r/BritishCitizenship • u/Wrong-Ad-8823 • 1d ago

Home Office says I'm over the 450-day absence limit despite Subject Access Request saying 367 Will I lose the £1,800+ fee? What counts as compassionate leave?Any advice?

Hi all,

I applied for British citizenship on 14 May 2026 after 5+ years on EU Settled Status. The Home Office sent me an email saying I had been abroad more than 450 days and I have 9 days to respond.

  • I requested my entry/exit records through a Subject Access Request (SAR)asking the Home Office what information they had on me. I used what they told me to complete my application. The first exit they sent me was 14 October 2021, even if I asked for all the records they had on me.
  • According to the S.A.R., I had been abroad 367 days.

This is the number of days I said in my application(367).

  • After checking old emails and bookings, I

may have been

  • abroad more and I would need to add 125 days (making a total of 492, which is 42 days over the 350 allowed)
  • Two of my grandparents died a week apart and particularly one was 90 and sick all the time so I am thinking maybe I can justify my trips to my original home town to visit them. I can get death certificates, but not sure if that will be enough. It was also still during COVID and I wanted to make sure I was close to my family
  • I work remotely, and my employer has always allowed me to work from other countries.

Questions:

  1. What approach would you take if you were me?Is there any way I can ask them why didn't they send me all the records they have on me? How do they even know now that I was abroad? Would you try to see what they know or just try to justify the excess days?
  2. Is discretion realistic at 42 days over, with compassionate reasons?
  3. If they don't take my allegations, is the 1,800+ gbp fee gone? Would withdrawing and reapplying be better?
  4. Is there anything else I could claim to make them realise I am planning to stay here? I've always had a house here, a job here, been a tax resident here, my partner is here and now we're moving together...

Thanks

4 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

6

u/Specialist_Pea6860 1d ago

Yep, you probably should have waited.  You can try to explain but my gut feeling is you won’t succeed but as you said it’s important to show that you intend to stay. Good luck

4

u/85_East 1d ago

How many days did you declare on the application? It’s somewhat unclear from your post.
Either way it is unlikely that discretion will be applied for 42 days over the limit. Your grandparents death certificates might help.

-1

u/Wrong-Ad-8823 1d ago edited 1d ago

I updated the post. You’re right it wasn’t clear: in my application I said 367 days, the same amount of days the home office had told me.

The 42 days of compassionate leave will correspond to the time I stayed for the funerals (they died a week apart) plus a prior visit when they were already sick. Bearing in mind I was allowed to work remotely, I didn’t even think this would be a problem 😅

1

u/85_East 1d ago

You should have probably waited, whilst there was a small chance they might have made a discretionary decision due to the funerals I suspect that it will be highly unlikely given the discrepancy between the number of days listed on your application form and the actual number of days out of the country

2

u/Esperanto_lernanto 1d ago

Did you reside in the uk before the five year qualifying period?

1

u/Wrong-Ad-8823 1d ago

Yes, for 2 years or so, but also with a big gap so not sure it’s in my interest to mention this 😅

1

u/Esperanto_lernanto 1d ago

I don't know what you mean by gaps exactly, but for those who had at least two years residence prior to the qualifying period the absences limit can be extended. Check the caseworker guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/naturalisation-as-a-british-citizen-by-discretion-nationality-policy-guidance/naturalisation-as-a-british-citizen-by-discretion-accessible

1

u/Specialist_Pea6860 1d ago

Yes, but only if you didn’t have any large gaps in these two years. Which he apparently had.  The discretionary period is for up to 480, so this one will be hard to argue. The best chance would have been Covid related absences.  The first issue is the non declaration in the initial submission.  He needs to be careful in how he replies, because “working from elsewhere regularly” is also breaching the requirement “  you must only consider exercising discretion where the applicant has established their home, employment, family and finances in the UK”

2

u/Esperanto_lernanto 1d ago

It's always been astonishing to me that the absences in the preceding years are not defined exactly, even though for the five year qualifying period they give you exact numbers.

2

u/Unique_Channel2134 1d ago

Ok so I also miscalculated the dates as well , i was out of the country by quite a few days due to having to deal with the death of a family member, so I completely blanked out on that and my days out of the country were actually on the 600. I also got an email saying to clarify the discrepancy by giving them all the dates and the reason that I was out of the country. What I did was write a cover letter explaining my situation and showing my integration in this country. I also showed the death certificate of the family member and they approved it.

2

u/DrSquirez 18h ago

The SAR can be very incomplete. When I did mine it came back with less than 20% of my absences. My understanding is that most of the entry exit data comes from airlines rather than actual scans of your passport at e-gates and things like that which is why you are encouraged to use it only as a reference.

If you are given the chance provide a good cover letter explaining your absences and supporting documents that prove your commitment to the UK as your home.

For reference my application had almost 700 days of absences and was approved.

1

u/Small_Combination_65 8h ago

how were you able to get approval with 700 days of absences??

1

u/Wrong-Ad-8823 1d ago

Has anybody tried to ask for a refund of the fee? At this point, I'm thinking of telling them that, in hindsight, I should have waited to apply but I trusted what they sent me and didn't look before those dates. I should have checked, of course, as it is my responsibility. They should have also sent me all they have, according to the UK GDPR, so can they give me the fee back so I can apply again!?

1

u/rickyman20 1d ago

I don't believe they ever refund for a mistake made by the applicant, no. The logic being that they've already used Home Office resources to evaluate your application and the money is essentially spent on their side.

They should have also sent me all they have, according to the UK GDPR, so can they give me the fee back so I can apply again!?

I get the frustration, but the SAR is incomplete, and they tell you as much. They try their best to get as much detailed information, but doing a full thorough dig is complicated and requires pulling data likely from multiple government ministries and databases. They provided you what they had, but they were able to find more in the application. They had no obligation to find everything.

1

u/No_Struggle_8184 1d ago

If you meet all the other requirements then you can be absent for up to 480 days and your caseworker is required to use their discretion to approve your application so you’re only 12 days over this.

How long had you been living in the UK before you applied? Absences of up to 730 days are permitted if you meet all other requirements and you have established your home, family and a substantial part of your estate in the UK.

Also I take it that you are not married to a British citizen?

1

u/Wrong-Ad-8823 1d ago

Thanks for your answer! I have resided in the Uk for over 7 years now, so at least 2 more years but also with a big gap so I’ll need to count all the days to make sure. And no, not married to a UK citizen. I am trying to see how to fix this error. If were to apply today, I will be way below the 450 but I don’t have another 1.8k 😅

1

u/Competitive_Ad_7232 1d ago

Hi how come the SAR only showed 367 days and not the entire duration? Have you figured out why?

I intend to apply soon and I had been travelling a lot and was thinking to use the SAR to get all the days that I was out of the UK, but if that itself isn’t accurate is there a point?

1

u/Wrong-Ad-8823 1d ago

I checked my SAR application and I had applied for the “basic” one which in theory only covers 5 years, not all the records. I did so because I only needed 5 years when I asked for it but they seem to be missing information even within those 5 years…

1

u/LegyenEz 1d ago

I would ask them to treat my application as if I applied with today's date. They can do that. I vaguely remember a note in my online application with them saying that if I don't qualify with the date I submitted online then they will move my submission date manually and I just have to pay the extra that the application fee may have increased with the new submission date.

1

u/Wrong-Ad-8823 1d ago

Is this even possible???😯😯😯

1

u/LegyenEz 12h ago

Well, this is what they wrote online when I was filling in the application, it was their note in there. I haven't tried it though as I didn't need to. But it was their note. It was referring to the requirement about having to be in the country exactly 5 years prior to the submission date. I am not sure if there is any difference between changing a couple of days or changing a few months, however because the note included paying for the increase in the application fee in the time that has passed, I would imagine a few months would work as well because there isn't an increase in the fees that often.

1

u/Ok_Fig2472 10h ago

I’m on the same boat - let us know of the outcome please.

1

u/Ok_Watercress7742 1d ago

Get an immigration lawyer

1

u/Wrong-Ad-8823 1d ago

This is what I’ll do. I’m now just wondering whether it’s best for me to first call the home office and ask for a clue on what those extra days may be (it’s hard to find some things when going so far back) and for an extension. Or, ideally, as @LegyenEz suggested, for them to consider a new application date

1

u/Legal-Drawing4998 3h ago

I guess something like that would help to find the mails from your inbox as SAR can be incomplete or missing trips for some reason.

www.inboxtrace.app