Immigrationboards.com

All,

I am shortly applying for Naturalisation (AN) for myself and my wife and registering my two children on MN1. My second child (Daughter) is born here and I have no issues with her form but for my first child (son) was born in India and was here in UK when he was four years old. Due to child care issues during 2007-08, we have sent him to India for a good 15 months and he joined back us in May 2008.

Now, on the MN1 form in the residence requirements - section 2 (Page 7) it asks for absences from UK since last 5 years. The following are the absences of my son

1st Absence: 27 Feb 2007 to 20 May 2008 (448 days)
2nd Absence: 05 Oct 2008 to 28 Jan 2009 (115 days)
3rd Absence: 03 Apr 2012 to 24 Apr 2012 (21 days)

The above makes a total of 584 days of absence for my son. The last two absences are same for all of us.

Now my question is whether its going to be a problem for my son's registration ?

I have read somewhere in this forum that for a child under 18 only the last 3-years absences are taken into consideration. Is that true? or would it be a best option to register my son later?

Any suggestion would be much appreciated.

Many thanks & kind regards...
Santosh

See Q2 in Citizenship FAQs - Common Questions - Read before posting - Children.

Thanks Jambo

All,

Thank you all for the useful information you provide on this site.

I have one more query: should we need to provide a covering letter along with the Naturalisation and Registration application(s). I am applying on AN and MN1 forms for all my family together.

If we should provide a covering letter what does that we need to mention?

Many thanks & kind regards...
Santosh

If you don't know what to write in a cover letter, I guess it is not needed.

Apologies Jambo,

My question should have been more specific.

Is it customary or normal practice followed by all the applicants to provide the cover letter. I can write my own content though.

Thanks for your reply.

Many thanks & kind regards...
Santosh

I can't speak on behalf of all applicants but I don't see a reason to write a cover letter. What would you say there which is not covered in the relevant section in the form? A generic "please find attached my application" letter is not adding any value and is not required.
Get the application form filled in correctly. Much more important than a cover letter.

Once again thanks Jambo!