Work in aviation, Absence more than 90 days before naturalisation

[Mayo123]

hi guys I need advice
I am EEA national (Slovak Rep.) am here since 2005, always worked never took a penny from taxpayer etc...
I work as a cabin crew in civil aviation which of course requires me to be abroad time to time, however when I applied for my EEA RP I have not declared this as I thought I don't have to, due to nature of my occupation.
Yet I am still awaiting response from Home office.

However I have already passed life in UK test and B1 Esol. And am ready to apply for naturalisation based on my RP which I have applied for past 10 years. So I don't think I should wait 1 more year.
If wrong pls do correct me.

It was today I have discovered the fact I am obliged to declare my business travel, which past year is 116 days. And year before that it was 98 days to be exact.

My concerns are as follow:

Discrapency between RP EEA application and Naturalisation application where my absences out of the UK shel be completely different as I will have to declare my cabin crew travels now( I really really dislike lying and I very much would like to be as honest as I can be and to do everything best of my knowledge). Would be this a problem? Would my application be rejected based on Discrapency in my EEA RP application?
I may ask my employer to provide me letter stating my absence is because I am a cabin crew and being outside the UK is an unavoidable consequence of nature of my work in civil aviation. I also have every single payslip, P45, P60, contract of employments, HMRC NI statements for past 13 years available to post as supporting evidence. I believe I have copies of my old UK driving licenses and my old passports too, also I have never committed any criminal offence or anything of such nature.
I need advice, what chance do I stand?

Thank you all for reading and replying

Kind regards

[giramondo]

Would be this a problem?

I don't think so, just explain it in a cover letter, and the applciation section where it asks you to given other considerations.

Would my application be rejected based on Discrapency in my EEA RP application?

I don't think your applciation would be rejected based on this as you are a [airport-based operational staff of overseas-owned Stupid], see page 15 of [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... -v15.0.pdf]

[secret.simon]

I don't think your applciation would be rejected based on this as you are a [airport-based operational staff of overseas-owned Stupid], see page 15 of [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... -v15.0.pdf]

That link is not relevant to the OP's query as that deals with continuity of residence for the purposes of ILR, not of naturalisation.

Naturalisation has different requirements from that of either the UK Immigration Rules or the EEA Regulations. Therefore I suggest that you do not apply the rules of the latter two by analogy to the naturalisation application.

There is no special get-out clause for air or ship crew in the requirements for naturalisation. There is however a certain amount of discretion that the Home Office caseworker can exercise. See pages 13 onwards of the Naturalisation Nationality Guidance.

There is however a residence requirement on which the Home Office has no discretion to ignore. You must prove that you were physically present in the UK at the start of the five year period ending with the date of application. In other words, you must prove that you were in the UK (date of application - 5 years +1 day). Failure to meet this requirement means certain failure of the naturalisation application. See this post for the case of an EEA citizen seaman who failed this requirement.

Discrapency between RP EEA application and Naturalisation application where my absences out of the UK shel be completely different as I will have to declare my cabin crew travels now( I really really dislike lying and I very much would like to be as honest as I can be and to do everything best of my knowledge). Would be this a problem? Would my application be rejected based on Discrapency in my EEA RP application?

That should not be a problem. You are only required to state absences from the UK of longer than six months for an EEA PR application, while for a naturalisation application, you are required to list all absences. So there is bound to be a difference.

I may ask my employer to provide me letter stating my absence is because I am a cabin crew and being outside the UK is an unavoidable consequence of nature of my work in civil aviation. I also have every single payslip, P45, P60, contract of employments, HMRC NI statements for past 13 years available to post as supporting evidence

This is useful evidence to prove that you have made the UK your home, which is one of the requirements for exercising discretion on absences from the UK.

[ariskar]

Please make sure you calculate absences the same way as the HO. Please note that for absences the following calculation method used by the HO is beneficial if most of your flights were from & to the UK (having a UK employer and home I assume):

The exit and return dates do not count for absences.

For instance:
[*]If you fly out of the UK and return the same day OR the day after the total absence is 0 days (i.e. not absent)
[*]If you fly out of the UK and return two days later (common for intercontinental flights) the total absence is 1 day

In the case of your profession the home office may expect that you reasonably demonstrate that your home is in the UK and not elsewhere. In case you are on UK payroll (employer) this is straightforward. All you need to provide is your national id / passport and P60's and a recent payslip or you self employment (if that's the case) most recent statement of accounts.

A cover letter as advised by other members could also help the HO caseworker / senior staff to exercise discretion on the residency requirement if applicable to your case. You should be fine. All the best!