Home Office
This Appendix applies only to applications under Appendix HM Armed Forces (only settlement as a Partner or Child), Appendix Skilled Worker, Appendix Representative of an Overseas Business, Appendix Global Talent, Appendix Innovator Founder, Appendix T2 Minister of Religion, Appendix International Sportsperson, Appendix UK Ancestry, Appendix Domestic Worker in a Private Household, Appendix Temporary Work - International Agreement, Appendix Scale-up, Appendix Settlement Family Life, Appendix Private Life (settlement only, apart from where the applicant is applying to settle as a child born in the UK), Appendix Hong Kong National (Overseas), and Appendix Long Residence.
CR 1.1. The continuous residence requirement is met if the applicant has spent the qualifying unbroken continuous residence period required by their route lawfully in the UK.
CR 2.1. To meet the continuous residence requirement the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period (unless CR 2.2., CR 2.2A, CR 3.1. or CR 3.2 applies, subject to CR 2.3.).
CR 2.2. For any absences from the UK with permission granted under the rules in place before 11 January 2018, the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days during any consecutive 12-month period, ending on the same date of their current application unless CR2.2A applies, and subject to CR 2.3.
CR 2.2A. Where the application is under Appendix Long Residence, for any qualifying period before 11 April 2024, the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 184 days at any one time, and must not have spent a total of more than 548 days outside the UK during that qualifying period, subject to CR 2.3.
- CR 2.3. When calculating the period of absence in CR 2.1, CR 2.2. or CR 2.2A, any period spent outside the UK will not count towards the period of absence where the absence was for any of the following reasons:
- (a) the applicant was assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas, providing if on a sponsored route their sponsor agreed to the absence for that purpose; or
- (b) travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic; or
- (c) compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, such as the life-threatening illness of the applicant, or life-threatening illness or death of a close family member; or
- (d) research activity undertaken by a Skilled Worker which was approved by their sponsor and where the applicant was sponsored for a job in one of the following SOC 2020 occupation codes:
- 2111 Chemical scientists
- 2112 Biological scientists
- 2113 Biochemists and biomedical scientists
- 2114 Physical scientists
- 2115 Social and humanities scientists
- 2119 Natural and social science professionals not elsewhere classified
- 2161 Research and development (R&D) managers
- 2162 Other researchers, unspecified discipline
- 2311 Higher education teaching professionals; or
- (e) research activity undertaken by a person on the Global Talent route who was endorsed by:
- (i) The Royal Society; or
- (ii) The British Academy; or
- (iii) The Royal Academy of Engineering; or
- (iv) UKRI; or
- (f) research activity undertaken by a person on the Global Talent route who qualified on the basis of a prize listed in table 6 of Appendix Global Talent: Prestigious Prizes; or
- (g) for an applicant under Appendix Settlement Family Life, absences for work, study or supporting family overseas, so long as the family have throughout the period of absence maintained a family life in the UK and the UK remained their place of permanent residence; or
- (h) where the applicants partner is absent from the UK on Crown service as:
- (i) a regular member of HM Armed Forces (the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Army (including the Brigade of Gurkhas) and the Royal Air Force); or
- (ii) an employee of the UK Government, a Northern Ireland department, the Scottish Administration or the Welsh Government; or
- (iii) a permanent member of the British Council, and the applicant accompanies them overseas.
CR 2.4. Unless applying under Appendix Long Residence, any time the applicant spent lawfully in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man is treated for the purpose of this Appendix as time spent in the UK provided the applicants most recent grant of permission was in the UK.
CR 2.5 Absences before 20 June 2022 will not be counted when calculating the continuous residence period for settlement applications under Appendix Settlement Family Life if the applicant was subsequently granted permission as a partner or parent under Appendix FM or under paragraph 276ADE or 276BE(2), following those absences.
CR 3.1. Where the applicant is applying as a partner or child, and the person on whom they are dependent, was absent for a reason in CR 2.3, that period of absence will not count towards the 180 day limit in CR 2.1. or CR 2.2. when calculating the applicants continuous residence period.
- CR 3.2. Where the applicant is applying as a partner or child and the person on whom they are dependent was absent during a period of permission granted before 11 January 2018, that period of absence will not count towards the 180 day absence in CR 2.1. or CR 2.2 when calculating the applicants continuous residence period if the person on whom they were dependent was on one of the following routes:
- (a) Tier 1; or
- (b) Tier 2; or
- (c) Tier 5 (Temporary Worker); or
- (d) Global Talent; or
- (e) Start Up; or
- (f) Innovator Founder.