Rulebook  /  Countries  /  United Kingdom

United Kingdom day-count rules

Spending time in United Kingdom? The rules below can affect tax residency, your right to remain and any path to residence or citizenship. This page brings United Kingdom's day-count rules together — each explained in plain English, with a calculator and a link to the official source.

Tax residency

• 🇬🇧Avoid UK tax residencyThe 183-day automatic UK test is only one limb of the Statutory Residence Test — ties, work and homes can make you resident on far fewer days. Use the full SRT assessment, not this counter alone.<=182 / YEAR
• 🇬🇧Become UK tax residentThe 183-day automatic UK test is only one limb of the Statutory Residence Test — ties, work and homes can make you resident on far fewer days. Use the full SRT assessment, not this counter alone.>=183 / YEAR

Visas & entry

• 🇬🇧UK Standard VisitorUp to 6 months per visit. There is no published annual cap, but frequent or lengthy visits invite refusal as a de facto resident.<=180 / VISIT

Residence & citizenship

• 🇬🇧UK citizenship — absencesNo more than 450 days outside the UK across the five-year period, and no more than 90 in the final twelve months. Both must hold; discretion above them exists but is not a plan.<=450 AWAY / 1826
• 🇬🇧UK settlement — absencesNo more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12 months across the qualifying period.<=180 AWAY / 365