After FLR, ILR How long Can You Spend outside UK?

[John Chingford]

I found this excellent post from another thread. Very helpful to know. Cerainly will be helpful for me, so I have started this thread as a note for myself.

To apply for ILR, there is no set number of days you have to be in the uk for a spouse visa ( other types of visa's like work permits there is a set limit), but if you spend along time out of the uk, there is a small risk they could refuse you, because the UK is suppose to be your home.

the 90 days figure you mentioned, is for citizenship, so if you want to apply for citizenship it does matter because..

Residential requirements

In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:

* have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
* have been present in the United Kingdom three years before the date of your application; and
* have not spent more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom during the three-year period; and
* have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the three-year period; and
* have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the three-year period.


so you can spend up to 270 days out of the uk in those 3 years, but not more than 90 in the last year of the 3 years, so you have 180 days to use over 2 years (90 days a year is what many people try to stick to) if you spend longer than that outside the uk, you might have to wait a lot longer before you can apply for citizenship.

[telford]

I found this excellent post from another thread. Very helpful to know. Cerainly will be helpful for me, so I have started this thread as a note for myself.

To apply for ILR, there is no set number of days you have to be in the uk for a spouse visa ( other types of visa's like work permits there is a set limit), but if you spend along time out of the uk, there is a small risk they could refuse you, because the UK is suppose to be your home.

the 90 days figure you mentioned, is for citizenship, so if you want to apply for citizenship it does matter because..

Residential requirements

In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:

* have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period); and
* have been present in the United Kingdom three years before the date of your application; and
* have not spent more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom during the three-year period; and
* have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the three-year period; and
* have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the three-year period.


so you can spend up to 270 days out of the uk in those 3 years, but not more than 90 in the last year of the 3 years, so you have 180 days to use over 2 years (90 days a year is what many people try to stick to) if you spend longer than that outside the uk, you might have to wait a lot longer before you can apply for citizenship.

Hello John!
I am holding Spouse Visa and stay in UK for just 5months,then me and my husband decide to fly to Philippines, and stay there for 18months.We go back here in UK,2wks before my visa expires. We call the HO to inquire what to apply since I been out in UK for 18 months,they advice me to apply for FLR 1st since i didnt complete my stay here for 2 yrs. So I applied for FLR and they give me 2 yrs extention. Hopefully I can finish this 2yrs so that I can apply for ILR...