180-day continuous residence calculator
Rule checked 5 September 2026 against Immigration Rules Appendix Continuous Residence
On many routes that lead to settlement, you must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any rolling 12-month period during the qualifying period. Enter each trip and the calculator finds the 12-month window with the most days abroad and compares it with the limit.
What it covers. The standard rule in Appendix Continuous Residence for permission granted on or after 11 January 2018: Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, Global Talent, Innovator Founder, Scale-up, UK Ancestry, Hong Kong BN(O) applicants who are required to complete a continuous-residence qualifying period, and the other routes the appendix applies to.
What it does not cover. The 5-year partner route under Appendix FM; the special permitted-absence rules under Appendix Settlement Family Life and Private Life; Long Residence absences before 11 April 2024; permission under the pre-11 January 2018 rules; and absences the rules disregard for specific reasons, such as serious travel disruption, compelling personal circumstances or approved research activity in certain Skilled Worker and Global Talent cases. If any of those apply to you, the result here is only a starting point.
Enter only absences that fall within the qualifying period you are relying on. This calculator does not determine when your qualifying period starts or ends.
Result
Days are counted the way the Home Office counts them: the day you leave and the day you return are not counted as days of absence. A rolling 12-month period means any period from a date to the day before the same date the following year, not a calendar year. This is general information based on the published rule, not advice on your own case, and it cannot take account of exemptions or of periods the rules disregard. Check the settlement guide and the appendix before you rely on it.