Plain-English guides to UK residence and settlement.
Short, cited explainers on the Statutory Residence Test and the immigration absence limits that govern settlement and citizenship, the same rules SplitYear tracks in the app.
EU Settlement Scheme: from pre-settled to settled, and the absences that break it
Pre-settled status becomes settled status once you complete a continuous qualifying period. Here are the two absence rules that now decide it, including the more flexible one added in July 2025.
Read guide →How many days can I spend in the UK without becoming tax resident?
There is no single magic number. Your UK day limit depends on your ties and your recent residence history. Here is how to find yours, and the traps that quietly shrink it.
Read guide →Keeping your ILR: the absence rule that can quietly end it
Indefinite leave to remain is not unconditional. It lapses after a long enough absence from the UK. Here is the limit for ILR and settled status, and why a citizenship plan needs a tighter one.
Read guide →Naturalising as a British citizen: the absence limits on the 5-year and 3-year routes
British citizenship has its own absence limits, tighter than the rule for keeping ILR. Here are the 450-day and 270-day totals, the 90-day final-year rule, and where Home Office discretion sits.
Read guide →Split-year treatment: when your UK tax year gets divided
If you move to or from the UK partway through a tax year, split-year treatment can divide the year into a UK part and an overseas part. Here is how it works, and when it applies to you.
Read guide →The UK Statutory Residence Test, explained simply
How the UK Statutory Residence Test decides your tax residence, in plain English: the automatic overseas and UK tests, the sufficient-ties rules, and the day counts that matter.
Read guide →The 10-year long residence route to settlement (the April 2024 rules)
Ten years of lawful UK residence can lead to settlement, but the continuous-residence rule changed on 11 April 2024. Here is the 180-days-in-12-months limit that now applies, and the old rule that still counts for earlier absences.
Read guide →UK tax year end: what to check about your residence before 5 April
The UK tax year ends on 5 April, and it is a hard cutoff for your residence position. Here is what to check as it closes, and why a single late trip can change your status for the whole year.
Read guide →Working abroad without losing your UK settlement or citizenship path
An overseas posting starts several clocks at once, and they do not agree with each other. Here is how the immigration absence limits and your tax residence interact, and which limit actually binds you.
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