How much time you can spend abroad without losing a UK visa or residence status?

We are often asked about how time spent outside the UK affect a UK visa or eligibility for Settlement. The answer depends on your category.



If you have a work visa (Skilled worker, Ancestral etc):



There is a strict rule of maximum 180 days outside the UK in any 12 months, on a rolling basis. Similar to a Schengen rule of 90 days in 6 months. The same rule applies to dependent partners and spouses (but not to children).



If you have a visa as a Spouse/Partner of a UK citizen in the standard 5-year route:



This category doesn’t have a specific rule, other than the UK must remain your main home. As a rule of thumb, we use 6 months per year, but it is not the law. The Home Office tends to expect to see that 50% of the “visa time” has been spent in the UK. Unless there was a compassionate reason, like a medical emergency or having to care for a parent. If you spent too much time abroad during 5 years, you would have to apply for extension, rather than Indefinite Leave.



If you have a visa in the 10-year route or Private Life:



The same rule applies as for workers, ie maximum 180 days in any 12 months.



If you have a pre-settled status under EU Settlement Scheme:



You are expected to spend 6 months per year in the UK. Or 6 months per year outside the UK, which is the same thing. You can have a one-off absence of max 12 months for an important reason like childbirth, study or a compassionate family reason. You would lose your per-settled status automatically if you leave the UK and don't come back within 2 years.



Other than that, you wouldn’t normally lose your pre-settled status if you come back within 2 years. However, you still wouldn’t qualify for a settled status until you have spent enough time in the UK (or rather not spent too much time outside the UK). Meanwhile, you could get another pre-settled status for 5 years, or the system would normally automatically extend it for another 2 years.



If you have Indefinite Leave to Remain:



If your ILR was granted under EU Settlement Scheme, also called settled status, you won’t lose it if you come back to the UK within 5 years. For Swiss citizens it’s 4 years. If your ILR was granted under another category (work, partner etc), you won’t lose it if you come back to the UK within 2 years.



Indefinite Leave is not “indefinite”!



For immigration advice, Book online consultation here. A call over Zoom or WhatsApp costs £150 if you prefer to talk to a lawyer. An email consultation costs only £120 and we provide answers by the next working day. Advice fee counts towards our future services with a visa application, so the final fee is the same, just split into 2 stages.



1st 4Immigration is one of the most experienced UK immigration law companies, OISC – accredited at the highest Level 3. We have been in business for over 15 years, our OISC reference is 200800152, in which 2008 stands for the year accreditation. Office: Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HN. Website 1st4immigration.com