A big "hello", and a question about residency criteria

[shibby_jay]

Hi all,
this is my first post here on the forums, and i'm keen to join the RAF as a Regiment Officer. I'm 28 years old and currently work as a Custody Officer working with young offenders. My problem is this: I'm planning on taking some unpaid leave from work to go travelling in June for about 5 months to the USA, Canada, Fiji, Australia and South Africa. I fear i may have made the ultimate cock-up now, as i've totally overlooked the residency requirements for joining the RAF (below), and think that i may have just made life very hard for myself.

From RAF website:

"If you have spent more than 28 days per year outside the UK in the last 5 years, then we will need to complete further checks on your eligibility. During the application process you will be asked to explain why you have spent over 28 days outside the UK. In the meantime, provided that you meet our other eligibility criteria, you should register your interest as normal."

A quick E-goat forum search flagged up a few old threads about the DVA (Defence Vetting Agency - see i'm getting the acronym thing already!) basically giving over-simplified answers to those who had been on gap-year type travels along the lines of "you can't join up, you've been out of the country too long."

Can anyone shed any light on what these "further checks" are? So long as i can justify my whereabouts and that i was well behaved (e.g certificates of good conduct from countries visited etc), will it have any effect on my application? Is there anything i can do to decrease the chances of getting turned down by the DVA (i guess the obvious answer is "don't go travelling", but any equally effective, less costly, answers would be greatly received ) hope you can help.

sorry if it went on a bit...

thanks in advance,

J

 

[Reformed Scribbly]

J,

Have a chat with your AFCO, verifiable background checks can be done for most if not all of those countries. As it's less than a year, assuming there aren't any other gaps that you havene't mentioned in the last 5 years, then it may not be a drama.

All going well, make sure you keep a detailed itinerary - dates of travel, locations and addresses stayed, reference from travelling companion to confirm you didn't get into any hot water. You shouldn't need to get police reports to confirm the above. But as I said at the start, check with the AFCO, policy is a rapidly changing beast.

Good luck and crack on with the phys, you'll need it for selection!