Explain what each record represents and identify any actual error through the appropriate record holder. Preserve genuine records and corrections.
Do not silently choose one version
A payroll date and physical departure date may answer different questions. Prepare a factual note and supporting evidence for review. Do not alter records or omit inconvenient periods to make the chronology look continuous.
The version problem surfaces the moment two records disagree by a fortnight and someone quietly picks the earlier one. A payroll end date, a final working day and a departure record answer three different questions, and choosing the convenient one leaves an unexplained contradiction in a file that will be read as a whole. The document that ends the dispute is the one issued by the record holder that owns the fact: payroll for remuneration, the employer’s human resources system for the employment relationship, the passport or entry record for physical presence.
Where a genuine error exists, ask the holder to correct it and keep both versions with the correction letter. The governing point does not move: the qualifying year is a fact about employment with the qualifying entity rather than about presence in a particular country, so a travel record cannot substitute for an employment record. Hypothetical example: a benefits administration manager’s exit interview is dated the fourteenth, payroll runs to the thirtieth, and the employer’s letter explains the paid notice period.