How to count days outside the UK for ILR

For the Home Office’s usual continuous-residence calculation, only whole days outside the UK count. Put simply, do not count the day you leave the UK and do not count the day you return. Count the calendar days strictly between those two dates. The Home Office guidance expressly says that part-day absences of less than 24 hours are not counted.

This tells you how to count days; it does not tell you which numerical limit applies. Many routes use 180 days in any rolling 12-month period, but Long Residence historic absences and some family or dependant cases need separate rule checks.

Example: leaving on 2 May and returning on 7 May gives four full overseas days: 3, 4, 5 and 6 May. It is not six days because neither travel date is counted. If a person begins a return journey on day 180 but arrives in the UK on the following day, that arrival day is not a day of absence under the whole-day calculation; the result may still be 180 rather than 181.

1. Use one row for each distinct trip. Enter the UK departure date and UK return date, not just flight-booking dates.
2. Count the calendar days between the dates. A spreadsheet formula or calculator should be checked against the underlying itinerary.
3. Record every destination, especially where a trip includes several countries or the Common Travel Area.
4. Keep a notes column for midnight flights, cancelled flights, entry clearance travel or unclear stamps.
5. After calculating each trip, test the total within the period required by the route—often every rolling 12-month window.

For Appendix Continuous Residence routes, the current default is normally no more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period. “Any” means a moving period, so total days in the calendar year do not settle the issue. Start by confirming your qualifying route and permission dates, then count whole days for every trip.

Do not transplant this method without checking. Long Residence has transition arrangements for absences that started before 11 April 2024, including historic 184-day single-absence and 548-day total tests. For leave granted under rules in place before 11 January 2018, Appendix Continuous Residence has a historic provision. A person applying as a partner under a family route should check the applicable Appendix and history rather than assuming all “spouse visas” are governed in precisely the same way.

Same-day travel: a morning departure and evening return generally has no whole day abroad. Overnight travel: use the actual dates. Leaving late on Monday and landing early Tuesday may leave no full calendar day between travel dates; leaving Monday and returning Wednesday normally includes Tuesday.

Midnight and time zones: use a coherent UK departure and UK return chronology supported by carrier records. Do not try to gain or lose a day by mixing local dates from different time zones. Missing stamps: passports are not a complete travel log for every journey. Use tickets, booking emails, bank records or employer documents to resolve the gap.

Overlapping records: an airline booking and a later re-booking can describe the same trip. Count the actual absence once. A cancelled outbound booking is not an absence. Conversely, an unstamped land-border trip may still need to be disclosed if it happened.

Evidence should tell the same story as the application form. If dates cannot be proved exactly, explain why, state the careful basis used, and attach the strongest available records. Never invent a date merely to make an absence total fit a threshold.

• Counting both departure and arrival dates as full absence days.
• Failing to disclose a day trip because it creates zero counted days.
• Counting a cancelled flight or counting an amended booking twice.
• Using the number of nights in a hotel as the legal calculation.
• Adding calendar-year totals instead of testing a rolling window.
• Assuming an employer letter changes the number of days or creates an exception.

Do weekends count? Yes, if they are whole days outside the UK. The calculation does not distinguish working days from holidays.

Do I count a trip under 24 hours? No whole day is counted where the absence is less than 24 hours, but you should still keep an accurate record in case the application asks for travel history.

Should I use passport stamps only? No. Stamps can be missing or unreadable. Build the record from all reliable evidence.

Create your travel table, calculate whole days, and then run the correct route test. Read the Home Office continuous residence guidance, especially its whole-day and rolling-period sections, alongside Appendix Continuous Residence. Last reviewed: 17 August 2026. General information only; not legal advice.