Person who is not present (8)
I believe the answer is:
absentee
'person who is not present' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for absentee that I've seen before include "One who should be but isn't present" , "one's failed to show up" , "skiver" , "Missing person" , "One away from work, etc" .)