Correct time to apply for UK Citizenship

[carterf]

Hi,

I got my ILR on 6 Sept 2010. I'd like to apply for citizenship as soon as possible. I plan to use the NCS at my council. The trouble is that I took at 12 day trip out of the UK starting 8 Sept 2006, so I would not have been in UK exactly 5 years before starting on the 8th which is when the HO should receive my app.

I did read that the HO can use "discretion" on the 12 month since ILR rule. This seems to state that you can apply up to 10 days before the 1 year with no real issue.

So my question is: Should I go to the NCS at the end of August and apply first week of Sept and ask for discretion? Or wait until 18 Sept? I'd like to get the ball rolling but would hate to shoot myself in the foot in the process.

Thanks very much for any advice!

[JulesN19]

If it were my application, I would wait until 18 September 2011 to submit it. A request for the exercise of discretion as to a particular requirement may or may not be successful, whereas someone who clearly meets all the statutory requirements for naturalisation can normally expect that his or her application will be successful. As waiting until the 18th is not very long, I see little advantage to risking it.

[carterf]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I wasn't sure if asking for discretion on the timing was common or not. I agree it does not seem worth the risk.

The next window is only seven days, but that should be enough if I go in on day 1!

Thanks again.