- What is the 180-day rule for ILR?
- The 180-day rule is part of the continuous residence requirement for Indefinite Leave to Remain. You must not spend more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period during your qualifying period. Breaking this rule can reset your ILR timeline.
- How many days can I be outside the UK and still get ILR?
- You can be absent for up to 180 days in any 12-month period. Over a typical 5-year qualifying period, this means a theoretical maximum of around 900 days — but each individual 12-month window is checked separately, so you cannot front-load or back-load your absences.
- What are the absence rules for British citizenship?
- For naturalisation as a British citizen, you must not have been outside the UK for more than 450 days in the 5 years before your application, and no more than 90 days in the final 12 months. These are in addition to the ILR continuous residence requirement.
- Do departure and arrival days count as days absent?
- The Home Office generally counts the day you leave and the day you return as days spent in the UK, not days absent. However, this tracker counts both departure and arrival dates as absent days to give you a conservative estimate.
- What happens if I break the 180-day rule?
- If you exceed 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period, the Home Office may consider your continuous residence to be broken. This could mean your qualifying period resets and you need to start counting again from your most recent entry to the UK.
- What qualifying periods does this tracker support?
- The tracker supports all standard qualifying periods: 5 years for Skilled Worker and Health & Care Worker visas, 3 or 5 years for Global Talent (Exceptional Talent vs Promise), 3 years for Innovator Founder, 2–3 years for Tier 1 Investor, and 10 years for Long Residence. It also supports the proposed 2026 earned settlement rules with variable 3–30 year periods.
- Is my data stored on your servers?
- If you use the tracker without signing in, your data is saved locally in your browser only. If you sign in, your data is also stored on our servers so it syncs across devices. The Share feature generates a read-only link that always reflects your latest data — you can revoke it at any time.