Plan to apply for Naturalization

[pepeu]

Dear Gurus,

I am planning to apply for the naturalization in Aug, doing my application at the moment.

I came to this country as a student in March 2009 and granted my ILR in Oct 2018.

Questions on the Absences and Referee's;

1. Absences more than 450 days from the UK - below are my absences

India HOLIDAY
19 August 2023 - 23 September 2023
34 Days
_____________________________________

India Visit 15 March 2022 - 5 December 2022
264 Days
_____________________________________

India Holiday, stuck during covid-19
20 November 2020 - 21 June 2021
212 days
_____________________________________
India - Visit
4 January 2020 - 10 January 2020
5 days
_____________________________________

Spain – Visit
7 October 2019 - 10 October 2019
2 Days

Total number of full days absent = 517 days

_______________________________________________

During 20 nov 2020 to 21 June 2021 - Father passed away and having cancellation of flight 22nd april 2021 and came to hotel stay when the boarder open (was a stressful and emotional times)

Would this be consider on exemption basis, pandemic times?

2. Referee's question:

I have got both the referees
one using as a friend another one for Professional

Professional Referee - he was my ex-colleague from previous company and he is working in a different company as a UX designer Lead - can I use this Referee as a Professional and how to know the referee as a "FRIEND" is this ok?

Kindly help me with my queries pleases!!

Thank you in advance

[alterhase58]

1. Absences

On the face of it you would be best of to wait a few months until total absences fall to 480 (or below) - "480 days is normally" disregarded - and you won't have ask for discretion.
Ref: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark11

If you want to go ahead and ask for discretion make sure the reasons for excess absences are well documented, and that all other requirements are met.

2. Referees

Friends, neighbours or colleagues can all be referees, there's no requirement that you must have worked with them.

As for the professional referee, what professional qualification does he hold? A job title (or degree) is not a profession.
Ref for acceptable professions: Page 24/25 - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... als_v4.pdf

[pepeu]

Thank you for the reply.

The person is working as a Tech designer Lead in an Admiral company. his background of computing..

Sure, I will be documenting those with the Father passed where mainly asked for this reason.

Is there any other way of things get around on 730 days? I can't understand of this - people saying staying 7 years and all that? would this be consider me on that basis as being a long resident to the country?

1. Absences

On the face of it you would be best of to wait a few months until total absences fall to 480 (or below) - "480 days is normally" disregarded - and you won't have ask for discretion.
Ref: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark11

If you want to go ahead and ask for discretion make sure the reasons for excess absences are well documented, and that all other requirements are met.

2. Referees

Friends, neighbours or colleagues can all be referees, there's no requirement that you must have worked with them.

As for the professional referee, what professional qualification does he hold? A job title (or degree) is not a profession.
Ref for acceptable professions: Page 24/25 - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... als_v4.pdf

[contorted_svy]

You don't need to provide reasons for absences. If you have lived in the UK for the last 7 years (and no substantial absences before the beginning of the 5 years qualifying period) you need to prove you have established your home, employment, family and finances in the UK, with things like a mortgage report, a letter from your employer, bank statements. You will need to provide absences for the last 7 years too.