The date of the expiry of your pre-settled status will be in the letter you received from the Home Office deciding your application.
Before your pre-settled status expires, you are required to make an application for settled status, which is also known as indefinite leave to remain. You need to have spent five years in a row living in the UK in order to qualify for settled status. If your application for settled status is successful, you are granted indefinite leave to remain.
The Home Office should already have an email and phone number for you. Make sure you update these as soon as possible if these details change. Each application is decided on its merits, so it is very important to submit all the documents supporting your application.
Could you summarise the 2023 and 2024 changes to rules regarding pre-settled status?
What is happening with extensions of pre-settled status?
When will my pre-settled status lapse?
What recent changes have been made to the checking of immigration status?
What steps do I need to take to apply to move from pre-settled to settled status?
What does continuous residence mean?
To be eligible for settled status you must have spent five years living in the UK and in each of these five years you can spend a maximum of six months outside the UK in any twelve month period. You may not be granted settled status if you have spent more than six months in any twelve month period outside of the UK.
Absences with pre-settled status
Absences shorter than 6 months
If you have less than 180 days of absences, calculated cumulatively, in each 12 month period of the 5 year period, you will be able to apply for settled status at the end of the 5 year period.
How do I calculate absences?
When is a long absence allowed?
Absences longer than 6 months
If you have more than 180 days of absence, calculated cumulatively, in any of the 12 month periods of the 5 year period, not included in the “important reason”, you are not eligible to apply for settled status. However, you can live, work and study in the UK until your pre-settled status ends after 5 years.
If your absence is for longer than 24 months, please see the above box (second from top), “When will my pre-settled status lapse?”
