From Ancestry to ILR

[Sumac]

Hi,

A question I hope someone can help with. I moved to the UK from New Zealand on an Ancestry visa, but had to return home for family reasons. I now plan to return early next year with a view to, eventually, obtaining an ILR. My current visa will be valid for around 2 years after my return. I will need to renew it before I can qualify, but do I need to have resided in the UK for 5 years continuously on the ONE visa in order to be able to apply for the ILR? Can I complete my current visa, renew it, and apply for ILR after 3 years of the new visa, or must it be 5 unbroken years on the same visa?
In the end it should make little difference to my road to an ILR, I'll need to get a new visa at some point, the question is do I just get on with it now or wait. I risk facing fee hikes by waiting, but with uncertainty around how Brexit will affect the UK economy and many politicians seeming keen to curb immigration, it could be safer to have a 2 year window to gauge the validity of my long term plans.

[CR001]

Yes, you can renew and then apply with 5 years residence combining time on both ancestry visas.