Dual citizenship - when to apply?

Hi guys! I'm looking at starting the paperwork for my dual citizenship as I have had ILR since 2013. However, when I look at the guidelines and 'when to apply' - I'm confused.  The below is from the gov's website on when to apply - if I'm reading this right, I have to be physically present in the UK for 5 years before I can apply. I assumed this excluded holidays as I was away in 2019 for 9 days in Spain from the 29th of Sept 2019 to the 8th of October 2019, but after reading the below I don't think it does exclude it. Does anyone have any experience with this or advice?

Can I apply now or do I have to wait until 2024 because of my holiday? Or is it just that I need to add those 9 days I was away onto the 5 years? So essentially I could apply this year, but it would need to be on the 17th of October?

You must have been physically present in the UK exactly 5 years before the Home Office receives your application. Your application may be rejected if you cannot prove this.

Example

If the Home Office receives your application on 20 June 2022, but you left the UK on 10 June 2017 and returned to the UK on 25 June 2017, you will not qualify. You’ll need to wait until 24 June 2022 to apply.

The date the Home Office receives your application depends on how you apply. If you apply online, your application will be received on the same day. It will take longer if you apply by post.

They mean on that exact date from 5 years ago  (not three?).  Like, if you apply on July 15, 2021, you must have been in the UK on the 15th of July 2016.  So just make sure your application isn't submitted on the anniversary of any holidays abroad.

Ah okay  I see I was overcomplicating it hahaha! Thank you!

Are you currently married to a British citizen?

If so, the citizenship requirements are slightly different, in that you only need to show 3 years of residency, not 5 years.

You just have to:
- have been physically present in the U.K. exactly 3 years prior to your citizenship application date
- not have been outside the UK for more than 270 days in the last 3 years
- no more than 90 of those days can have been in the last 12 months before applying.

When you calculate the days outside the U.K., you do not count the day you left or the day you returned to the U.K... so if you left on a Monday and returned on Friday, that only counts as 3 days outside the UK (Tue, Wed and Thu).


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Yep married a British citizen - did the whole FLM journey to ILR !  The last time I was out of the UK was my trip to Spain in 2019 for 9 days from the 9th of Sept 2019 to the 8th of October 2019.  So would I need to wait until October 2022 to apply, or can I apply now? Sorry I am struggling to get my head around this for some reason.

Yep married a British citizen - did the whole FLM journey to ILR !  The last time I was out of the UK was my trip to Spain in 2019 for 9 days from the 9th of Sept 2019 to the 8th of October 2019.  So would I need to wait until October 2022 to apply, or can I apply now? Sorry I am struggling to get my head around this for some reason.

No, you can apply now as long as:

1) you were not out of the U.K. on the date in July 2018 that you apply in July 2021

And

2) you have not been outside the U.K. for more than 9 months in total since July 2018

So, for example, if you were to submit your citizenship online application on 20th July 2021, you just need to make sure you were inside the U.K. on 20th July 2018.

And you also need to make sure that all the holidays you have taken since 20th July 2018 do not add up to more than 270 days (9 months) outside the U.K. in total (with no more than 90 days of those 270 days being between July 20th 2020 and July 20th 2021).


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Fab - I haven't been out of the UK for more than 9 months and I didn't go out of the country within July 2018  thank you for your help!