Employer letters - alternatives

[Matti1990]

Hi,

I am submitting my application for naturalisation this week and just wanted to get the view of others on whether the proof of residency I have is sufficient:
1. I have a certificate from university (not a letter, but my actual degree certificate) which states I attended between September 2020 and March 2022 (my graduation date).
2. I then have a series of payslips covering the period 20th May to 25th Dec 2022 (this employer was an agency and they refused to provide me with a letter, but I have all the payslips).
3. A letter from my current employer which covers the period January 2023 onwards.

The only times not covered are late March to late May 2022 (~2 months), when I was looking for work after graduating, and August 2022, when I was not working due to holidays.

Does this sound like a good set of documents? Unfortunately I didn't keep any P60s to go with the payslips.

Thank you for any feedback!

[contorted_svy]

The guidance states that you need to provide a letter from your university

Residence Requirements
Absences
You should supply the following documents to show you have been mainly in the UK
during the 5 years (or, if married to or in civil partnership to a British citizen, 3 years)
before making your application:

• Your passports
• If you are unable to provide your passport, explain why and supply letters from
employers (including start and finish dates), payslips, P60s, educational
establishments or other government departments indicating your presence in the
United Kingdom during the relevant period
Examples of documents that can be used to show you have been in the UK for the
required time period, can be found here.
Although we do not normally accept doctors’ letters on their own as proof of presence,
these may be accepted if nothing else is available and the doctors can confirm that they
have seen you on a regular basis during the period concerned.

If your passport is not stamped when you come into the United Kingdom, you must still
provide your passport, but also provide alternative evidence of presence as above.

It doesn't specifically quote that the degree certificate is enough (I don't know if other people have used it and been successful though). Can you contact the university and get a letter, to be on the safe side?

Regarding the gaps you quote, those seem reasonable to me as it's only a couple of months overall. I assume your absences are under the limits.

[Matti1990]

What about the payslips? I was a little worried about it because the guidance on the application itself (right before I submit there is a checklist of what I will have to send) 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."
I am hoping the payslips can replace the employer letter for one of them.

[contorted_svy]

Payslips should be OK, though a letter from the employer would be easier. Can you email them and ask for one?

[Matti1990]

I tried emailing and calling in multiple ways. Everyone just passed me around to someone else, or didn't respond. There was one who said she will send me an email (a general manager in my area) rather than a letter, but when she did the dates of my employment were not correct. Again, I got no response when I tried to address this and have the dates corrected or sent in a letter rather than email format. It is just not something they're interested in because it is extra work, I guess.

Since I managed to get all of my payslips (they were paying me weekly, so I have quite a lot of them - 23 - to cover the whole period), I just stopped trying at some point.

The whole system is a bit ridiculous because HMRC have all the records and the Home Office has all the records of me coming and going from the UK (I have lived here since 2005), so I don't understand why these ridiculous criteria are even in place (other than as a deterrent not to apply).

[contorted_svy]

I think the payslips will be OK. for extra safety you can apply for a SAR which takes up to 6 weeks.

[Matti1990]

I think the payslips will be OK. for extra safety you can apply for a SAR which takes up to 6 weeks.

I actually got a SAR (on advice from this forum), but it doesn't have any information pertinent to the application because I haven't left the UK for over 7 years and the SAR only covers the last 5, so it didn't have anything about me leaving or arriving. All it was, was over 40 pages of my wife's spousal visa application information.

I will just hope the payslips will cover the gap. I don't know if the assessors read cover letters, but I will attach a very brief cover letter to explain the situation.
Do you think I should attach all 23 payslips, or will that be overkill on my part? I was not on a full time employment contract (this was agency work, different hours every week) so I would assume the payslips would all be needed to show I was physically present in the UK.

I think I read that all this information will be submitted electronically anyway, rather than sent in paper form (including referee forms). So I may need to just combine the payslips into one PDF maybe.

[alterhase58]

Did you ever get a P60 from the agency? P60s are official documents which the employer has to submit to HMRC, with copy to you, so they are used regularly for this application. If you haven't got them then pay slips will have to do. UKVI will contact you if they need further info or documents. It won't be an outright refusal.

[Matti1990]

I cannot find any of my P60s unfortunately. I'm hoping employer letters and payslips should be fine.