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Hi,

I am applying for ILR under British Spouse next week.

The SET M form is asking to declare the dates I have spent outside of UK (where duration is over 2 weeks). It does not however specify how far back into my travel history should I go.

Is it 2.5 Years? 2 Years OR Since my last extension (June 2023). I have been under this route since Aug 2020 - Almost 5 Years.

Also do I need to upload my wife's passport with all the pages or only First Page?

Please advise?

It's for the last 5 years.

First page should be fine for wife's passport.

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

When I initially got the Spouse Visa in 2020, I did not move to UK right away. I was still spending more time in my home country while wrapping things up and this took much longer due to COVID restrictions. As a result I have much longer absence in the initial 18 months- longer than 180 days. However, after make the move in 2022 absences are well below the 180 limit.

How could this impact my ILR application? Also do I declare all my travels beyond 2weeks- I travel a lot so my passport is full of stamps and its a tedious process to list down all of them accurately.

I would also highly appreciate if you could give me your own understanding of what is the actual purpose of this travel history under this particular category?

Thanks bunch!!

There is NO absence limit for spouse visa holders. The 180 days absence rule applies to a completely different visa category.

You are required to list ALL absence which are more than 2 weeks for the whole 5 years, as the form asks.

Your qualifying period for ILR starts from the date you first entered the UK on a spouse visa. What date did you first enter on your spouse visa??

Hi,

I entered on 15 Sep 2020 but left the next month and only came back in August 2021. How would the case officer treat such a long absence & do would it help if I submit a covering letter to explain it was due to COVID etc?

Also does that reset my continous residenece clock for when I do apply for citizenship after ILR (if it get it ?

noorlone wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 15, 2025 12:35 pm

Hi,

I entered on 15 Sep 2020 but left the next month and only came back in August 2021. How would the case officer treat such a long absence & do would it help if I submit a covering letter to explain it was due to COVID etc?

Also does that reset my continous residenece clock for when I do apply for citizenship after ILR (if it get it ?

There is no absence requirement under the family route to get ILR. You do not need to do anything.

British citizenship is a totally different application under the nationality law, with totally different and separate requirements.
There is no 180-day continuous residence requirement at all under nationality law