Continuous Residence EU Visa Rules
Amira, an Italian national, moved to the UK in 2015. She worked full-time, rented a flat in Manchester, and built a stable life. In March 2020, she flew to Spain to visit her parents. Then COVID-19 hit. Flights stopped, borders closed, and she couldn’t return until January 2021.
Later, in October 2022, Amira’s UK employer sent her to Germany to manage a new office. The overseas posting lasted 11 months. Now she wants to apply for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
Can she still apply? Or have her two long absences broken her continuous residence?
This article will help you understand exactly what needs to happen for someone in this situation to succeed.
What does continuous residence mean?
To apply for settled status (Indefinite Leave to Remain for EEA nationals and their family members), you need to live in the UK for five years in a row. This is called continuous residence. You have to stay in the UK for most of that time. If you leave, you need to come back within six months in any 12-month period. If you stay away for longer, you might break your residence.
However, you can leave once for up to 12 months if there is an important reason. This could be because of illness, study, or work overseas. It still counts as continuous residence as long as you return within a year. You can also have a second long absence if the reason was related to COVID-19. For example, if your flight was cancelled, you had to quarantine, or you were told to work from abroad.
If you stayed away for more than 12 months because of COVID-19, you will not lose the time you already spent in the UK. But the extra time away will not count towards your five years. Your residence will pause at the 12-month point and start again when you return.
There is one more thing to keep in mind.
If you stay outside the UK for more than five years after getting pre-settled or settled status, the Home Office will treat your earlier residence as broken. The same applies if you’ve been removed, excluded, or deported from the UK. This is known as a supervening event, and it means your continuous residence no longer counts. If that applies to you, you may need to start the five years again. If none of these things happened and your absences followed the rules, you can still apply for settled status.
Does leaving twice break continuous residence for EU settled status?
The Home Office normally allows just one long absence of up to 12 months during your five-year residence period if the reason was important. However, you can still meet the continuous residence rule if you had a second long absence and that second absence was clearly linked to COVID-19. This special rule makes it possible to rely on both absences without breaking your residence: one for COVID-19 and one for another important reason, such as work overseas.
The Home Office guidance confirms that COVID-related reasons can include anything from cancelled flights and remote work instructions to simply choosing to stay abroad because of local restrictions or family support. But to rely on this flexibility, you need to show that each absence was necessary, did not go beyond 12 months, and was well documented.
As long as both absences meet those conditions and relate clearly to separate reasons: one general and one connected to the pandemic, your continuous residence can still be considered unbroken.
What counts as a COVID absence?
When deciding whether to accept a COVID-related absence, the Home Office takes a flexible and case-by-case approach. You don’t need to meet a specific test or show extreme hardship. Instead, you just need to explain your situation clearly and provide enough evidence to show how the pandemic affected your ability — or your choice — to return to the UK.
The key point is that the Home Office understands how unpredictable and disruptive the pandemic was. You may have stayed abroad because of official restrictions, but they will also accept personal circumstances like family responsibilities, housing issues, or local safety concerns. The absence doesn’t need to be sudden or dramatic. Even a planned decision to stay overseas, made during the pandemic period, can count — as long as it was genuinely related to COVID-19.
There is no fixed list of acceptable reasons or required documents. Instead, the guidance encourages you to give honest, consistent details supported by anything you can reasonably provide. That could be emails from your employer or university, booking confirmations, quarantine notices, medical notes, or even a personal statement explaining your decision.
You also don’t need to prove that returning to the UK was impossible. It’s enough to show that, in light of COVID-19, returning within the normal time limit wasn’t the best or most realistic option. If your explanation makes sense, and your absence stayed within the 12-month window, the Home Office is likely to treat it as acceptable.
What proof will you need?
To support your application, you need to show clear evidence for each time you were outside the UK for an extended period. The Home Office wants to understand not just when you left and returned, but why you were away for so long. The evidence doesn’t have to be formal or complicated, but it does need to make your reasons clear.
Start by confirming your travel dates. This could be through flight tickets, boarding passes, or travel confirmations. Then focus on explaining the reason for your absence. If your university or employer advised you to study or work remotely, include that email or letter. If your plans changed because of cancelled flights or quarantine rules, save those messages and confirmations too.
For COVID-related absences, you can also use medical letters, shielding notices, or test results if you had the virus. But even if you don’t have official documents, a personal statement that clearly explains what happened — backed by any practical proof you can find — can still help.
If your absence was for work or another important reason, include anything that shows why it was necessary. This could be a letter from your employer confirming the overseas assignment or any documents showing the timing and purpose of your trip.
You can upload all your documents when you apply online. If you use a paper form, include copies with your application. Make sure everything is clear and easy to read. The Home Office may contact you if they need more information, so it’s a good idea to keep your documents organised and ready.
By explaining your story clearly and showing honest evidence, you’ll give your application the best possible chance of success.
Can Amira Still Get Settled Status?
Yes, Amira can still qualify for settled status — if she explains her absences clearly and provides the right evidence. Her first long absence in 2020 was linked to COVID-19 travel disruption. That fits within the Home Office’s guidance and doesn’t break her continuous residence. Her second absence in 2022 lasted 11 months and was for an overseas work assignment. This is also acceptable, as the rules allow one absence of up to 12 months for an important reason like work.
Because each absence stayed within the 12-month limit and related to a different allowed reason, Amira can rely on both without losing her five-year residence. She just needs to show that both absences were necessary and well-documented. If she does this, the Home Office should treat her continuous residence as unbroken, and she should be able to switch from pre-settled to settled status.
Steps to Protect Your Continuous Residence
If you have spent long periods outside the UK but one of those absences was linked to COVID-19, you may still be able to get settled status. The key is to make sure both absences meet the allowed conditions and are clearly explained.
Start by checking your travel dates to confirm that neither absence lasted longer than 12 months. If you are unsure about your entry and exit dates, you can make a subject access request to UKVI. This allows you to request any official records they may hold about your travel history. These records could support your application and help you feel more confident about your timeline.
Once you know the dates, look at the reasons behind each absence. Collect anything that helps explain your time away, such as emails from your employer, proof of remote study, flight changes, or medical notes. You do not need formal documents for everything, but your explanation needs to be honest, clear, and supported where possible.
When you apply, keep your explanation short and easy to follow. Focus on the facts. Make it simple for the caseworker to understand how your absences fit within the Home Office guidance.
If your absences were for separate valid reasons — one related to COVID-19 and one for an important reason like work — and both were under 12 months, you are likely to meet the continuous residence requirement.
Getting the details right makes a big difference. With a little preparation and the right documents, you can give your application the strongest possible chance of success.