Common Citizenship Application Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Miscounting absences

The absence limits are:

• No more than 450 days outside the UK in the 5 years before the application (270 days on the 3-year route for spouses and civil partners of British citizens)
• No more than 90 days outside the UK in the final 12 months, on both routes

The Form AN guidance says the Home Office counts only whole days abroad, and does not count the dates you leave and enter the UK. Its example: someone who left on 22 September and returned on 23 September is not classed as having been absent. Counting those two days is a common way of overstating a total.

Other frequent errors:

• Leaving out short trips, which count like any other
• Measuring the period from the wrong date. It ends on the day the Home Office receives the application, which for an online application is the day you submit it
• Relying on memory rather than passports, booking confirmations and travel records

Not being in the UK on the first day of the period

This is a separate requirement from the absence limits and is easy to miss. You must have been physically present in the UK on the day exactly 5 years (or 3 years on the spouse route) before the Home Office receives your application. The Form AN guidance gives the example of an application received on 05/01/2022, for which you should have been in the UK on 06/01/2017.

The guidance says an application that fails this is likely to be refused, though the Home Office may look for a later date it can use instead, which can delay the decision, and the fee payable is the one in force on whatever date it uses.

The 12-month wait, and who it does not apply to

On the 5-year route you must be free from immigration time restrictions on the date of application and for the 12 months before it. In practice that usually means holding indefinite leave to remain or settled status for 12 months. The Form AN guidance notes this can mean waiting until you have been in the UK for at least 6 years.

If you are married to or the civil partner of a British citizen and applying on the 3-year route, there is no 12-month wait. You need only be free from immigration time restrictions on the date you apply.

Not declaring everything on good character

The good character requirement asks for details of all criminal convictions in the UK and overseas. The Form AN guidance says this includes:

• Prison sentences and non-custodial sentences, including suspended sentences
• Out-of-court disposals: fines, cautions, warnings or reprimands, community sentences, civil orders, civil penalties, civil judgments, hospital orders, restriction orders, and fiscal fines
• Fixed penalty notices, including speeding and parking tickets. These are not normally taken into account unless you failed to pay and criminal proceedings followed, or you received several in a short space of time
• Drink driving, and any endorsements on your driving licence, for which you must download a summary of your record from the DVLA
• Civil judgments that resulted in a court order against you, bankruptcy, an unpaid NHS debt of £500 or more, and unreasonable failure to pay council tax

The guidance says you do not need to give details of family law proceedings such as divorce decrees or parental responsibility orders. It also says you must tell the Home Office if you are arrested or charged after applying, and that failing to do so risks prosecution under section 46 of the British Nationality Act 1981.

Two immigration matters are treated strictly. The guidance says an application will normally be refused if you entered the UK illegally, no matter how much time has passed, or if you arrived without a required entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation having made a dangerous journey, such as by small boat or concealed in a vehicle. It says the Home Office will consider whether the entry was outside your control, for example if you were a child or a victim of trafficking at the time.

Wrong dates and details

Errors on the form itself are common:

• Wrong date of entry to the UK
• Incorrect passport numbers
• Wrong date of the grant of settlement
• Misspelled names, especially where your name differs between documents
• Incorrect addresses or missing address history
• The wrong Life in the UK test reference number. For tests taken on or after 17 December 2019 it is in the results email, in the form HOM/010114/123456/123456789

If a mistake reaches the certificate, it is corrected afterwards using form RR, and the Home Office may charge for the correction if the error was yours.

Missing evidence

If you apply online you do not send documents anywhere. GOV.UK says you either upload copies into the online service or have them scanned at your biometrics appointment. Commonly missing items:

• Passports covering the qualifying period, or, if you cannot provide them, an explanation plus employer letters, payslips, P60s or letters from educational institutions
• Your Life in the UK test reference number
• English language evidence. An approved test result is only valid for 2 years from the date it was taken
• On the spouse route, the British partner’s passport or certificate, and the marriage or civil partnership certificate
• A biometric residence permit if one was issued to you. The guidance says you must provide it even if it has expired

Use the citizenship documents checklist alongside the official guidance. Documents already uploaded for an earlier immigration application do not need to be sent again.

Referee problems

Your application must be endorsed by 2 referees. The Form AN guidance says:

• One can be of any nationality but must be a professional person, such as a minister of religion, a civil servant, or a member of a professional body such as an accountant or solicitor
• The other must hold a British citizen passport and be either a professional person or over the age of 25
• Each must have known you for at least 3 years
• Neither may be related to you, related to the other referee, the solicitor or agent representing you on the application, or employed by the Home Office
• A referee convicted of an imprisonable offence in the last 10 years is not usually accepted

The Home Office says it may check that referees have no unspent convictions and that their signatures are genuine, and that knowingly or recklessly giving false information is an offence under section 46(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981.

Missing the deadlines after you apply

• Biometrics within 45 days. The Form AN guidance says you will usually need to enrol your fingerprints and photo within 45 days of submitting, and that failing to do so would invalidate the application. There is no fee for this step.
• The ceremony within 90 days. If the application succeeds you must arrange and attend a citizenship ceremony within 90 days of the invitation. The guidance says an application will be refused, and must be made again, if you do not attend within 90 days without good reason.
• Keep your immigration permission valid. A citizenship application gives you no immigration status of its own. You must hold valid permission to be in the UK until the ceremony.

Reducing the risk of an error

• Keep a travel log with exact departure and return dates for every trip abroad
• Read the Form AN guidance in full before filling in the form. It is the Home Office’s own summary of the requirements
• Check every date against the original documents
• Apply online if you can. GOV.UK says a postal application is received later than the day you send it, which matters for the first-day rule
• Only advisers regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, or authorised by a designated professional body such as the Law Society, may give immigration or nationality advice. See what an immigration solicitor costs

Related guides:

• Citizenship by Naturalisation
• Citizenship Absences Rules
• Good Character Requirement
• Citizenship Documents Checklist
• Citizenship Refusal Reasons

The sources for this page are GOV.UK: apply for citizenship and the Home Office’s Form AN guidance.

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