5.
6.
Neither requirement can be set aside.
The law also expects applicants to
have been living here for the 5 years before they apply for citizenship,
without being absent from the UK for more than 450 days in that period.
We can be flexible about granting settlement after the first 4 years to businessmen with substantial investments here, and there is discretion to
allow absences longer than 450 days during the 5 year qualifying period for
citizenship. But it would not be consistent with the legislation to
operate this discretion in a way which ignored the basic intention of the
Act that applicants should be able to show personal links with and
commitment to this country through a period of sustained residence here.
J
After consultation with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary the
Home Secretary explained the position to Sir Michael Sandberg last year and
separately when he met Mr. Li in October. The Prime Minister wrote to Sir
Keith Joseph on the same subject on 12 February this year.
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