ILR Absence Calculator
Settlement in the UK requires continuous residence: no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period of your qualifying years. Enter your trips and this tool checks every possible window — the same way the Home Office does — and shows how many days you can still travel. The full rule guide covers the exceptions.
1 · Your trips outside the UK
Add every trip outside the UK during your qualifying period. Following the Home Office rules, the days you depart and return count as days in the UK — only whole days away count as absences.
2 · Your absence picture
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Why the rolling window trips people up
Two trips that each look fine can combine into a broken window. Spend October–December abroad (90 days) and then May–July (90 days), and no calendar year ever shows more than 180 — but the 12 months from October to the following September contains all 180, and one more day of travel breaks it. The rule judges your worst window, so that's the number this calculator leads with.
- Departure and return days don't count — only whole days outside the UK.
- The window slides daily — an absence only stops mattering once it's more than 12 months old relative to the window being checked.
- The limit applies throughout the qualifying period, not just the year before you apply.
Frequently asked questions
No more than 180 days in any rolling 12-month period during your qualifying period. It's not 180 per calendar year or per visa year — every possible 12-month window must stay within the limit, which is why a calculator that checks all windows matters.
No. The day you leave the UK and the day you return both count as days in the UK — only whole days spent outside count toward the 180. A Friday-to-Sunday trip is one absent day.
Continuous residence is broken and the qualifying clock generally restarts, unless the absence falls under an exception: serious illness (yours or a close family member's), conflict or natural disaster, or pandemic-related travel disruption. Work trips, however important, are not an exception under the current rules.
Absences before 11 January 2018 are assessed under the old rule — 180 days per separate 12-month bucket counted back from the application date — rather than the rolling window. If your qualifying period straddles the change, both counting methods can be relevant.
Partners on most routes have their own continuous-residence requirement, but children generally don't. Each applicant's absences are assessed individually — one partner exceeding 180 days doesn't break the other's continuity.
Only in your own browser (localStorage). Nothing you type is sent to a server.
This rule is tracked automaticallyin
Bounded
- Automatically tracks your days for this rule
- Warns you before an absence puts your status at risk
- Counts arrival and departure days correctly
- Runs alongside your other visa, tax, and residency rules
Get the appSources
For information only. This calculator is a planning aid based on publicly available rules, not tax, legal, or immigration advice. Border officers and tax authorities make the final call — always confirm with the official sources linked above and a qualified professional before acting.