Immigrationboards.com

Situation as follows
* Studied in the UK between August 2005 and July 2006
* Worked in the UK under HSMP permit during May 2007 till May 2012
* Received ILR in May 2012
* Married a British Citizen in December 2012
* Received a job offer from a UK/ South African company in December 2012 who relocated me to Johannesburg for work
* Resided in Johannesburg, South Africa from January 2013 until present day
* Divorced the British Citizen in August 2015
* Between January 2013 and current day I have made numerous trips to enter the UK for business purposes, about 5 trips each not more than a week long
* In January 2016 my UK/ South African company plans to relocate me back to the UK
* I plan to permanently reside in the UK as well as buy a property to reside in as my primary residence

Question
* Would I be able to apply for British Citizenship in January 2017
* If not, why specifically and is there any specific merit I can use to apply for special circumstances?

I would be more concerned that you have in fact lost your ILR status as this is automatically lost when you are absent from the UK for 2 or more years. Short and frequent visits does not maintain your ILR status. Given that you are divorced now and if you don't have much in the UK, I am not sure how successful a returning resident visa will be after 3 years absence. What ties or size of your estate do you have in the UK?

The requirements to apply for British Citizenship, particularly regarding absence, is as follows :

No more than 450 days absence in the 5 years immediately preceding the date of your application.
No more than 90 days absence in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of your application.
You must have been physically present in the UK on exactly the same date 5 years previously, on the date of application.

There are no 'special circumstances', you either meet the requirement/rules or you don't and from what you have posted, I don't see any special circumstances. Citizenship is granted at discretion and is a privilege not a right.

thanks for your feedback

1) Regarding potential to lose my ILR - each time I entered the UK over the past three years, border control never questioned me about this.
2) Regarding size of estate in UK and ties - A large portion of my savings, pension and investments remain in the UK. I have family who reside in the UK. My UK/ South African company is also relocating me back to the UK for work reasons. I also plan to buy a residential property as a primary abode in 2016

any thoughts?

You may be extremely lucky and keep your ILR but you won't qualify for British citizenship. You risk having your ILR revoked on your next (or any) entry into the UK and would be expected to apply for permission on SET(09) as a Returning Resident before travelling. Without this, if your luck runs when you attempt to re-enter and you are allowed temporary admission as a visitor, you will be unable to apply for a right to remain from within the UK.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... nts-set-09