A Complete Guide to the Continuous Residence Rules (ILR)
- Michael Crago
- Oct 7
- 4 min read
Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), or settlement, is the critical milestone that removes immigration time restrictions in the UK. However, achieving it requires maintaining Continuous Residence—a period of unbroken legal stay. Any failure to strictly adhere to the absence rules, particularly the 180-day limit, will lead to refusal.
At Nuvora, we meticulously calculate residency periods to ensure our clients' applications are compliant. This guide explains how Continuous Residence works and details the crucial difference between the standard 5-year route and the Long Residence 10-year route.
What is Continuous Residence (CR)?
Continuous Residence is the foundational requirement for most settlement applications. It confirms that the applicant has maintained a sustained, unbroken link to the UK for the entire qualifying period specified by their visa route.
The requirement is satisfied when the applicant has been:
The date of application.
Any date up to 28 days after the date of application.
The date of the decision.
If the applicant is applying for settlement on the UK Ancestry route, and their last grant of permission was not as a person with UK Ancestry, the date their most recent permission as a person with UK Ancestry expired.
Visa Categories Subject to the CR Rule
The Continuous Residence rules apply to nearly all standard work, family, and long-term residency routes, including the following common 5-year pathways:
Skilled Worker
UK Ancestry
Scale-up Worker
Global Talent (Exceptional Promise applicants)
Representative of an Overseas Business
The 180-Day Rolling Rule Explained
For all applications under the 5-year Continuous Residence rules (including Skilled Worker, Ancestry, etc.), the applicant must not have spent more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period.
How the Rolling Period Works
For all 5-year settlement routes, you must not have spent more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period. This is where the calculation becomes complex:
How the Rolling Period Works
The 12-month period is assessed on a rolling basis, meaning the Home Office does not check fixed 12-month blocks (like a calendar year). Instead, they check every single day of the relevant continuous period to ensure the 180-day limit was never breached.
The 12-month rolling period always starts every time you leave the UK.
The Check: Whenever you are absent from the UK, the Home Office looks back exactly 12 months from that date. The total number of days spent outside the UK during that specific 12-month window must not exceed 180.
Multiple Trips = Multiple Rolling Periods: If you have multiple trips during the 5-year period, you will have multiple rolling periods to check, starting from the day you departed on each trip.
Illustrative Example
Consider an applicant with two trips during their 5-year period:
Trip 1 (Adjusted): Left the UK on 01/09/2023 and returned on 01/02/2024 (153 days absent).
Trip 2: Left again on 04/05/2024 and returned on 09/10/2024 (158 days absent).
Your rolling periods include, but are not limited to:
Rolling Period 1 (Checking the first long trip): The 12 months starting from your first departure (01/09/2023 to 31/08/2024). Absences during this window (153 days from Trip 1 + part of Trip 2) would still need to be totalled. Since the first trip itself is now 153 days (under 180), the key is checking if the subsequent absence from Trip 2, when added to the end of Trip 1, pushes the total over 180 days within that 12-month period.
Rolling Period 2 (Checking the second departure): The 12 months starting from your second departure (04/05/2024 to 03/05/2025). The Home Office checks all absences that fall within this window (which includes the entire 158 days of Trip 2).
Continuous Residence is broken the moment any single 12-month period contains an absence total exceeding 180 days.
Distinct Rules for Long Residence (The 10-Year Route)
The Long Residence route (Appendix Long Residence) operates under a completely different set of continuous residence rules.
Criteria | Standard (5-Year) Route (e.g., Skilled Worker) | Long Residence (10-Year) Route |
Qualifying Period | 5 years | 10 years |
Absence Limit | 180 days in any rolling 12-month period. | 548 days total over the entire 10-year period. |
Calculation Method | Strict Rolling 12-month calculation. | Cumulative total over the 10-year period (for periods before 11 April 2024). |
Breaking CR | Exceeding 180 days in any 12-month period. | Being absent for a single period of 6 months or more, or a total absence of more than 548 days. |
Key Differences for Long Residence:
Fixed Cumulative Limit: Long Residence uses a fixed cumulative limit of 548 days total absence over the entire 10 years (for time accrued before 11 April 2024). This is much more generous than the rolling limit.
Single Long Absence: A single continuous absence of 6 months or more will automatically break the 10-year period, regardless of your total absence being under 548 days.
Final Permission: Time spent in the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man) on certain grants of permission can count toward the 10-year period, which is not permitted for the 5-year routes.
Navigating Complex Absences
Given the severe consequences of miscalculating your absences, particularly under the rolling 180-day rule, it is crucial to audit your travel history meticulously. If your travel history is complex, or if your Continuous Residence has been technically broken, you may need to apply to the Home Office to exercise discretion
Book a consultation today with one of our IAA-qualified immigration professionals to conduct a full audit of your travel history and ensure your path to Indefinite Leave to Remain is secure.