Hi

if you come to the UK on a settlement visa do you have to spend the whole 2 years in the UK? If you go on holiday say for 1 month so your time in the UK would be 23 months does that mean you can not apply for ILR.

thank you for your help

Hi read post

UK settlement absences

Loads of info there

There is no maximum time allowed out of the UK whilst qualifying for ILR, but if an applicant spends more time out of the UK than in it may be difficult convincing the UKBA that they are in fact a UK resident!

A month on holiday will cause no problem, as long as it's not too regular, even caseworkers have holidays, there is even descretion if the applicant is working overseas for a period, providing their ties remain in the UK.

I'm in the same situation but I am sure the maximum amount of time aloud out of UK whilst on a settlement visa is only 3 months no more. If awaiting to apply for ILR without ruining your application. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Edited September 11, 201213 yr by tomcreeduk

You are wrong.

There is a set limit on time spent out of the UK during the residential qualifying period for naturalisation as British, but not whilst qualifying for ILR.

You are wrong.

There is a set limit on time spent out of the UK during the residential qualifying period for naturalisation as British, but not whilst qualifying for ILR.

I have been asking the same question...

There doesn't appear to be any guidance on absences whilst qualifying for ILR.

Thank you for the replies so if I understand correctly her visa was for 27 months when she arrived in the UK she had 25 months left on her visa if we decide to go on holidays over the 25 months for say 2 months in total then she would have spent 23 month in the UK she can still apply for ILR without any problems with the length of time she has spent in the UK.

I hope that makes some sort of sense to someone.

Thank you again for your help and advice

Assuming she obtained her visa under the old rules, pre 9th July, then the residential qualifying period for ILR is 24 months. That's 24 months from the date she first used the visa to enter the UK.

Time spent out of the UK during this time is not added onto the qualifying period.

For example, if she first entered the UK with her spouse visa on 1/1/12 then her qualifying period ends 31/12/13; although she could apply at any time between 28 days before this date and the expiry date of the visa.

We went on Holiday for six weeks before applying for IDL visa. We did not get any problem.