United Kingdom · 6 rules · 5 calculators · 6 answers
How many days can you spend in the UK?
It depends on what you’re counting. For tax, the statutory residence test starts with your days in the UK each tax year from 6 April: fewer than 16 — or 46 if you weren’t UK resident in the last 3 tax years — and you’re automatically non-resident; 183 or more and you’re resident. To qualify for indefinite leave to remain, you can be away no more than 180 days in any 12 months; once you have ILR, 2 years in a row away and it lapses. British citizenship allows 450 days away in 5 years.
Tax residency
When you’re UK tax resident: 16, 46 and 183 days
How many days can you spend in the UK without becoming tax resident? Fewer than 16 or 46 keep you non-resident whatever your ties; below 183, your home, your work and your ties to the UK decide. The tax year runs from 6 April, and a day counts if you’re in the UK at midnight.
Residence permits
Settlement: time outside the UK with ILR and settled status
Before ILR, no more than 180 days away in any 12 months. With ILR, 2 years in a row outside the UK and it lapses; with settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, 5 years — 4 for Swiss citizens.
Citizenship
British citizenship: 450 days away in 5 years
On the usual route, no more than 450 days outside the UK in the 5 years before you apply, and no more than 90 in the last 12 months.
Day calculators for the UK
- UK tax residency test checkerYour days in the UK, home, work and UK ties
- UK days calculatorYour days in the UK and which marker applies
- ILR absences calculatorYour trips out of the UK
- ILR and settled status calculatorYour status and the day you leave
- British citizenship absences calculatorYour route and your trips out of the UK
United Kingdom: questions and answers.
How many days can I spend in the UK without being tax resident?
Fewer than 16 days in a tax year keep you non-resident if you were UK resident in any of the last 3 tax years; fewer than 46 if you weren’t — the automatic overseas tests. Between them and 183 days, your home, your work and your UK ties decide; 183 days or more make you resident.
How many days can I spend outside the UK before applying for ILR?
No more than 180 days in any 12 months, to keep the continuous residence that indefinite leave to remain needs. Only whole days away count.
Will it take 10 years to get ILR in the UK?
Not on most routes today: the Skilled Worker route, for one, still asks for 5 years, though long residence and the 10-year partner or parent route already take 10. On 2 November 2026 the government said the starting point for settlement will rise to 10 years, with shorter paths for some, but it has named no start date. The limit of 180 days away in any 12 months still applies.
How long can I live outside the UK with ILR?
Up to 2 years in a row: past that, ILR lapses and you’d need a Returning Resident visa or another visa to come back to live. Settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme lapses after 5 years away — 4 for Swiss citizens.
How many days can I spend outside the UK before British citizenship?
On the usual route, no more than 450 days in the 5 years before you apply and no more than 90 in the last 12 months — and you must have been in the UK on the first day of those 5 years.
How many days can you spend in the UK? FlySee counts them for you.
Track days in every country and know the date you can stay until.
- Counts your UK days at midnight against your marker: 16, 46 or 183
- Shows how many days are left this tax year, from 6 April
- Counts your whole days outside the UK in any 12 months, and warns you before you reach 180
- Logs every day you’re outside the UK, automatically, and rebuilds past trips from your photos
- Exports your trips with dates — PDF, Excel or CSV
- Free to download
- free trial
- no account
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Sources
UK tax residency rules
- Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45 — the statutory residence test
- HMRC — Guidance note for the statutory residence test (RDR3)
- HMRC manual — RFIG20140: the third automatic overseas test
- HMRC manual — RFIG20340: time spent in the UK home, with examples
- HMRC manual — RFIG20350: the second automatic UK test, stage by stage
- HMRC manual — RFIG20360: the 30-day presence rule for a UK home
- HMRC manual — RFIG20370: the third automatic UK test
- HMRC manual — RFIG22150: what is not a home
- HMRC manual — RFIG20520: the number of ties
- HMRC manual — RFIG20530: the family tie
- HMRC manual — RFIG20550: the accommodation tie
- HMRC manual — RFIG20560: the work tie
- HMRC manual — RFIG20570: the 90-day tie
- HMRC manual — RFIG20580: the country tie
- HMRC manual — RFIG20710: days spent in the UK
- HMRC manual — RFIG20720: the deeming rule
- HMRC manual — RFIG20730: transit days
- HMRC manual — RFIG22220: exceptional circumstances, the 60-day limit
- HMRC manual — RFIG22270: what isn’t exceptional circumstances
- HMRC manual — RFIG21020: when a tax year is split
- HMRC manual — RFIG21030: when split year treatment applies
- GOV.UK — Tax on foreign income: UK residence and tax (HMRC’s residence checker)
- GOV.UK — Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (the tax year)
The UK 183-day rule
- HMRC — Guidance note for the statutory residence test (RDR3)
- HMRC manual — RFIG20710: days spent in the UK
- HMRC manual — RFIG20720: the deeming rule
- HMRC manual — RFIG22220: where exceptional circumstances can be taken into account
- Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45, paragraph 22: days spent in exceptional circumstances (legislation.gov.uk)
- GOV.UK — Tax on foreign income: UK residence and tax (split-year treatment)
- GOV.UK — Tax on foreign income: if you’re taxed twice (dual residents)
- GOV.UK — Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (the tax year)
Days in the UK: calculator
- HMRC — Guidance note for the statutory residence test (RDR3)
- HMRC manual — RFIG20710: days spent in the UK
- HMRC manual — RFIG20720: the deeming rule
- HMRC manual — RFIG20520: the number of ties
- HMRC manual — RFIG20730: transit days
- HMRC manual — RFIG22220: where exceptional circumstances can be taken into account
- Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45, paragraph 22: days spent in exceptional circumstances (legislation.gov.uk)
- GOV.UK — Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (the tax year)
ILR absences calculator
- GOV.UK — Immigration Rules: Appendix Continuous Residence
- Home Office — Continuous residence: caseworker guidance, version 10.0
- GOV.UK — Immigration Rules: Appendix Long Residence
- GOV.UK — Immigration Rules: Appendix Settlement Family Life
- GOV.UK — Immigration Rules: Appendix Skilled Worker (SW 21.1)
- GOV.UK — Earned settlement: consultation outcome
- Home Office — A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government response to the consultation (CP 1707, November 2026)
- GOV.UK — Home Secretary unveils new rules for migrants settling in the UK, 2 November 2026
ILR and settled status outside the UK
- GOV.UK — Return to the UK if you had indefinite leave to remain (Returning Resident visa)
- GOV.UK — Settled and pre-settled status: what they mean
- GOV.UK — Home Secretary unveils new rules for migrants settling in the UK, 2 November 2026
- Home Office — A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government response to the consultation (CP 1707, November 2026)
British citizenship absences
- Home Office — Naturalisation as a British citizen by discretion (nationality guidance, version 16.0)
- GOV.UK — Apply for citizenship if you have indefinite leave to remain
- GOV.UK — Apply for citizenship if your spouse is a British citizen
- GOV.UK — Earned settlement: consultation outcome
- Home Office — A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government response to the consultation (CP 1707, November 2026)
- Home Office — A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: statement and accompanying consultation (CP 1448, November 2025)
FlySee counts days; it doesn’t give tax advice. Whether you’re resident is for you and your adviser.
FlySee counts days; it doesn’t give immigration advice. Whether you qualify is for you and your adviser.