Home Office Clarification
New 10-year long residency visa requirements
The Home Office has recently clarified the changed that was made to the 10-year long residency route. A number of applications submitted since the changes were announced in April 2024 had to be put on hold because there were widespread confusion within the department as to what the changes actually meant.
Now that the Home Office has clarified their position, which appears to be a little more generous than the previous requirements.
Essentially, applicant’s absences over 10 years are split into 2 time periods - before 11 April 2024 and after. This means that applicants will need to satisfy the three points below:
any single absences started before 11 April 2024 must be no longer than 184 days
any part of a 10-year qualifying period before 11 April 2024 must not have total absences of more than 548 days
from 11 April 2024 the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period
While the Home Office’s position is clarified, the new requirements is likely to create some confusion among applicants as to how their absences are calculated especially compared to the previously relatively straightforward requirements.
The Home Office provided three useful examples in their guidance to clarify how absences are calculated.
Example 1: Whole qualifying period before 11 April 2024
An applicant under Appendix Long Residence:
completed a 10-year qualifying period on 10 April 2024
had 2 single absences of 50 days and 120 days respectively, with both absences completed (so they returned to the UK) before 11 April 2024
Neither of the 2 absences exceeded the individual absence limit of 184 days. The total absences during the qualifying period did not exceed 548 days. Therefore, the applicant’s continuous residence is not broken.
Example 2: Qualifying period started before 11 April 2024 but completed after
An applicant under Appendix Long Residence:
completed a 10-year qualifying period on 20 January 2025
had a total of 5 absences from the UK during the 10-year qualifying period:
absence 1 – 1 July 2015 until 28 November 2015
absence 2 – 1 January 2017 until 31 May 2017
absence 3 – 1 October 2018 until 28 February 2019
absence 4 – 1 April 2024 until 1 July 2024
absence 5 – 1 August 2024 until 20 January 2025
As the qualifying period included time both prior to 11 April 2024, and on or after 11 April 2024, these 2 periods are considered individually in accordance with the relevant rules for that period, to assess whether continuous residence is broken.
Prior to 11 April 2024, and during their 10-year qualifying period, the applicant had 3 completed absences (so they left and returned to the UK prior to 11 April 2024). These 3 absences:
did not exceed the applicable individual absence limit of 184 days
did not exceed the total absences limit of 18 months (548 days)
Continuous residence was therefore not broken in the 3 absences which completed prior to 11 April 2024.
The applicant had 2 further absences during their 10-year qualifying period; an absence from 1 April 2024 until 1 July 2024, and an absence from 1 August 2024 until 20 January 2025. The absence from 1 April 2024 until 1 July 2024:
did not exceed the individual absence limit of 184 days (which is the applicable limit for any absence that started prior to 11 April 2024)
did not exceed the total absences limit of 18 months (548 days), which applies to periods prior to 11 April. The total absences included for the purpose of calculating the 548 day limit are:
the period of absence from 1 April 2024 until 10 April 2024
the 3 absences which were completed prior to 11 April 2024
The absence from 1 August 2024 to 20 January 2025:
did not exceed the applicable individual absence limit of 180 days in any 12month rolling period (which applies to absences that commenced on or after 11 April 2024) - the earliest 12-month rolling period is from 1 August 2024, as this was the beginning of the first absence to start on or after 11 April 2024
Continuous residence is therefore not broken throughout the qualifying period.
Example 3: Qualifying period started on/after 11 April 2024
An applicant under Appendix Long Residence:
completes a 10-year qualifying period on 30 April 2034
has one absence during that qualifying period, from 1 July 2030 until 10 August 2030
Any absences that started on or after 11 April 2024 must not exceed a combined total of 180 days in any rolling 12-month period. As the applicant is absent from the UK for less than 180 days in a 12-month period, continuous residence is not broken.
Based on the examples above, if your Long Residence application need to rely on residence before 11 April 2024, then absences of 548 days in total and absences of 184 days in one go would both break your continuous residence. Hence, if you have broken your continuous residency period before 11 April 2024 as set out above, your option will be to wait until the absences are not within the 10 year period, or provide evidence of exceptional circumstances such as illness or pandemic related travel disruptions beyond your control.
There is now also a requirement that visa holders must have held their current visa for at least 12 months in the same route if your current visa was granted on or after 11 April 2024. This does not mean that you need to wait 12 months to apply if you had just renewed your visa, provided that your previous visa and your current visa are under the same category.
For example, if you had previously been on various student and graduate visas for 7 years, then switched to a spouse visa for which the initial visa was granted for 2.5 years, you then applied for an extension and is granted another spouse visa for 2.5 years. As you had previously been on a spouse visa, you will only need to wait 6 months to reach the 10 year residency requirement to submit the Long Residency application. However, if your relationship had broken down and instead of a spouse visa extension, you applied for a Skilled Worker visa, you will then have to wait until you have been on the Skilled Worker visa for 12 months before you are able to apply for ILR under the 10-year Long Residency.
We would recommend that if you are considering applying under the Long Residency route to obtain expert legal advice to ensure that you meet all requirements for the visa and we will be happy to assist you with your application.
Contact us at info@luoliphant.com