ILR Continuous Residence Calculator

Researched and maintained by the ILR Calculator UK editorial team · Reviewed against the Immigration Rules in force on 24 June 2026 · General information about UK settlement, not regulated immigration advice. For advice on your own case, use an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) or a solicitor.

Continuous residence means living in the UK with unbroken lawful permission for your whole qualifying period — 5 years on most routes, or 10 years on Long Residence. Two things break it: a gap in leave that is not protected, and excess absences. The old 28-day grace period for gaps was removed; a short overstay is now only disregarded under paragraph 39E, broadly where you applied within 14 days of your leave expiring with a good reason. This calculator estimates your qualifying-period completion date and flags gaps between your visas that could reset the clock.

What continuous residence means

Continuous residence is the requirement to have lived in the UK lawfully and without breaking your immigration conditions for a set period. For most ILR applicants that period is 5 years; the 10-year Long Residence route is an alternative for people who have built up a decade of lawful residence, often across several visa categories. The residence must be continuous — there should be no period where you were in the UK without valid permission, and your absences must stay within the limits in Appendix Continuous Residence.

Gaps in leave and the 14-day rule

A gap happens when your existing permission expires before your next grant of leave begins. The widely repeated “28-day rule” for gaps no longer applies: it governed gaps that ended before 24 November 2016 and was replaced by the stricter paragraph 39E framework. Today, a short period of overstaying between grants is only disregarded where paragraph 39E applies — broadly, where you made your next application within 14 days of your previous leave expiring and there was a good reason for applying late.

What breaks continuous residence

The table below summarises the situations that preserve continuity and those that break it, in line with Appendix Continuous Residence.

Source: UK Immigration Rules — Appendix Continuous Residence (CR 2.1, CR 4.1) and Home Office continuous residence guidance. Paragraph 39E governs disregarded overstaying.

Qualifying-period anchor dates

You do not have to count your qualifying period only from the day you apply. The Home Office counts back from whichever of several dates is most beneficial to you, which can rescue an application where the period is not quite complete on the day of submission.

Source: Appendix Continuous Residence, paragraph CR 6.1. The Home Office uses whichever date is most beneficial to the applicant.

Why your start date matters

Your continuous residence clock usually starts on the date you were first granted leave on a route that leads to settlement. If you entered on a Student visa (which does not lead to settlement on the 5-year routes) and later switched to Skilled Worker, your 5-year clock typically starts only when the Skilled Worker leave was granted. On the 10-year Long Residence route, by contrast, time with valid permission on most routes — including Student — can count towards the 10 years.

Applying too early

Even once your qualifying period completes, you generally cannot apply until the 28-day early-application window opens — 28 days before the completion date. Submitting earlier than that risks refusal. Use our ILR 28 Days Calculator to find the exact earliest date you can submit, and check your travel history with the absence calculator.