ILR Ten-Year Permanent Residence: Which periods spent in the UK do not count?

A table showing periods of residence, with the start and end dates listed on the left and, on the right, the categories ‘visiting relatives’, ‘studying’ and ‘working after graduation’ listed in order. Each row corresponds to a period of life in the UK; when calculating the ten-year period of long-term residence (Long Residence), the official permit category must also be added alongside.

When I was a student, I used to check which route had been approved first

Eligible for inclusion: Time spent in the UK on a Student visa or an old Tier 4 visa may be counted towards the requirement, provided that conditions such as continuous residence are met; the Graduate visa is also eligible. Not eligible for inclusion: the Short-term Student (English language) route, and time spent studying on short courses whilst on a visitor visa. The current Immigration Rules, Appendix Long Residence LR 11.1(a), lists exclusions by permit category. Whether a school refers to a course as a language course, foundation course or short course does not determine the visa category. When verifying, you should copy the English name exactly as it appears on the approval letter or previous visa before deciding which column to place the entry in; you must not categorise it solely based on the type of course attended or the number of months studied.

Whether it is possible to apply for permanent residence on the basis of a single route, and whether the period in question can be counted towards the ten-year long-term residence requirement, must be assessed separately.

These UK visa processing times are explicitly excluded

Visitors, seasonal workers and those granted leave under the Ukraine Scheme are all included in the exclusion list set out in LR 11.1(a). The definition of ‘visitor’ includes persons who have obtained visitor leave following visa-free entry; those lawfully visiting family or attending events may not count this period towards their long-term residence. The previous categories of Visitors, Short-term Students and Seasonal Workers are also subject to these exclusions.

Licences granted in earlier years will not automatically be retained and counted towards eligibility simply because they were granted earlier.

Even if you are in the UK, you may not be eligible for a licence

LR 11.2 also lists immigration bail, temporary admission, temporary release and overstaying. Being granted permission to remain in the country temporarily differs in legal effect from holding an accumulable residence permit. The UK Government’s guidance on long-term residence status specifies that time spent in prison, youth detention centres and secure hospitals is counted separately and cannot be included simply on the basis of a person’s presence in the UK.

The period during which ‘Exceptional Assurance’ was granted during the pandemic shall not be taken into account; the nature of the correspondence must be verified, and not all pandemic-related arrangements should be categorised as the same type of extension.

Once a section has been excluded, the figures before and after may not necessarily add up

This step determines how the timetable should be rearranged. Home Office ‘Long residence’, dated 8 October 2026, specifies that visitor visas, short-term English language students, seasonal workers and permits under the Ukraine Scheme are neither counted towards nor interrupt the continuous residence required for long-term residence. If you stay in the UK as a visitor between two periods of student leave, you cannot simply deduct the number of days spent as a visitor and then continue to add the remaining days together. Subsequent calculation should start from the period in which you once again meet the requirements, and other conditions regarding continuous residence must still be checked.

By contrast, a change from ‘Student’ to ‘Graduate’ does not in itself result in the record being reset to zero; continuity is still assessed on the basis of the actual records.

When calculating ILR, I’ll start by breaking it down by route

I would not recommend simply deleting periods of study where you are unsure, and then postponing your application on that basis. A more prudent approach is to first filter the entire history according to the official permit categories, and then calculate the expiry date. Add two columns to the original table: ‘Can it be counted?’ and ‘Is there a break?’. Exclude any visitor periods at the beginning; for excluded categories interspersed in the middle, check their continuity separately; retain student and graduate permits for calculation. If you are unsure about a particular row, submit the start and end dates of that period, together with the names of the preceding and subsequent permits, to a professional for verification; do not simply state ‘how many years you have lived in the UK’. Add ten years to the date of first arrival in the UK; this figure should only be used to plan your application once the entire period of eligibility has been confirmed.

Home Office The same guidance also requires case officers to verify records marked as ‘short-term student’: if the individual actually falls under the ‘Student’ or ‘old Tier 4’ categories, but was simply granted a shorter-term permit, this period may still be counted. A short duration is not, in itself, a ground for exclusion.

This article is for information purposes only; please consult a qualified solicitor regarding specific matters.

[Source] The current Immigration Rules, Long-term Residence Appendix LR 11.1 to 11.2; Home Office ‘Long residence’, 8 October 2026 edition; UK Government guidance on eligibility for the ten-year long-term residence application.

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