Rulebook / Residence & citizenship / United Kingdom
UK settlement — absences
- Day threshold
- 180 days
- Window
- Rolling 365 days
- Direction
- Ceiling — stay at or below
- Counts
- Days outside United Kingdom
- Authority
- UK Home Office
UK settlement — absences caps your time outside United Kingdom at 180 days in any rolling 365-day period. The statute attaches its consequence at 181 days or more, so 180 is the last safe count. No more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12 months across the qualifying period.
Who it applies to
This matters most if you are:
- A permanent resident who travels often and must protect the status they already hold.
- An applicant counting physical presence toward residence or a passport.
- Anyone who will have to evidence their days to an immigration authority at renewal or application.
The rule — and why it exists
Days outside the UK. At most 180 days outside United Kingdom in any rolling 365-day period — written as <=180 AWAY / 365.
Why it exists: residence and citizenship are granted to people who actually live in the country. Presence requirements and absence caps are how that is measured rather than asserted.
Counting the days
- On any given day, look back over the 365 days ending on that day (that day included).
- Count every day you were physically outside United Kingdom in that span. Partial days count as full days.
- The total must stay at or below 180. Repeat for every day — there is no reset date.
- A day only stops counting once it is more than 365 days old. Leaving and returning changes nothing.
- A day with no record might have been a qualifying day abroad, so the calculator reports unknown days separately and treats the total as a floor, never a guess.
The free calculator below counts this rule with the same engine the Dwelltime app ships.
Check it with the free tool
Examples
Example 1 — 118 days recorded abroad in the last 365 days
Stays: United States 2026-01-01 → 2026-04-28. Checked on 2026-12-31.
Result: Days outside the UK: 62 of 180 days left (118 used in United Kingdom).
Example 2 — 200 days recorded abroad in the last 365 days
Stays: United States 2026-01-01 → 2026-07-19. Checked on 2026-12-31.
Result: Days outside the UK: over the limit — 200 of 180 days, first exceeded 2026-06-30.
Exceptions & edge cases
- Absences with permission. Some regimes disregard absences approved in advance or forced by illness; record them and check the source.
- Continuity vs. totals. Some rules require both a total and no single absence over a limit; both must hold.
- Evidence. Authorities may ask for stamps, boarding passes or statements — keep the source of every day.
Common misconceptions
- "Under 180 days means I'm safe." False — other tests can apply, and the count is only one input.
- "It resets when I leave." No. Days age out one at a time, 365 days after they happened.
- "Arrival day doesn't count." Any part of a day inside is a day inside.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 180-day count per calendar year or rolling?
Rolling 365 days. The window rolls forward one day at a time.
Do arrival and departure days count?
Yes — any part of a day counts as a day.
Where does this rule come from?
UK Home Office: Indefinite leave to remain — continuous residence. The link is verified on every build; if it stops resolving the build fails.
This rule is tracked in 
Dwelltime
- Counts your days for this rule from the trips you record
- Shows the last safe day, or the days still needed, before you book
- Explains every counted day and every uncounted one
- Runs alongside your other visa, tax and residency rules
Sources
Related rules
- 🇬🇧UK Standard VisitorUp to 6 months per visit. There is no published annual cap, but frequent or lengthy visits invite refusal as a de facto resident.
<=180 / VISIT - 🇬🇧Avoid UK tax residencyThe 183-day automatic UK test is only one limb of the Statutory Residence Test — ties, work and homes can make you resident on far fewer days. Use the full SRT assessment, not this counter alone.
<=182 / YEAR - 🇬🇧Become UK tax residentThe 183-day automatic UK test is only one limb of the Statutory Residence Test — ties, work and homes can make you resident on far fewer days. Use the full SRT assessment, not this counter alone.
>=183 / YEAR - 🇬🇧UK citizenship — absencesNo more than 450 days outside the UK across the five-year period, and no more than 90 in the final twelve months. Both must hold; discretion above them exists but is not a plan.
<=450 AWAY / 1826
For information only. This page is a plain-English summary of publicly available rules, not tax, legal or immigration advice. Rules change and depend on your personal circumstances — always confirm with the official source above and a qualified professional before acting.