New EUSS Rules Explained: How 2.5 Years’ UK Residence Can Be Enough

On 24 June 2025, the Home Office issued a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules, introducing a welcome simplification of the absence rule for pre-settled status holders under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) seeking settled status.

The rules before the change

Previously, if you hold pre-settled status, you had to maintain “continuous residence” in order to qualify for settled status after completing a five-year continuous qualifying period. In most cases, this qualifying period starts from the date you began living in the UK, rather than the date your pre-settled status was granted.

Continuous residence generally requires that you spend at least six months in the UK in any 12-month period throughout the five-year qualifying period (some exceptions due to COVID and some other reasons were considered)

If absences exceeded the permitted limits an applicant was unable to progress from pre-settled to settled status. Instead, a pre-settled status got extended.

What has changed

The new rule, which comes into force on 16 July 2025, is set out in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Statement of Changes. It provides that:

“These changes enable a pre-settled status holder to be granted settled status where they have been resident in the UK for at least 30 months in total within the most recent 60-month period. This can be any 30 months within that 60-month period.”

This provision operates as an alternative to the old absence rules. In practical terms, it means that when applying for settled status, a pre-settled status holder must have spent a total of at least 2.5 years in the UK during the most recent five-year period. Those 2.5 years can fall anywhere within the five years, and it makes no difference whether absences were taken as a single long period or as multiple shorter periods, provided that total absences do not exceed 30 months. There is no requirement to justify the reasons for those absences, as long as the 30-month limit is not exceeded.

In practice, this means that if you hold pre-settled status and have lived in the UK for five years but spent time outside the UK during that period, you should calculate your total absences. If your combined absences amount to less than 2.5 years, you will qualify for settled status under the new rules.

The new rule may also help those who do not yet qualify for settled status because their absences currently exceed 2.5 years, as the assessment is always based on the most recent 60-month (five-year) period, meaning they may become eligible in the future.

Seeking professional advice can make all the difference. A tailored assessment ensures you understand your options, avoid costly mistakes, and apply at the right time.

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