The 10-year-long residence route is a way for individuals to stay in the UK forever, also known as Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). This is for persons who have continuously and legally lived in the UK for 10 years.

There has been a big change to the 10-year ILR year route since 11 April 2024 and the Home Office has decided to reduce flexibility and potentially delay some 10-year Long Residence ILR applications.

What is the new Lawful Residence Requirement for 10 years settlement?

Applicants must have maintained valid leave to remain over the period of 10 years. As long as they were consistently being stayed by a valid visa over the ten years and have never been deported from the UK, then the residence is considered to have been ‘lawful’. However, the recent changes introduced new requirements.

The applicants must have had their current permission for one year (or have been exempt from immigration control within the 12 months immediately before their application) to qualify for settlement on this route.

Some applicants granted permission after April 11, 2024, need to wait several months longer than the 10th anniversary of their entry to become eligible for indefinite leave on grounds of long- residence to meet the new requirement to have permission in their current visa for at least 12 months.

However, this rule does not apply if the applicant's current visa was approved before April 11, 2024.

A lawful residence is defined as expressly excluding time spent less than 12 months as a visitor, short-term student or on the seasonal worker routes. Time spent on these routes will not count towards long residence. Time spent on immigration bail will also not count towards the qualifying period for long residence.

Exceptions to the Lawful Residence in the UK

If there are some gaps in your visa history or if you overstay on any particular visa, then the Home Office may still grant you indefinite leave to remain as long as they are considered ‘short gaps’. Discretion will be exercised in the following situations:

• Those who departed from the UK before 24 November 2016 after their UK immigration status expired and then applied for entry clearance again to the UK within 28 days of the expiration of their previous leave. You could qualify for this exception if you returned to the UK within six months of being granted entry clearance.
• After 24 November 2016, if you made an application within two weeks of your leave expiring, the Home Office may disregard a period of overstay. In doing so, they will assess if there was a good reason for your overstay if your application was made within 14 days of the refusal of the previous application; or if the expiry of the leave is extended by section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971; or within the expiry time for making an application for administrative review; or within 14 days of any administrative review or appeal been concluded, withdrawn or abandoned.

New Continuous Residence Rules

In order to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) on the basis of the 10-year-long residence rule, applicants must have at least 10 years of continuous residence in the UK. The “continuous residence” means residence in the United Kingdom for an unbroken period.

The continuous residence will be broken for the purpose of a 10-year-long residence ILR application if the applicant has:

• Been absent from the UK for a period of more than 6 months at any one time;
• Spent a total of 18 months outside the UK throughout the period;
• Left the UK with no valid leave to remain on departure from the UK and did not apply for entry clearance within 28 days of that leave expiring.

Current periods of overstaying cannot count towards the qualifying residence period for a 10-year-long residence ILR application.

The change will be the way absences are calculated for the purpose of a 10-year-long residence ILR application as below: 

• any single absences started before 11 April 2024 must be no longer than 184 days;
• a 10-year period completed before 11 April 2024 must not have total absences of more than 548 days – for 10-year periods which extend beyond 11 April 2024, there is no 548-day limit
• from 11 April 2024, the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period.

This change is very positive and very beneficial for people who came to the UK as young students, who typically have longer holidays due to family being overseas.

Exceptions to the Rules on Continuous Residence

The most common issue that applicants encounter is that they have spent more than the allocated 540 days outside of the UK or that they left for more than six months. The Home Office can exercise some level of discretion and understand there may be situations where it would be unreasonable to uphold the 540-day and 6-month rules.

The following factors are relevant to whether or not discretion will be exercised in a 10-year-long residence indefinite leave to remain (ILR) application:

• for the single absence of over 180 days: How much of the absence was due to compelling circumstances and whether the applicant returned to the UK as soon as they were able to do so you must also consider the reasons for the absence
• for overall absences of 540 days in the 10-year period: Whether the long absence (or absences) that pushed the applicant over the limit happened towards the start or end of the 10-year residence period, and how soon they will be able to meet that requirement

If the absences were towards the start of that period, the person may be able to meet the requirements in the near future, and so could be expected to apply when they meet the requirements.

However, if the absences were recent, the person will not qualify for a long time, and so the Home Office consider whether there are particularly compelling circumstances.

Therefore, excessive absences such as for COVID reasons, would not break continuity for the purpose of a long residence ILR application. Additionally, continuous Residence specifies that time in the Channel Islands / Isle of Man is not treated as time spent in the UK for the purpose of long residence.

Transitional Provisions

There will be no retroactive application of the new rules to any period before April 11, 2024. Applicants who are approaching the end of the 10-year period will still need to account for up to 548 days of absence in regard to their pre-April 11,2024 continuous residence, even though more absences will be permitted in the future.

This means that applicants cannot spend more than 184 days outside the UK at a time or more than 548 days outside the UK overall during the eligibility period ending on April 11, 2024.

Therefore, if you have stayed abroad for more than the following periods during the 10-year eligibility period, continuous residence is not possible before April 11, 2024.

• Total 548 days
• 184 days in 12 months

For absences beginning on or after April 11, 2024, a maximum of 180 days of absence will apply over a 12-month period.

Knowledge of English and Life in the UK for settlement on the Long Residence route

This makes the English language slightly easier because Appendix English Language permits reliance on GCSE/A-Levels, but it still requires passing the Life in the UK test.

Overall, the changes to the rules allowing for indefinite leave to remain based on ten years of residence will make settlement much easier for many young students and those with frequent absences over time.

The 10-year-long residence application was frequently helpful for those who had accumulated long periods of residence. The new changes indicate that the distinctive and beneficial function of being able to submit an application for an ILR based on a lengthy residence has been discontinued.

Future long-term resident ILR applications will need to be carefully reviewed to ensure that all relevant requirements are satisfied and that the transitional provisions are properly understood.

For expert advice and assistance in relation to a 10-year-long Residence ILR application, please contact us on 0203 865 6219 or leave a message on our website.