UK ILR Absence Calculator (180-Day Rule)

About the UK ILR Absence Calculator (180-Day Rule)

Check the 180-day rule for UK settlement (indefinite leave to remain) and find your earliest application date. The calculator follows Appendix Continuous Residence: no more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period (CR 3.1), counted on a rolling basis; absences during permission granted before 11 January 2018 in fixed 12-month periods ending on the application date (CR 3.2); and, for Long Residence, the 184-day and 548-day limits that still apply to absences that began before 11 April 2024 (CR 3.3). It counts back from the application date or any day up to 28 days after it, and shows the first day you can apply, the 12 months with the most days abroad and any trip that broke continuous residence.

Mark a trip with a CR 3.4 reason, such as a life-threatening illness or a death in the family or travel disruption, and the calculator also works out the dates without it, with the evidence the Home Office normally expects. Trips can be typed, pasted or imported from a CSV file, and kept in this browser if you choose. Settlement rules are under review after the earned settlement consultation; this page applies the rules in force now. The free preview shows the warnings, the CR 3.4 evidence list and the first trips of the table, with your earliest application date, the day counts and the chart hidden; a Pro pass unlocks them, the full trip table, its CSV and the print.

Common uses

• Finding the first day you can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
• Checking a planned trip before you book it: will any 12 months go over 180 days?
• Preparing the list of absences a settlement application asks for, with the whole days of each.
• Seeing how much a CR 3.4 absence matters if the Home Office accepts it.

How the absences are counted

Only whole days outside the UK count: the day you leave and the day you come back are days in the UK, so a trip from 1 March to 5 March is 3 days abroad (Home Office guidance: continuous residence). The days between the grant of your entry clearance and your first arrival count as absence too.

• Rolling 12 months (CR 3.1): every 12-month period inside the qualifying period may hold at most 180 days abroad, not only each visa or calendar year.
• Fixed periods (CR 3.2): absences during permission granted under the rules in place before 11 January 2018 are counted in consecutive 12-month periods ending on the date of application.
• Long Residence (CR 3.3): an absence that began before 11 April 2024 may last at most 184 days, and the absences in the part of the qualifying period before 11 April 2024 may total at most 548 days; later absences follow the 180-day rule.

The qualifying period is counted back from the date of application, any date up to 28 days after it or the date of decision, whichever helps you (Appendix Continuous Residence, CR 1.1), which is why you can apply up to 28 days before the period is complete.

When continuous residence is broken

More days abroad than a limit allows breaks continuous residence unless the absence was for a reason in CR 3.4. The calculator then starts a new qualifying period on the day you came back. That is the cautious reading: the rules count back from the application date and say nothing more about where a new period starts, so take advice before relying on an earlier date. It also skips days you are abroad, as you must be in the UK on the day you apply (for example SW 19.2 in Appendix Skilled Worker).

Absences that may not count (CR 3.4)

Absences for these reasons do not count towards the limits: helping with a humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas (with your sponsor’s agreement on a sponsored route); travel disruption from a natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic; compelling and compassionate circumstances, such as a life-threatening illness or a death in the family; research approved by your sponsor in the listed research occupations, or research on the Global Talent route; work, study or supporting family overseas while your family life stayed in the UK (Appendix Settlement Family Life only); and going with a partner on Crown service overseas. The Home Office decides each case on the evidence, such as medical certificates, death certificates, sponsor letters or cancelled flights.

Settlement rules under review

The government has consulted on earned settlement, which would change how and when people qualify for indefinite leave to remain. The calculator applies Appendix Continuous Residence as it stands: check the rules for your route on GOV.UK before you apply.

Limitations

• Not legal advice: the Home Office decides, including whether a CR 3.4 reason applies and where a new qualifying period starts after a break.
• It checks absences only. The route’s other requirements (permission on a route that counts, salary, the Life in the UK Test, suitability) and breaks such as imprisonment or time without permission (CR 4.1) are not covered.
• The date of decision (CR 1.1(c)), the UK Ancestry count-back rule, time in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man (CR 3.5), dependants’ absences under CR 5.1 and 5.2 and the HM Armed Forces rule (CR 3.7) are not worked out.

Privacy

Everything is worked out in your browser. Your dates and trips are never uploaded; they are kept in this browser only if you tick “Keep my trips in this browser”, and unticking removes them.