UK ILR Absence Rule: 180 Days in Any 12 Months

Most settlement routes allow no more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period. Here is how the rolling window works, which days count, which date the check runs back from, and where older permission is treated differently.

Last verified: September 2026

In short: to keep continuous residence for indefinite leave to remain, you must not spend more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period. The window rolls: it is not reset on 1 January or on your visa anniversary. Only whole days abroad count, so the dates you leave and return are not absence days.

Limit: No more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period
Window: Rolling, across the whole qualifying period, for permission granted on or after 11 January 2018
Travel days: Only whole days abroad count; the departure and return dates do not
Counted back from: The application date, any date up to 28 days after it, or the decision date, whichever helps you most
Routes: Skilled Worker, Global Talent, family, Long Residence, UK Ancestry, Hong Kong BN(O) and most other settlement routes
Legal basis: Immigration Rules, Appendix Continuous Residence, paragraphs CR 1.1 and CR 3.1

Any 12 months, not each calendar year

The test is not "180 days per year". Every 12-month stretch inside your qualifying period must contain 180 days of absence or fewer. Two trips in different calendar years can still fall inside one 12-month window, and that window is the one that matters.

Two trips, two calendar years, one window. You leave on 1 March and return on 1 June, then leave again on 1 November and return on 1 February. Each trip is 91 whole days abroad. Split by calendar year the totals look safe: 151 days in the first year and 31 in the second. But the 12 months from 2 March to 1 March contain both trips in full, which is 182 days. Continuous residence is broken.

The same trips, one week shorter. Return from the second trip on 25 January instead. That trip becomes 84 days, and the worst 12-month window holds 175 days, inside the limit.

To check a record, take each 12-month window that could hold your longest run of absences and add every whole day abroad inside it. A trip that crosses the edge of a window contributes only the days that fall inside it. The ILR absence calculator does this for your own dates.

Count whole days abroad

Home Office guidance counts only whole days outside the UK. An absence of less than 24 hours is not counted, and neither are the dates you leave and arrive back. The guidance gives its own example: if you set off for the UK on day 180 of an absence and arrive on day 181, day 181 is not a day of absence, so the total does not exceed 180.

One trip. Leave on 1 June and return on 10 June. The whole days abroad are 2–9 June, which is eight days. A day trip to Paris, or leaving on 1 June and returning on 2 June, adds none.

Keep exact departure and return dates even for short trips. Near the limit, a single misremembered date decides the answer, and caseworkers check your dates against passport pages, tickets, boarding passes and other evidence.

Which date the 12 months run back from

Your qualifying period is counted back from whichever of these dates is most beneficial to you: the date you apply, any date up to 28 days after you apply, or the date the Home Office decides. Moving the end of the qualifying period moves every window with it, so an older absence can drop out of the period you are assessed on.

This is a planning tool, not a loophole. If a long absence sits near the start of your qualifying period, the date you apply can decide whether it is still inside the period at all. Check the windows for the date you actually intend to apply.

Older permission and Long Residence count differently

The rolling test applies to absences during permission granted on or after 11 January 2018. Two older rules still survive for part of some applicants' history:

Permission granted before 11 January 2018. Absences in that period are tested in consecutive 12-month periods ending on the anniversary of your application date, not on a rolling basis. A pattern that fails the rolling test can pass this one.
Long Residence absences before 11 April 2024. The ten-year Long Residence route used to allow up to 548 days abroad in total and no single absence over 184 days. Those limits still apply to a 548-day total reached before 11 April 2024 and to a single absence that started before that date. Absences after it fall under the 180-day rolling rule.

If your qualifying period straddles one of these dates, each part is tested under its own rule. A single calculation across the whole period gives the wrong answer.

Absences that may not count

Some time abroad can be left out of the limit when it was for a permitted reason, such as travel disruption caused by a natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic, a serious illness or death of a close family member, some approved research, or humanitarian or environmental crisis work. The reason has to be shown with evidence, and the Home Office decides whether it applies. Do not plan a long trip on the assumption that it will be disregarded.

Separately, time spent lawfully in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man on an equivalent route can count towards UK residence if your most recent permission was granted in the UK.

Going over 180 days

An absence of more than 180 days in a 12-month period, without a permitted reason, breaks continuous residence. The caseworker guidance says an application should then normally be refused. There is no general discretion that turns 185 days into an acceptable total, so the useful time to know your count is before you book the trip, not after you apply.

Proposed changes that are not in force

In November 2025 the government consulted on "earned settlement", which proposes a ten-year baseline qualifying period for most routes, with shorter or longer periods depending on English level, income, public service and other factors. The consultation closed on 12 February 2026. As of September 2026 no government response has been published and no rule change has been made, so the rules above are the ones that apply. Whether any change would reach people already on a route has not been decided.

Beyond the day count

Staying within 180 days protects continuous residence only. Indefinite leave to remain also depends on your route's other requirements: lawful status throughout, the English and Life in the UK requirements, and suitability. The ILR absence rule is also separate from the 450-day and 90-day citizenship limits, the visitor stay rules and the Statutory Residence Test for tax. The same trips are counted differently under each.

AtlasDays tracks the ILR 180-day limit automatically

Log your trips once. The UK Indefinite Leave to Remain preset counts your days outside the UK across every rolling 12-month window, privately on your iPhone, and shows how close you are to 180 before you book the next trip.

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FAQ

Is the ILR 180-day rule per calendar year?

No. For permission granted on or after 11 January 2018, no 12-month period inside your qualifying period may contain more than 180 days abroad. Two trips in different calendar years can break the rule together.

Do the days I leave and return count as absences?

No. Only whole days outside the UK count. The departure date, the return date and any absence shorter than 24 hours are left out.

Does the proposed ten-year settlement route change this?

Not yet. The earned settlement proposals were consulted on until February 2026, but as of September 2026 no government response or rule change has been published. The 180-day rule in Appendix Continuous Residence still applies.

About this article: AtlasDays provides general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Rules change and outcomes depend on your circumstances, so never rely on it alone: check the linked official source or ask a qualified professional.