Do not assume the answer from calendar dates alone. Provide the actual employment and absence facts so the applicable period and continuity questions can be assessed. A return-to-work date is an employment event with a fixed place in a calendar; the qualifying year is a computation over a window that keeps moving. Because the three-year period is measured backwards from the request, waiting changes the arithmetic: time spent outside qualifying employment can push an earlier qualifying year toward the edge of that window.
Coordinate after the individual history is understood
Identify the proposed transfer date and unresolved records. Do not automatically exclude every absence or count every day without assessment; the preparation must follow the actual facts and applicable rules. Put the three dates that matter on one line: when the qualifying employment abroad began and ended, when the absence fell, and when the transfer would be requested.
Reading them together usually shows whether the question is real or theoretical, and it shows it before anyone spends on document collection. Hypothetical example: an operations manager at a cold-storage and produce logistics group takes eleven months of leave, returns in a reduced role, and the employer wants to request the transfer a year later; the useful step is to have the qualifying year located on the calendar first, since that determines whether the request should be brought forward or the returning duties rebuilt before it is made.