Appendix Continuous Residence

Appendix Continuous Residence is a key UK immigration rules document that acts as a guide for certain ILR applicants to meet the qualifying unbroken continuous residence period required for their respective settlement routes.

This Appendix applies to ILR applications under:

• Appendix HM Armed Forces (only settlement as a Partner or Child)
• Appendix Skilled Worker
• Appendix Representative of an Overseas Business
• Appendix Global Talent
• Appendix Innovator Founder
• Appendix T2 Minister of Religion
• Appendix International Sportsperson
• Appendix UK Ancestry
• Appendix Domestic Worker in a Private Household
• Appendix Temporary Work – International Agreement
• Appendix Scale-up
• Appendix Settlement Family Life
• Appendix Private Life
• Appendix Hong Kong National (Overseas)
• Appendix Long Residence
• Appendix ECAA Settlement

Page Contents

• What is the Appendix Continuous Residence?
• What Is the Continuous Residence Requirement and How It Can Be Met?
• Absence from the UK
• Permitted Absences Under Appendix Continuous Residence
• Breaking Continuous Residence in the UK
• Lawful Presence in the UK
• UK Continuous Residence for Dependants
• Calculating the UK Continuous Residence Period
• Documentary Evidence of Continuous Residence in the UK
• How Can Total Law Help?
• Frequently Asked Questions

The continuous residence requirement refers to the UK immigration rule that to permanently settle in the UK, an applicant must spend a specified number of years in the country, lawfully and without any break considered as ‘absence’ from the country by the Home Office. The number of required years vary depending on the settlement route they have applied under.

You will be considered to have met the continuous residence requirement relevant to your UK settlement route if you can prove to the Home Office by way of submitting certain documentary evidence that you have spent the qualifying unbroken continuous residence period lawfully in the country.

If your original permission to remain in the UK was granted under the rules in place before 11 January 2018, you must not spend more than 180 days in any consecutive 12-month period during the number of qualifying years to meet the continuous residence requirement.

If your application is made under Appendix Long Residence, you will need to ensure the following:

• You have not spent more than a total of 548 days outside the country during your qualifying period, where that 548-day total was reached before 11 April 2024
• You have not been outside the UK for more than 184 days at any one time during the qualifying period, where the said absence started before 11 April 2024

Certain absences have been permitted under the Appendix Continuous Residence, meaning they will not be considered as absence from the UK while calculating your continuous residence period. These include:

• If you were assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas
• If you faced any travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict, or pandemic situation
• If you were going through compelling and compassionate personal circumstances (e.g., a life-threatening illness or the same or death of a close family member)
• If you are on a Skilled Worker route and have been absent from the UK on research activity undertaken overseas, when you are being sponsored for a job in certain SOC 2020 occupation codes
• If you are on a Global Talent visa holder endorsed by the Royal Society, the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering, or the UKRI, or you qualified on the basis of a prize listed in table 6 of Appendix Global Talent: Prestigious Prizes, and you have undertaken any research activity overseas
• Absences for work, study or supporting family overseas in case you are applying under Appendix Settlement Family Life, as long as your UK family have throughout the period of your absence maintained a family life in the UK
• If you were accompanying your partner overseas while they were away from the UK on Crown service as:
• • A regular member of HM Armed Forces
  • An employee of the UK Government, a Northern Ireland department, the Scottish Administration, or the Welsh Government
  • A permanent member of the British Council

Additionally, any period of time you have spent lawfully in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man will be treated as your time spent in the UK, provided your most recent grant of leave was in the UK. This is, however, not applicable for applicants under Appendix Long Residence.

Moreover, absence from the UK before 20 June 2022 will not be counted for the purpose of calculating your continuous residence period for settlement if you are applying under Appendix Settlement Family Life, provided that, following those absences, you were granted permission as a partner or parent under Appendix FM or under paragraph 276ADE or 276BE(2).

Likewise, absence from the UK which began before 8 October 2024 will not be counted for settlement applications under Appendix HM Armed Forces.

Even if you have been physically present in the UK, your period of continuous residence will be considered broken if you:

• Have been convicted of an offence and sentenced to a period of imprisonment, or directed to be detained in an institution other than a prison (unless applying under Appendix Settlement Family Life or Appendix Private Life)
• Have been subject to a deportation/exclusion order, or subject to removal directions, or been removed from the UK if applying under Appendix Long Residence
• Do not currently (or did not) have permission, unless:
• You were granted permission to stay under the circumstances set out in paragraph 39E of Part 1 of the rules, or
  • Except for applications under Appendix Long Residence, you had permission when you left the UK, applied for entry clearance before that permission expired, or within 14 days of that permission expiring, and that application for entry clearance was successful, or
  • You are applying under Appendix Long Residence, and had permission when you left the UK and returned to the UK with a valid permission, provided you have not exceeded the absence limit set out in the Appendix, or
  • For any period without permission before 24 November 2016, you made a successful application for entry clearance or permission within 28 days of your previous permission expiry date, or
  • You were in the UK without permission during the period from 1 to 31 August 2020, and you had permission immediately before then
• You were absent from the UK for longer than the periods permitted, where none of the aforementioned exceptions apply
• You were removed or deported from the UK
• You left the UK voluntarily when refused permission to enter, permission to stay or settlement, and any permission held at the time of that voluntary departure has expired

If you are applying under Appendix Settlement Family Life or Appendix Private Life, and you have been convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment in the UK or directed to be detained in an institution other than a prison for up to 12 months, your imprisonment/detention period will not break your continuous residence during the 10-year qualifying period (although the time spent imprisoned or detained will not count towards continuous residence).

Apart from breaks in continuous residence, you will also not be regarded as lawfully present in the UK during:

• Any period of imprisonment or detention
• Any period when you are subject to a deportation order, exclusion order, or exclusion direction, or subject to removal directions (except if applying under Appendix Long Residence)
• Any period where you required permission and did not have it

Any period of time, when you are not considered to be lawfully present in the UK, will not count while calculating continuous residence.

If you were absent from the UK for any of the permitted reasons discussed earlier, the said period of absence will not count towards the 180-day absence limit while calculating your dependent spouse/partner’s or child’s continuous residence period for settlement application purposes.

In addition, if you were absent from the UK during a period of permission granted before 11 January 2018, that period of absence will also not count towards the 180-day absence limit when calculating your dependant’s continuous residence period if you were on any of the following routes:

• Tier 1
• Tier 2
• Tier 5 (Temporary Worker)
• Global Talent
• Start-up
• Innovator Founder
• ECAA worker or ECAA business person

It is crucial to accurately calculate your continuous residence period for the purpose of your settlement application in the UK. The Appendix Continuous Residence advises the Home Office caseworker to count back from whichever of the following is the most beneficial in your circumstances:

• The date of your settlement application
• Any date up to 28 days after your application date
• The date of decision
• If you are applying under the UK Ancestry route, the date of your last grant of permission