Hello,

My (Thai) wife is considering going to spend a few months with her family as they can't come here. When she returns she will do her Life in The UK test and apply for ILR however we'd like to know a little more about whether spending a fair amount of time out of the UK will affect the ILR application.

I've heard, but not had confirmed, that 90 days is the maximum somebody wishing to get ILR can stay out of the country for during their two year FLR period. I don't know if that's true or not and I don't know if that is totalled across all holidays in the period or applies only to consecutive stays.

Can anybody offer any advice here?

Many Thanks in advance

There is no set figure. The settlement visa holder should be able to show themselves to have been residing in the UK for the probationary 2 years. That doesn't mean that they have to be permanently present: it's more of a subjective than objective assessment. That said, family holidays of a reasonable duration and returning home for a few months, should not hamper the eventual award of ILR (all other criteria permitting), as long as it can be demonstrated that despite these absences, the UK remained the principal base.

Scouse.