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How many days can you be absent from the UK for British citizenship application?
The number of days you can be absent from the UK to qualify for British citizenship depends on your settlement route: either the 5-year route or the 3-year route (applicants married to, in a civil partnership with, a British citizen).
For 5-year route, you must not have been absent from the UK for
- More than 450 days in the 5-year qualifying period, and
- No more than 90 days in the 12 months ending with the date of application.
For 3-year route, you are likely to be on this route if you are married to, or in a civil partnership with, a British citizen. In this case, you must not have been absent for
- More than 270 days in the 3-year qualifying period, and
- No more than 90 days in the 12 months ending with the date of application.
The 90-day limit for the final year forms part of the overall limit of 450 days under the five-year route or 270 days under the three-year route – it is not an additional allowance. You must also have been physically present in the UK at the start of your qualifying period. This is 5 years before applying under the standard route, or 3 years before applying as the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen. Under the standard 5-year route, you must normally have been free from immigration time restrictions, usually through ILR or settled status, for at least 12 months. If you are applying as the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen under the 3-year route, you only need to be free from immigration time restrictions on the date of application. Put another way, on the 3-year route you do not have to wait a further year after the 3 years have passed.
What if your absences exceed the limit?
Contrary to what many people believe, exceeding the absence limits does not always mean your application will be refused. The Home Office has discretion to disregard excess absences in some circumstances. Where the applicant exceeds the permitted absence by 30 days or less, the caseworker must exercise discretion, unless there are other grounds to refuse the application.
If your overall absences exceed those levels, you may still meet the absence requirement where you have strong UK connections and particular circumstances apply, but the requirements become considerably stricter.
5-year route to British citizenship with excess absences
If you are on the 5-year route and have excess absences, the Home Office may exercise discretion in certain circumstances.
- Between 481 and 730 days: Your absences can normally be disregarded only if you meet the other naturalisation requirements and have established your home, employment, family and finances in the UK. The Home Office would normally expect you to have been resident in the UK for at least 7 years before applying.
- Between 731 and 900 days: Your absences may be disregarded if you meet the other requirements and have strong ties to the UK. You would normally be expected to have been resident in the UK for at least 8 years before applying. Alternatively, discretion may be considered where the absences resulted from circumstances such as Crown service, unavoidable work travel, compelling occupational or compassionate reasons, or an inability to return to the UK because of a global pandemic.
- More than 900 days: The Home Office is highly unlikely to disregard the absences. The application will normally be refused unless exceptional circumstances justify consideration by a senior decision maker.
It is important to understand that the 7-year and 8-year periods are not separate qualifying routes. They combine the 5-year period immediately before the application with an additional two or three years of residence before that period. For example, the 8-year expectation means 3 years of residence without substantial absences followed by the normal 5-year qualifying period.
3-year route to British citizenship with excess absences
If you are applying as the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen and have excess absences, the Home Office may exercise discretion in certain circumstances.
- Between 301 and 450 days: Your absences may be disregarded if you meet the other naturalisation requirements. The Home Office would normally expect you to have been resident in the UK for at least 4 years before applying.
- Between 451 and 540 days: Your absences may be disregarded if you meet the other requirements and have strong ties to the UK. You would normally be expected to have been resident in the UK for at least 5 years before applying. Alternatively, discretion may be considered where the absences resulted from circumstances such as Crown service, unavoidable work travel, compelling occupational or compassionate reasons, or an inability to return to the UK because of a global pandemic.
- More than 540 days: The Home Office is highly unlikely to disregard the absences. The application will normally be refused unless there are exceptional circumstances that justify consideration by a senior decision maker.
As with the 5-year route, the 4-year and 5-year periods are not separate qualifying routes. They combine the 3-year qualifying period with an additional 1 or 2 years of residence before that period.
Excess absences in the 12 months prior to applying
The Home Office also looks at absences during the final 12 months of the qualifying period. Discretion for excess final-year absences is normally only considered where the future intentions requirement is met. Total absences in the final year are treated as follows:
- 90 days or fewer: The applicant meets the normal absence requirement.
- Between 91 and 100 days: The excess absences will normally be disregarded.
- 100 days or less: discretion is exercised.
- Between 100 and 180 days, where the overall qualifying-period requirement is met: discretion is appropriate only where the applicant shows strong links through family, employment, and their home in the UK.
- Between 100 and 180 days, where the overall qualifying-period requirement is not met: discretion may be considered only where the applicant has made the UK their home, and the absence is justified by Crown service or compelling occupational or compassionate reasons, including inability to travel because of a global pandemic.
- More than 180 days, where the overall qualifying-period requirement is met: discretion may be considered where the applicant has made the UK their home.
- More than 180 days, where the overall qualifying-period requirement is not met: discretion is only exercised where the applicant has made the UK their home and there are exceptional circumstances, such as Crown service.
How to calculate days outside UK for British citizenship application
The Home Office counts only whole days spent outside the UK as absence. The day you leave the UK and the day you return are not counted as days of absence. This means you count only the full days between departure and return. For example, a person who left the UK on 22 September and returned on 23 September is not treated as having been absent.
You should add together all absences during the relevant qualifying period before the application date, for example:
- 5 years before the application date for a standard section 6(1) application
- 3 years before the application date for a section 6(2) application as the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen
You should also be aware of ‘technical absences’. A technical absence is where a person is treated as absent from the UK even though they were physically present here. This applies to certain people who were exempt from immigration control, such as:
- Diplomats and their household members
- Members of home, Commonwealth or visiting forces, and
- People who were detained or on immigration bail.
There is discretion to treat a technical absence as residence, and to treat the person as present at the start of the qualifying period where that date falls within a period of technical absence.
If you are unsure whether you have been in the UK for enough time to qualify for British citizenship, speak to an immigration solicitor who can calculate this properly for you before you apply.
References:
GOV.UK: Form AN: guidance
