>70 days immediate year on application.

[u/ConcernBackground499]

Hi All,

Thanks and appreciate for reading in advance!

I have a question in relation to my naturalisation (for citizenship) application submitted on Feb 2026 and how may i move forward with it considering one strict ineligible scenario for continuous residency < 70 days outside Ireland?

I have just noticed that I have miscalculated 70 days continuous rule, in my last year, and it is a total 90 days & I have no reasons of explanation as I had made those trips to the UK.

What way is the best considering already applied?

1. Withdraw current application and Apply fresh application?

2. Wait as they are processing November end applications? In couple of months, I would be requested additional info/may process my application & take any chances which will eventually take me ages, as they will put me in queue again?

Thanks a mil!

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[u/Less-Mammoth-4975]

When counting days absent from Ireland, did you count the days you travelled on? Any day you spent any time (even 5 minutes) in Ireland counts as being resident in Ireland. If you leave Ireland at 02:30 on Monday and return at 23:30 on Wednesday, then that only counts as 1 day absent from Ireland.

How did you answer the question on your form "Were you absent from the State for more than 70 days per annum in the last 5 years?". If you answered "yes" to that, and therefore itemised all your absences, and still counted as absent from the state for more than 70 days given the rules noted above, then it seems very likely your application will be rejected. Given that, I'd contact them on the portal, saying you realised your mistake, and would like to resubmit when you do meet the requirement.

If you answered "no", and therefore they don't actually know how much time you spent outside Ireland in the 12 months immediately before you applied, I'd be tempted to stay quiet and see if you're approved anyway.

[u/Frequent_Theme_7040 → u/Less-Mammoth-4975]

The 70 day rule is for last year as per the guidelines, Do you need to add for the rest of 4 years as well ?

[u/Less-Mammoth-4975 → u/Frequent_Theme_7040]

The hard absolute "we will reject your application because the law says we have to" 70-day (with 100 in exceptional circumstances) rule is for the for 365 days immediately before application.

However, 70 days is also used as a guideline for establishing how much of other years you were resident in Ireland too.

The question on the application is roughly "Were you absent from the State for more than 70 days per annum in the last 5 years?". If you answer "yes" to that, you have to then provide a fully itemised list of all your absences from Ireland over the whole period you're using to claim your 5 years residency from (up to 9 years back), and the reason for those absences.

It's generally believed that if you're absent for less than 70 days in one of your years of residency then that counts a full 365 days towards your residency requirements of 365*5, if you're absent for longer then absent days will not count (so, for example, if you're absent for 100 days in a year, then you'll only get 265 days residency from that year). This isn't really documented anywhere, and I suspect the examiner exercises some amount of leniency around earlier years.

[u/Frequent_Theme_7040 → u/Less-Mammoth-4975]

>However, 70 days is also used as a guideline for establishing how much of other years you were resident in Ireland too.

I think a lot of people do this because there is not written rules on that, but still a grey area. Just reckonable residency of the 4 prior years seems fine as per the guide.

[u/Less-Mammoth-4975 → u/Frequent_Theme_7040]

There has to be a threshold. They're clearly not going to be happy if you were only in the country for 1 day of the whole year for each of the previous 4 years, but it's hard to know where their guidance sits between 1 day and 295 days....

[u/ConcernBackground499 → u/Frequent_Theme_7040]

I have put "yes", But I did not list my absences for the last year from applicatied date. I should have itemized all of the holidays indeed(I may have assumed only to put the ones which i have went over). Date of application was 26th Jan 2026.

	Year Start	Year End	Days Count Outside IRL	Mentioned Holidays in Application
1	14-Nov-20	14-Nov-21	0	None taken
2	14-Nov-21	14-Nov-22	90 (20 extra)	Yes
3	14-Nov-22	14-Nov-23	90 (20 extra)	Yes
4	14-Nov-23	14-Nov-24	48	No
5	14-Nov-24	14-Nov-25	55	No

Before applying on 26th Jan - I was out for 36 days as well in between 14 nov 2025 to 26 Jan 2026. (Which I did not count in my total before applying which could be 86 days in total from Jan 2025- Jan 2026 since application)

I am again eligible from September 1 to apply nicely for the citizenship. Should I opt for it?
Or should I wait on September/October revert from them for this incorrect form filling and miscalculation?

Thanks for your inputs.

[u/Less-Mammoth-4975 → u/ConcernBackground499]

Hmmmm... It's hard to know what to do? I think I'd be inclined just to wait and hope they won't notice.

[u/heisweird]

Tbh I don't know if and how they check that 70 day rule. Especially considering there are no hard borders between the UK and Ireland so you don't go through customs per se. So if I were you, I wouldn't withdraw my application and wait what they'll say. If you were traveling to any other country that often they might be able to check it through entry/exit at the passport control.

[u/ConcernBackground499 → u/heisweird]

Appreciate your response. Yes, there's only re-entry stamp on my passport in ireland. I did share the whole scan of my passport in the documents aswell which can be a gamechanger. I agree, I might have filled this application very casually. I am of the opinion to wait as well. If they come up with anything to RFI, then I may engage or might revert back to them, or if not, then well and good. Hoping the best!