Reckonable Residence and Type B Proof of Residency

[Britincollig]

Hi all,

I know this topic has been covered a lot previously but I'm still a little bit confused and would be grateful for some clarity on my situation -

I'm a British citizen who has been living continuously in Ireland since 2019, but have been out of the country for more than 70 days for some of the years, counting backwards from today:

Year | Start | End | Total days outside IE | Reckonable Residence

Year 1 | 17-Feb-2026 | 18-Feb-2025 | 60 | 365
Year 2 | 17-Feb-2025 | 18-Feb-2024 | 76 | 289
Year 3 | 17-Feb-2024 | 18-Feb-2023 | 79 | 286
Year 4 | 17-Feb-2023 | 18-Feb-2022 | 65 | 365
Year 5 | 17-Feb-2022 | 18-Feb-2021 | 59 | 365
Year 6 | 17-Feb-2021 | 18-Feb-2020 | 146 | 219
Year 7 | 17-Feb-2020 | 06-Aug-2019 | 23 | 195

I've taken the number of days of reckonable residence as 365 if I have been in the country for 70 days or less. I've also discounted travel days from the time spent outside of Ireland. In the last 5 years, there have been two years where I've spent more than 70 days abroad (years 2 and 3). What I'm unclear about is whether I can account for that time (total 155 days) using the 219 days of reckonable residence from Year 6, considering I also spent >70 days outside of Ireland in that year due to COVID? Or must I extend further into 2019, though it would not be a complete year, i.e. I moved to Ireland in August 2019.

A lot of the time spent abroad was due to visiting family for various reasons (general visits, relatives unwell, funerals) - is this reason sufficient? I'm not sure I exactly have formal evidence for these reasons, just the flight details.

In terms of proof of residency, I have been employed the entire time so can request the Employment Detail Summary documents for type A. For type B, I have WiFi bills back to 2023 but am struggling to get bills from earlier. Am I able to use bank statements for years 4 and 5 (and potentially years 6/7 if that's recommended)? The guide document only states credit card statements for type B rather than bank statements, which I do not have. Otherwise, what is considered a rental agreement? I had a mix of rental agency and cash type rental arrangements for the earlier years - I could probably request a letter from the agency, but for the informal arrangement what would be required from that landlord?

Thanks a million for any support in advance!

[wannabepaddy]

Please note that this is opinion, and should not be taken as fact, but the summary is, you should be fine.

**Reckonable residence calculation**

Your total reckonable residence across all years comes to 365 + 289 + 286 + 365 + 365 + 219 + 195 = 2,084 days. The requirement for naturalisation is 1,825 days (5 years) in the 9 years before application, with at least 365 days of continuous residence immediately before the application date. Your continuous residence requirement (Year 1) is satisfied since you were out for only 60 days. And your total comfortably exceeds 1,825 days even without needing to lean on Year 6 or 7 at all — so the question of whether you can "use" the surplus from Year 6 to offset Years 2 and 3 is somewhat moot from a pure numbers perspective.

The more important question is whether Years 2 and 3 disqualify you despite your total being sufficient. The Minister has broad discretion here, and the guidance doesn't set a rigid rule that any year with more than 70 days abroad is simply struck out. The 70-day figure is a guideline for what counts as a "reckonable" full year, not an automatic disqualification. The Minister looks at the overall picture. With 2,084 days total across roughly 6.5 years, you have a strong case. The two years of higher absence (Years 2 and 3, totalling 155 extra days above the 70-day threshold) are unlikely to be fatal on their own, especially with sympathetic reasons.

**Reasons for absences**

Family visits, illness of relatives, and bereavements are among the most commonly accepted reasons and are looked upon favourably. You don't necessarily need formal documentation for every trip, but you should be able to provide a coherent narrative and ideally some supporting evidence — flight bookings, funeral notices, hospital correspondence, or even messages/emails referencing the reason for travel would all help (don't proactively supply these - they will ask if there's any concern). The key is that your explanation is credible and consistent. I would personally just submit, since as a British Citizen, the reckonable residence isn't as much of a 'thing' due to the CTA, and isn't scrutinised in the same way e.g. a US Citizen might be. Again, this is an opinion, so please don't take this as a guarantee. I would suggest not providing these details up front, since you're very much on the borderline. The most important year is the one just before you apply.

**Proof of residency documents**

On Type A (official/state documents), your Employment Detail Summaries from Revenue are excellent and cover the whole period — you are good on that section.

On Type B, the guidance does specify credit card statements rather than current account bank statements, which is an oddly specific distinction. However, in practice INIS does accept bank statements showing regular transactions consistent with Irish residency (regular Irish payroll deposits, Irish utility payments, Irish purchases etc.), and many applicants have used them successfully. It's worth including them with a brief note explaining you're providing bank statements as the best available equivalent, given you don't hold a credit card. The worst outcome is that they ask for something else; it's unlikely to cause a refusal.

For rental agreements, a formal lease from an agency is straightforward — request a letter from the agency confirming your tenancy dates and address. For informal cash arrangements, a signed letter from the landlord on headed paper (or just signed with their name, address and contact details) confirming the dates you lived there and the address is generally accepted. It doesn't need to be a formal contract. If you have any bank transfers, rent receipts, or even messages referencing rent payments to that landlord, include those alongside the letter to corroborate it.

Important note - they're clear that you should apply the minimum info - don't oversupply things - they'll ask if they need it.

Hope this helps.