EEA National: Letters from employers

[fruktoza]

Hello everyone

I'm planning to submit my citizenship application late November this year as soon my EEA permanent residency reaches 12 months since has been acquired.

I have been under impression that successful Life in the UK test does not expire. However having read the AN Naturalisation booklet on the governmental website, I have found the following statement: ''Before you take the test, you should make sure you meet all the other requirements for naturalisation. Whilst the Home Office will retain the information it gets from test centres for a reasonable period, you should submit your application as soon as possible after taking the test.''

I passed my Life in the UK early October 2019 but I plan to apply for the citizenship late November. From your experience, is such long gap (9 weeks in total!) between passing LiUK and the submitting the application is going to cause the rejection?

Also, at the time when I passed my LiUK a few weeks ago, I wasn't technically meeting the criteria for naturalisation because my EEA permanent residency had not reached 12-months validity. Will this going to create another nightmare to explain to UKVI?

Apologies, if the similar question has been asked before. I thought it would be a good to ask to reduce the risk losing the fee.

Thanks
FR

[Zerubbabel]

Hello

I passed my test 3 or 4 years before being actually eligible to apply for British citizenship. I just had time and I passed it. I used it and it worked just fine.

There is no obligation that the test is taken only when all other eligibility criteria are met.

[hermanthegerman]

The LitUK test is good forever. Many people do it for their ILR so many years before they apply for citizenship.

[ukcitizen23]

I took my test in 2013 and applied 5 years later, it does not expire.

[fruktoza]

Hi there,

I see that one of the frequent reasons for application refusals for EEA applicants is a failure to be present in the UK territory exactly 5 years before application having been submitted.

Being an EEA citizen, my dates of arrivals and departures from Europe to UK (and other way round) are never documented as unfortunately we don't get stamps when crossing the border.

I am sure that during the first day of my 5-years qualifying period I was physically present in the UK (late November 2014), however I do not have a tangible proof evidencing it. Unluckily, the payslips from that month (and following two months) have been lost.

Is P60 from all the years 2014 onwards a suitable documentary evidence?

Also, does Home Office use their internal records from UKBA when verifying the dates of absences in the UK? If so, that would be the best as I would be safe in such case.

Thank you.

FR

[alterhase58]

Hi there,

I see that one of the frequent reasons for application refusals for EEA applicants is a failure to be present in the UK territory exactly 5 years before application having been submitted.

Being an EEA citizen, my dates of arrivals and departures from Europe to UK (and other way round) are never documented as unfortunately we don't get stamps when crossing the border.

I am sure that during the first day of my 5-years qualifying period I was physically present in the UK (late November 2014), however I do not have a tangible proof evidencing it. Unluckily, the payslips from that month (and following two months) have been lost.

Is P60 from all the years 2014 onwards a suitable documentary evidence? Yes.

Also, does Home Office use their internal records from UKBA when verifying the dates of absences in the UK? If so, that would be the best as I would be safe in such case. We don't know what they check exactly and whether they actually have records for the period.

Thank you.

FR

[fruktoza]

I'm nearing the completion of the online naturalisation application form.

I have just come across a mandatory box to be ticked.

It says:

"If you are an EEA National, you need to include letters from employers, educational establishments or other government departments, indicating your presence in the UK during the relevant 3- or 5-year period. (…)Bank statements or household bills are not suitable proof you have been living in the UK."

Are letters from past employers a definite must? Unfortunately, I no longer have them all. Can P60s be used instead of that?

Thanks!

[obormot]

EU nationals do not get passports stamped when entering UK. So they need an alternative evidence that you were physically present in UK most of the time.
Any official confirmation that you worked more or less continuously should be sufficient.
I'd say P60 are enough. I think they actually can access tax base and get info on your employment history anyway.

[fruktoza]

Thanks to everyone for their help so far.

I have now submitted the citizenship application an am now awaiting the UKVCAS for an appointment next week.

To avoid creating a horrendous amount of attachments, I have deliberately decided not to upload any payslips on the assumption that my P45s, P60s and letters from employers are a sufficient substitute to evidence my residence in the UK.

Was it a right thing to do? If so, do I need to explain that in the cover letter or is it rather self-explanatory?

Please correct me if I'm wrong here as I have only a few days left to upload any docs on the portal. Thanks again!

[alterhase58]

Thanks to everyone for their help so far.

I have now submitted the citizenship application an am now awaiting the UKVCAS for an appointment next week.

To avoid creating a horrendous amount of attachments, I have deliberately decided not to upload any payslips on the assumption that my P45s, P60s and letters from employers are a sufficient substitute to evidence my residence in the UK.

Was it a right thing to do? If so, do I need to explain that in the cover letter or is it rather self-explanatory?

Please correct me if I'm wrong here as I have only a few days left to upload any docs on the portal. Thanks again!

The requirement is for one type of document not all of them - So P60 OR letter(s) would be sufficient - payslips or P45 are not required - in my case it was just one employer's letter. You don't need to explain they know what they are looking for so best to just provide what is asked for, nothing additional.