conjunction being 'or' or 'and'.

I appreciate and cherish the privilege of living here and possibly becoming a citizen, but I am frustrated by all this paperwork... I know the info about me is plentiful in a number of govt databases and they might literally just run a SQL query with a couple of JOINs and everything would check out in 0.5 seconds tops.

[alterhase58]

If it's any comfort, for my application I provided one employer letter covering ten years.
I do understand your sentiments - joined-up government etc.