In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:

• have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
• have been present in the United Kingdom three years before the date of your application; and
• have not spent more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom during the three-year period; and
• have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the three-year period; and
• have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the three-year period.

Start of the residential qualifying period

The residential qualifying period will be worked out from the day the Home Office receive your application. Most unsuccessful applications fail because the applicant was not present in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the residential qualifying period. You must make sure you meet this requirement before you make your application. For example, if we received your application on 25 November 2005, you would have to show that you were in the United Kingdom on 26 November 2002.

You cannot count time you have spent in the United Kingdom while exempt from immigration control as part of the residential qualifying period. If you are in the United Kingdom as a diplomat or as a member of visiting armed forces or if you are in any place of detention, you would be considered exempt from immigration control. This time would be treated as absence from the United Kingdom.