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Absences from the UK and ILR

The 180-day rule decides whether five or ten years in the UK actually count towards settlement, and the way it is measured changed in 2018 and again in April 2024.

Reviewed against GOV.UK on 18 August 2026.

Most settlement applications are now assessed under one set of rules: Appendix Continuous Residence. Its core requirement: the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period during the qualifying period. Breach it and continuous residence breaks, and the clock restarts.

How the 12-month periods are counted

The way the 180 days are measured changed materially. Where permission was granted under the rules in place before 11 January 2018, absences are considered in consecutive 12-month periods ending on the same date as the current application - fixed anniversary windows. Where permission was granted on or after 11 January 2018, caseworkers assess absences on a rolling basis over any 12-month period. Many applicants hold a mix, so both tests can apply within one qualifying period.

The rolling test is far less forgiving: every possible 12-month window must contain no more than 180 days abroad. Two trips of 100 days each, eleven months apart, pass an anniversary test but fail a rolling one.

The qualifying period is counted back from whichever of these dates is most beneficial to the applicant: the date of application; any date up to 28 days after it; or the date of decision. A separate option applies on the UK Ancestry route.

Which days count, and travel days

Only whole days are counted. The guidance is explicit that part-day absences of less than 24 hours are not counted, so a day on which the applicant departs or returns is not always scored as a full day abroad: someone who leaves on what would be day 180 and lands the next day is not automatically pushed to 181. The safe approach is to log every departure and arrival date and model the worst-case rolling window.

Which routes Appendix Continuous Residence covers

It applies to settlement on Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Innovator Founder, T2 Minister of Religion, International Sportsperson, Scale-up, Representative of an Overseas Business, UK Ancestry, Domestic Worker in a Private Household, Temporary Work - International Agreement, Hong Kong British National (Overseas), Settlement Family Life, Private Life (settlement), ECAA Settlement, Appendix Long Residence, and settlement as a Partner or Child under Appendix HM Armed Forces. Note the split in the armed forces rules: family members must meet it, service leavers do not.

Other routes run on their own rules. The EU Settlement Scheme has a separate continuous qualifying period test. Settlement on a protection route turns on a five-year period with permission and a safe return review, not a 180-day cap. Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and (Investor) settlement is handled under separate Home Office guidance.

Absences that do not count

Appendix Continuous Residence lists limited exceptions. Absences will not count towards the 180 days where the applicant was:

• assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas;
• affected by travel disruption due to a natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic;
• dealing with compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, such as the life-threatening illness of the applicant or a close family member, or a family bereavement;
• a Skilled Worker undertaking research activity approved by their sponsor in a qualifying occupation code, or a Global Talent holder undertaking research endorsed by the Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering or UK Research and Innovation, or holding a qualifying prestigious prize;
• on the Settlement Family Life route and overseas for work, study or family support while the UK remained their primary residence;
• accompanying a partner on a Crown service posting.

One point is routinely misunderstood: Appendix Continuous Residence contains no general exemption for absences relating to the applicant's job or business. Ordinary business travel, overseas assignments and secondments count in full, however clearly the employer required them. Only the narrow research categories above are carved out.

Continuous residence is also broken by imprisonment, a deportation or exclusion order, removal directions, or periods without the permission required. Overstaying between 24 January 2020 and 31 August 2020 must be disregarded in line with paragraph 39E and does not break continuous residence.

Long residence: the ten-year route

The long residence route was rewritten into Appendix Long Residence from 11 April 2024 and now imports Appendix Continuous Residence, so the 180-day rolling rule applies to the ten-year qualifying period. Transitional protection survives: an applicant does not fail where they spent more than 548 days in total outside the UK during the qualifying period and that total was reached before 11 April 2024, or where a single absence exceeded 184 days and that absence started before 11 April 2024. Beyond those points, the modern rule governs.

Gaps in lawful residence are the other trap. Disregarded overstaying does not break continuous residence but does not count towards the ten years either; overstaying that is not disregarded breaks it outright. Applications made more than 28 days before the ten years are complete must be refused.

EU Settlement Scheme

Under Appendix EU the continuous qualifying period is broken by absences totalling more than six months in any 12-month period. Exceptions include a single absence of up to 12 months for an important reason - pregnancy, childbirth, serious illness, study, vocational training, an overseas posting, or COVID-19 - plus compulsory military service and Crown service postings. Holders of pre-settled status under paragraph EU3 or EU3A may have absences not exceeding a total of 30 months in the most recent 60-month period. Settled status lapses after five continuous years outside the UK, Ireland and the Crown Dependencies (four years for Swiss citizens), whereas ordinary indefinite leave lapses after two.

Naturalisation limits

Citizenship uses different numbers again. On the five-year route the applicant must not have been absent for more than 450 days in the five-year period, nor more than 90 days in the 12 months ending with the date of application. For spouses and civil partners of British citizens on the three-year route the figures are 270 days and 90 days. Discretion exists: where the excess is 30 days or less caseworkers must normally exercise it, and larger excesses (up to 900 days on the five-year route, 540 on the three-year) may be overlooked only where the applicant has established home, employment, family and finances in the UK and the absences arose from Crown service or compelling business or compassionate reasons.

Evidence where absences are tight

Applicants must list every absence in the immigration history section of the form. No specified evidence is prescribed for a claimed exception, but the guidance sets expectations: sponsor letters confirming dates and continued employment, payslips, medical certificates or records, and an official letter from the head of mission for Crown service. Where the total is near or over 180 days, submit a dated schedule of absences with passport stamps and a covering explanation rather than leaving the caseworker to reconstruct it.

Planning points for 2026 and 2027

Two changes affect timing. The English requirement for settlement rises from B1 to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027, announced on 5 March 2026 with a year's notice. The earned settlement consultation closed on 12 February 2026 and proposed a longer baseline qualifying period; the response has not yet been published, so current rules stand. The indefinite leave to remain fee is £3,226 per person from 8 April 2026, and naturalisation is £1,709.

How PRIMEVISA helps

• We audit every departure and return date and model the worst-case rolling 12-month window before you apply, not after.
• We identify whether the pre-11 January 2018 anniversary method or the rolling method applies to each grant of permission in your history.
• We assess whether an absence genuinely falls within a permitted exception and assemble the supporting evidence to prove it.
• We time applications around the 28-day counting-back option, the March 2027 B2 change and any earned settlement reforms.

Common questions

How is the 180-day limit actually calculated?
For permission granted on or after 11 January 2018, absences are assessed on a rolling basis over any 12-month period, so every possible 12-month window must contain no more than 180 days abroad. For permission granted under the rules in place before 11 January 2018, absences are counted in consecutive 12-month periods ending on the same date as the current application.

Do travel days count as days of absence?
Only whole days are counted. Home Office guidance confirms that part-day absences of less than 24 hours are not counted, so the day you leave or the day you return will not always be scored as a full day outside the UK. Keep exact departure and arrival dates so the totals can be checked precisely.

Are work trips exempt from the 180-day rule?
No. Appendix Continuous Residence contains no general exemption for absences relating to your job or business. The only work-related exceptions are research activity by a Skilled Worker approved by the sponsor in a qualifying occupation code, and endorsed research or a qualifying prestigious prize on the Global Talent route.

What absences are permitted without breaking continuous residence?
Assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas; travel disruption from a natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic; compelling and compassionate circumstances such as a life-threatening illness or bereavement; approved research on Skilled Worker or Global Talent; certain Settlement Family Life absences; and accompanying a partner on a Crown service posting.

How do the absence rules differ for naturalisation?
Citizenship uses separate limits: no more than 450 days outside the UK in the five-year qualifying period and 90 days in the final 12 months, or 270 days over three years and 90 days in the final 12 months for spouses and civil partners of British citizens. Discretion is normally exercised where the excess is 30 days or less.

Related guides

• Settlement and British citizenship
• UK work visas: Skilled Worker and sponsored routes
• EU Settlement Scheme overview
• UK visa fees 2026
• Global Talent visa

This page summarises guidance published on GOV.UK and was last reviewed on 18 August 2026. It is general information, not immigration advice on your own case. PRIMEVISA LTD is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, registration F201600043.

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