UK naturalisation and days on UK soil

[DiscoveredAttack]

Hello

I am an EU national with settled status in the UK.
I've had the settled status for more than a year.
I've been resident since 2016 (beginning of current stint, I have a previous one that doesn't seem to count)

I am preparing my naturalisation application but I am behind on days on UK soil in the last 5 years.
If I were to report them all, I'm currently at around 1200 days, where 450 days is the "no questions asked" threshold and about 800-900 is the "you have to justify" threshold (for which I'd have the justifications as a combination of work and the pandemic).

I'd go below 900 in about one year but I wonder if there is anything I can do to speed up things and GTFO sooner.

1 - What's the risk in deliberately under-reporting the days? Does anyone know how much they double check EU applicants?

2 - And is it true that if you were to travel to Belfast in Northern Ireland and then cross the "soft border" to Ireland and then fly out from Dublin, you can essentially leave the UK unnoticed (granted, you have to come back the same way)?

Many thanks for any insight!

 

[Larin]

From what I know UK keeps a pretty tight record of entering/leaving. I have had friends request their records from the Border Force and used those records to provide evidence for their stay in the country for Naturalization purposes.

They may check, or they may not in your case.

Not sure about Ireland and the land-border. Might be a way indeed, especially if you take a private car across the border.

 

[DiscoveredAttack]

I was thinking of a Belfast-Dublin train with a ticket bought in cash. And I'd go to Belfast on a ferry from Liverpool, also paid in cash. And leave a bank card with trusted people in the UK, who would use it to create transactions that could place me in the UK, if needed.

 

[oldtimer2]

Day by day government data gathering and sharing capabilities get stronger and stronger... and they give plenty of warnings about how they can handle / respond to false info in applications... if you read some forums about UK immigration you can read many people have enough troubles without supplying wrong info.... and have you planned for the consequences IF they find out and IF they decide to take action? UK gov decisions based on false info can be later reversed... just saying. Also, it's hard to know what the consequences might be into the future such as if you get flagged in the UK, will that sooner or later be info that gets shared with other governments? The trend is towards sharing more and more data / info between governments.... and the UK government trend for both major parties is harder and harder on immigration.... just saying. One approach is to imagine the best result from what you might be able to get away with, and then imagine the worst result that might happen sooner or later. These days it's really hard to say how bad the worst result might be, given the government trends.

 

[Sols]

Well put by @oldtimer2. This isn't just about getting the approval and getting the passport. That's only the beginning. You also need to consider what happens if more data becomes known to the UK government. Whether it's through a data leak or enhanced exchange of information in the future, there will always be a greater than zero risk of UK finding out.

Don't become a citizen on fraudulent grounds.