United Kingdom — 10-Year Long Residence ILR (Absence Rules)
Summary
- Qualifying period
- 10 years continuous lawful residence
- Absences from 11 April 2024
- ≤ 180 days in any rolling 12 months
- Absences before 11 April 2024
- No single trip > 184 days; ≤ 548 days total
- Current route
- Held for ≥ 12 months at application (with exception)
- Earliest application
- 28 days before the 10 years complete
- Basis
- Appendix Long Residence; Appendix Continuous Residence CR 3.1, 3.3, 3.4
The 10-year long residence route lets people who have lived lawfully in the UK for a decade — often across several different visas — apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). Since 11 April 2024 the route sits in Appendix Long Residence, which replaced the old paragraphs 276A–276D, and its absence rules now come from Appendix Continuous Residence. The result is a two-part test: absences that started on or after 11 April 2024 must stay within 180 days in any rolling 12-month period, while the earlier part of your 10 years is still judged against the legacy caps of no single absence over 184 days and no more than 548 days in total.
Who it applies to
This route matters most if you are:
- Someone who has been in the UK lawfully for close to 10 years across a mix of routes — student, work, family, or other visas — and does not qualify for the standard 5-year settlement on any single one.
- A long-term resident whose travel history stretches back before 11 April 2024, so both the old and the new absence rules apply to different parts of the period.
- A frequent traveller who needs to know whether historical trips, added together, have already used up the 548-day allowance.
The 10-year route is distinct from the 5-year routes covered by the general ILR 180-day rule. If you are on a route that leads to settlement in 5 years, that shorter route is usually the one to pursue; the ILR guide compares the options.
The rule — and why it has two parts
Appendix Long Residence requires 10 years of continuous lawful residence. Whether that residence is "continuous" is decided by Appendix Continuous Residence, and the rules changed on 11 April 2024:
- Absences starting on or after 11 April 2024 (CR 3.1). You must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any rolling 12-month period. It is an aggregate of every day abroad in each 365-day window, not a per-trip cap.
- Any part of the period before 11 April 2024 (CR 3.3, transitional). The old long residence caps still apply: no single absence of more than 184 days where that absence started before 11 April 2024, and no more than 548 days in total where that total was reached before 11 April 2024.
- An absence that straddles 11 April 2024 is assessed under both: it counts against the 184-day and 548-day caps as a pre-April absence, and the days from 11 April 2024 onwards also count towards the 180-day rolling limit.
Two further conditions sit alongside the absence rules. You must have been on your current route for at least 12 months at the date of application, unless your current permission was granted before 11 April 2024. And you can apply up to 28 days before the 10 years are complete, but not earlier.
Why it works this way: the Home Office moved every settlement route onto a single rolling 180-day standard so that absences are measured the same way regardless of visa. But people on the 10-year route had already accumulated up to a decade of travel under the old caps, so the transitional rule stops historical trips being re-judged under a test that did not exist when they were taken.
Counting the days
Start with a complete list of every trip outside the UK across the 10 years, with exact departure and return dates. Then split the list at 11 April 2024:
- 1For trips that ended before 11 April 2024: check that no single trip lasted more than 184 days, and add every day abroad together — the running total must not have reached more than 548 days before that date.
- 2For a trip that started before 11 April 2024 and ended on or after it: include the whole trip in the 184-day and 548-day checks above, and also carry the days from 11 April 2024 onwards into the next step.
- 3For absences from 11 April 2024 onwards: pick any day, look back 365 days, and add up every day outside the UK in that window. Repeat for every possible window — the highest total must not exceed 180.
- 4Confirm you have held your current permission for at least 12 months at the application date (unless it was granted before 11 April 2024), and that the application date is no more than 28 days before your 10 years complete.
The free ILR absence calculator runs the rolling 180-day check for you from your trip dates and shows the worst window. Its 10-year option applies that rolling test only — the transitional 184-day and 548-day caps for pre-April-2024 travel are not built in, so check them by hand from the same trip list.
Examples
Example 1 — historical travel within the old caps
You arrived as a student in 2016 and moved through work visas. Between 2016 and April 2024 your longest trip was a 5-month stay abroad (about 150 days) and your absences total roughly 420 days. Since April 2024 your busiest rolling year shows 95 days away. You pass the 184-day and 548-day legacy caps and the 180-day rolling test, so your continuous residence is intact.
Example 2 — one old trip breaks the single-absence cap
Your overall total is a modest 300 days, but in 2019 you spent 200 consecutive days overseas caring for a parent. That single absence exceeds 184 days and started before 11 April 2024, so it breaks continuity under the transitional rule unless the Home Office accepts it as a permitted reason such as serious illness of a close family member, which you would need to evidence.
Example 3 — a trip that straddles the changeover date
You left the UK on 1 February 2024 and returned on 30 June 2024. The whole trip counts towards the legacy 184-day and 548-day caps, and the days from 11 April to 30 June 2024 also land in your rolling 12-month windows under the new 180-day test. If you then take a further 110 days of trips before 11 April 2025, that window holds more than 180 days and continuity is broken.
How Bounded helps
A 10-year application needs a decade of travel history, and the two-part test means every trip has to be placed on the right side of 11 April 2024. Bounded is a country-days tracker that logs each day you spend outside the UK automatically, so the absence record is built as you travel rather than reconstructed from old passport stamps at the end:
- Automatic day count. Each trip is recorded with its departure and return dates, and the days abroad are counted day by day against the UK. Over 10 years that is the list the Home Office asks you to provide.
- The rolling 180-day check, live. For absences from 11 April 2024 onwards Bounded tests every 365-day window and shows the one closest to the cap, so you know before a trip whether it fits.
- The legacy caps from the same list. Bounded’s trip log gives you the longest single pre-April-2024 absence and the running total up to that date, which is exactly what the 184-day and 548-day checks need. The ILR absence calculator covers the rolling test without an account; the transitional caps you read off the trip list yourself.
Bounded records where you were; it does not decide whether an absence is excused. Whether a permitted reason under CR 3.4 applies is a Home Office judgement on your evidence, and the ILR guide explains what that evidence usually looks like.
Exceptions & edge cases
- Permitted reasons (CR 3.4). Excess absence can be disregarded where it was caused by serious illness of the applicant or a close family member, conflict, natural disaster, travel disruption, or compelling compassionate reasons. On some routes absences for work, study or research are also excused. Every case must be evidenced and the discretion is not automatic.
- Permission granted before 11 April 2024. If your current permission was granted before that date, the requirement to have held your current route for 12 months at the application date does not apply.
- Lawful residence, not just residence. The 10 years must be continuous lawful residence. Whether your immigration permission was unbroken is a separate question from how many days you spent abroad, and both must be satisfied.
- Other requirements still apply. Passing the absence tests does not by itself grant ILR; the English language and Life in the UK requirements and the suitability rules must also be met.
Common misconceptions
- "The 548-day rule is gone." Not for older travel — it still governs any part of your qualifying period before 11 April 2024 through the transitional provision in CR 3.3.
- "180 days is per calendar year." False — it is any rolling 12-month period, so a heavy stretch of travel spanning a year end can breach the cap even when each calendar year looks fine.
- "The calculator has checked everything." The 10-year option in the ILR calculator runs the 180-day rolling test only; the 184-day and 548-day caps for pre-April-2024 absences must be checked separately from your trip list.
- "I can apply as soon as I am close to 10 years." Only within 28 days of the 10 years completing, and only if you have held your current route for 12 months (unless that permission predates 11 April 2024).
Questions fréquentes
For absences starting on or after 11 April 2024, no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period, under Appendix Continuous Residence. For the part of your 10 years before that date, the old caps still apply instead: no single absence of more than 184 days and no more than 548 days in total.
Yes, for travel before 11 April 2024. The transitional rule in CR 3.3 keeps the 184-day single-absence cap and the 548-day total cap for any part of the qualifying period before that date. Only absences that started on or after 11 April 2024 are judged purely on the 180-day rolling test.
An absence that straddles 11 April 2024 is assessed under both sets of rules. It must not break the 184-day single-absence cap or push the pre-April total over 548 days, and the days from 11 April 2024 onwards also count towards the 180-day rolling limit.
Sometimes. Under CR 3.4 the Home Office can disregard excess absence for permitted reasons such as serious illness of the applicant or a close family member, conflict, natural disaster, travel disruption, or compelling compassionate circumstances. On some routes absences for work, study or research are also excused. You must evidence the reason; it is not automatic.
Yes. You must have held permission on your current route for at least 12 months at the date of application, unless your current permission was granted before 11 April 2024. This is separate from the 10 years of continuous lawful residence.
You can apply up to 28 days before you complete 10 years of continuous lawful residence. Applying earlier than that means the application can be refused because the qualifying period is not yet complete.
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