The UK’s 180-day rule for ILR: any 12 months, not calendar years
How absences are counted for UK settlement: whole days only, any rolling 12-month period, and why 100 days in each of two years can still break the rule.
On most routes to settlement in the UK, such as Skilled Worker, Global Talent or UK Ancestry, your time abroad is limited to 180 days in any 12-month period of your qualifying period. Two words in that sentence do most of the work: “any” and “whole”.
- You must not be outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period of your qualifying period.
- “Any 12 months” means every 12-month stretch, starting on any day, not calendar years or visa years.
- Only whole days abroad count: the day you leave and the day you return are not absences.
- You can apply up to 28 days before your qualifying period ends.
What the rule says
“To meet the continuous residence requirement, the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period.”
Appendix Continuous Residence covers most work and long-residence routes: Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Innovator Founder, UK Ancestry, Scale-up, British National (Overseas), Long Residence and several others. It doesn’t cover partners under Appendix FM or the EU Settlement Scheme, which have their own rules.
“Any 12 months” means rolling
The Home Office’s caseworker guidance is explicit: “Absences from the UK during a period of permission granted on or after 11 January 2018 are considered on a rolling basis over any 12-month period.” Caseworkers don’t add up your absences by calendar year or by year of your visa. They can take any 12 consecutive months inside your qualifying period, starting on any day, and none of them may hold more than 180 days abroad.
That catches people whose absences straddle a year end. Take Sam, a Skilled Worker whose five-year qualifying period started on 1 February 2025. Sam plans two long trips: France from 10 September to 20 December 2027, then the US from 5 January to 15 April 2028. Each is 100 whole days away.
Each calendar year holds 100 days away, which looks safe. But the 12 months from 11 September 2027 hold 200, and on 26 March 2028 Sam would pass 180. Coming back on 26 March instead keeps every 12 months at 180 or under.
By calendar year, Sam looks fine: 100 days in 2027 and 100 in 2028. But the 12 months starting 11 September 2027 hold both trips, 200 days. Sam would pass 180 on 26 March 2028, the 181st day away in that 12-month stretch.
The fix is to come home earlier. Back on 26 March, the last whole day away is 25 March, every 12-month period holds 180 days or fewer, and Sam keeps the earliest application date of 4 January 2030.
One day too many can cost years. If Sam came back on 27 March instead, one 12-month period would hold 181 days. Unless an exception applies, that breaks continuous residence, and the qualifying period has to be one that doesn’t include those 12 months. In CitizenDays, Sam’s earliest date then moves back by more than two and a half years. If this has happened to you, get advice before you apply.
Older permissions: fixed 12-month periods
Permission granted under the rules in place before 11 January 2018 is counted differently (CR 3.2). The guidance says: “If the applicant’s qualifying period includes permission granted before 11 January 2018, any absences during that period of permission are considered in consecutive 12-month periods ending on the date of application.”
Only whole days count
“You must only include whole days when calculating an applicant’s absences. Part day absences, less than 24 hours are not counted.”
So a trip from 1 to 15 July is 13 days away, an overnight trip is none, and a day trip is none. Australia and Canada count the same way; the Schengen area does the opposite. See Do the day you leave and the day you return count?
When you can apply: up to 28 days early
Your qualifying period is counted back from whichever of these dates helps you most:
“(a) the date of application; or (b) any date up to 28 days after the date of application; or (c) the date of decision”
So if your five years end on 1 February 2030, you can apply from 4 January 2030. Because the period is counted back from the application, an absence that sits early in your history can drop out of it if you apply later; one that sits inside it has to fit the rule.
Absences that don’t count
Under CR 3.4, time abroad doesn’t count towards the 180 days when the absence was for one of these reasons:
- assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas (with your sponsor’s agreement, if you’re on a sponsored route),
- travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic,
- “compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, such as the life-threatening illness of the applicant, or the life-threatening illness or death of a close family member”, or
- research approved by the sponsor, for Skilled Workers in certain research occupations.
Keep evidence of the reason, such as medical letters, a death certificate or cancelled travel bookings. CitizenDays doesn’t apply these exceptions for you: it counts every trip, so a warning from the app is your cue to check whether one applies.
Changes on the way
The government has proposed changes to settlement, known as “earned settlement”, including longer qualifying periods for many routes. On the date we checked, 5 October 2026, the 180-day absence rule described here is the one in the Immigration Rules. Check GOV.UK for the current position before you plan a long trip, and especially before you apply.
Keeping a record
The application asks for your absences, with dates, destinations and reasons. If your own records have gaps, you can ask the Home Office for the information it holds about you, including Border Force records, with a free subject access request; it replies within a month. We cover that and other sources in How to rebuild your travel history.
Questions people ask
Is the limit 180 days per calendar year?
No. It is 180 days in any 12-month period, so two trips either side of New Year are added together.
Does the day I leave the UK count as a day of absence?
No. Only whole days abroad count, so neither the day you leave nor the day you return is an absence.
Does the rule apply to the EU Settlement Scheme or the partner route?
Not this one. Appendix Continuous Residence lists the routes it covers, and those routes have their own rules.
I was abroad for more than 180 days because of a family emergency. Is my ILR lost?
Not necessarily. Absences for compelling and compassionate reasons, such as the life-threatening illness or death of a close family member, may not count. Keep evidence and get advice before you apply.
Can I apply before my qualifying period ends?
Yes, up to 28 days before.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Immigration Rules, Appendix Continuous Residence
- Home Office: Continuous residence guidance
- Home Office: Request personal information held by UK Visas and Immigration
We last checked these sources on 5 October 2026.
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