Time Spent Outside The Uk

[Khonwan]

Re. the quote below from the UKBA site, if my wife (Thai) and I (British) were to move to UK with the intention of applying for citizenship for my wife after 5 years, we would hope to both return to Thailand for 90 days each year to attend to our farm here. Could this impact on her application for citizenship? Is there a general UKBA email address to which this question could be put?

Time spent outside the UK

The Immigration Rules do not say that you must have been in the UK for the entire 2 years of your visa or permission to remain. Your application to settle here will be judged on its merits, taking into account your reasons for travel, the length of your absences, and whether you and your partner travelled and lived together while you were outside the UK. If you have spent a limited time abroad in connection with your job, for example, this should not count against you.

However, time spent outside the UK does make a difference to applications for British citizenship. If you apply to be naturalised as the husband, wife or civil partner of a British citizen, you must show that you have been living in the UK for the last 3 years (the 'residential qualifying period'), and that you have spent no more than 270 days outside the UK during those 3 years. Also, you must have spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in the last 12 months of the 3-year period. (We have discretion to allow absences above the normal limits in some circumstances.)

[7by7]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your confusion; the guidance is very clear.

There is no limit on the amount of time spent outside the UK whilst qualifying for ILR. As the guidance you have quoted says, each case is judged on it's own merits. When she applies for ILR she will need to show that her main residence is in the UK, and has been for the entire qualifying period (2 years if she entered under the old rules, 5 years if she will be entering under the new rules). If she has spent more time out of the UK than in this may be difficult, but not necessarily impossible, as the guidance says.

The guidance on naturalisation if one is the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen is also very clear.

Firstly, she must have no time restriction on her stay in the UK; i.e. ILR or the equivalent.

Secondly, she must have been in the UK on the exact day three years prior to submitting her naturalisation application.

Thirdly, during the intervening three years she must have spent no more than 270 days in total out of the UK with no more than 90 days in the final year.

Whether you accompanied her or not on trips outside the UK is immaterial.

If you still feel the need to contact the UKBA, their contact details can be found by clicking on the 'Contact' button on their homepage, then by clicking on 'Enquiries' and then click on Citizenship and nationality where you will find the contact details for citizenship and nationality queries. If you require a different section, click on the appropriate link on the enquiries page..

[Khonwan]

Thanks for your reply, 7by7. Yes, it seems like a no brainer that as the applicant is allowed to average 90 days per year outside UK (no more than 90 days in year proceeding application) then the taking up of this right should not influence the decision on citizenship. It was a comment on Thailand-UK.com (of which I’m not yet a member) on this subject that appeared to suggest that exercise of this right to the full extent might prejudice the decision to grant citizenship since it might bring into question the applicant’s sincerity in their desire to be British. Your reply indicates that you do not believe this to be true.

I had already seen the email link you provided but had noted the caveat on the site, “You should only contact us if you submitted your application over 6 months ago.” I therefore wondered if there was an alternative email to use since my wife has not yet submitted an application. It appears not though.

Thanks again

Khonwan

[bobrussell]

It says that if you have submitted an application then you should not contact them for six months. They will only tell you to wait! This is to reduce the numbers of people asking how long it will be before their applications have been processed.

If you have not put in an application you are free to ask for help and advice!

Edited August 24, 2012 by bobrussell

[Khonwan]

I don’t wish to be pedantic but my quote is a direct ‘copy & paste’ (inc. their bold font) and the correct English meaning is clear. It ought to state, “If you have submitted an application then you should not contact us for six months”, if indeed they are willing to accept general queries such as mine. I accept, though, that this is the correct email address for me to use despite their poor English phraseology in this case.

[Khonwan]

Having just used the above email address, I immediately received an automated reply providing general information and the correct address for my query: [email protected]

[Khonwan]

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your confusion; the guidance is very clear.

There is no limit on the amount of time spent outside the UK whilst qualifying for ILR. As the guidance you have quoted says, each case is judged on it's own merits. When she applies for ILR she will need to show that her main residence is in the UK, and has been for the entire qualifying period (2 years if she entered under the old rules, 5 years if she will be entering under the new rules). If she has spent more time out of the UK than in this may be difficult, but not necessarily impossible, as the guidance says.

The guidance on naturalisation if one is the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen is also very clear.

Firstly, she must have no time restriction on her stay in the UK; i.e. ILR or the equivalent.

Secondly, she must have been in the UK on the exact day three years prior to submitting her naturalisation application.

Thirdly, during the intervening three years she must have spent no more than 270 days in total out of the UK with no more than 90 days in the final year.

Whether you accompanied her or not on trips outside the UK is immaterial.

If you still feel the need to contact the UKBA, their contact details can be found by clicking on the 'Contact' button on their homepage, then by clicking on 'Enquiries' and then click on Citizenship and nationality where you will find the contact details for citizenship and nationality queries. If you require a different section, click on the appropriate link on the enquiries page..

7by7, as indicated in my post prior to this, I have emailed UKBA but am still awaiting a reply. I’ve just read another page from the UKBA site that suggests I do indeed have cause to be concerned and that simply averaging 90 days out of the UK is not necessarily ok. This appears to be the answer to my question:

Discretion on absences from the UK during the residential qualifying period

Naturalisation

This page explains how we can use our discretion when considering applications for naturalisation from applicants who have been absent from the UK during their residential qualifying period.

We normally disregard absences of up to 300 days.

If you have been absent for between 301 and 540 days, we will disregard this if you meet all the other requirements and have established your home, family and a large part of your estate here. We would also expect that:

• for absences of up to 450 days, you have been resident in the UK for the past four years; or
  
• for absences of more than 450 days, you have been resident in the UK for the past five years; or
  
• the absences occurred because you were serving abroad in Crown service or because your husband, wife or civil partner was serving abroad in Crown or designated service; or
  
• the absences were unavoidable owing to the nature of your work - for example, because you are a merchant seaman or you work for a UK-based business which requires frequent travel abroad; or
  
• there are exceptional or compelling reasons of an occupational or compassionate nature, such as having a firm job offer for which British citizenship is a genuine requirement.
  

www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/eligibility/naturalisation/absencesfromuk (I’m having difficulty opening this link but you can view Google’s cached version by searching for part of the above text).

Rgds

Khonwan

Edited September 2, 2012 by 7by7
Hot link added.

[7by7]

I still don't understand your confusion or concern.

The residential qualification for naturalisation is as previously explained.

The information you have posted above is on situations where the UKBA may use their discretion if an applicant has spent more time out of the UK than the usual limit of, for the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen, 270 days in total during the 3 years prior to applying and 90 days in the final year.

If your wife does not exceed this standard limit then she will not have to worry about requiring any discretion to be used by the UKBA nor the circumstances in which such discretion may be used.

[Khonwan]

Yes, I just re-read the UKBA quote minutes before your post and realised that it must have been referring to the old rules, i.e. the 3-year route. Since we haven’t yet applied (and are still very much in Thailand), the 5-year route applies to us. I see now that 450 days absence (inclusive of limit of 90 days in year preceding application) over the five (future) years of UK residence will not cause us a problem. Thank for confirming this.

[7by7]

The rules for naturalisation have not changed. The residential qualification period for the spouse of a British citizen is still calculated three years back from the date of the application.

However, an applicant for naturalisation must be free of immigration time restrictions; e.g. hold ILR. Under the new family settlement rules a spouse will not be able to obtain ILR until they have lived in the UK for 5 years. So, effectively, they cannot apply for naturalisation until they have lived in the UK for 5 years (plus however long their ILR application takes to be processed).