Changes to EUSS Absence Rules
The Home Office made certain new changes to the rules surrounding absences for people in the EU settlement scheme in July 2025. These related specifically to how status holders could complete a relevant five-year continuous period.
There is now an alternative route for pre-settled status holders, in addition to the already existing continuous residence rules, which allows for people to qualify as being continuously resident if they have been resident in the UK for at least 30 months in the last 60 months (provided they can prove their residence). There are no restrictions on how the 30-month allowance is used and the Applicant does not have to justify any absences they have had.
By way of a further new update, this new rule now applies to both manual and automatic settled status applications, where it previously only applied to manual ones. This change was made on the 9th of April 2026 when the Home Office announced their new updated automated process that checks national insurance records for residence. It is important to remember that only status holders with national insurance records can be automatically upgraded. Those without will have to continue to apply manually for settled status.
If an Applicant was previously refused settled status because they did not meet the original continuous residence rules, provided they still have pre-settled status, they can now apply again under the new rules. However, it should be noted that the new rules only apply to those granted pre-settled status. They do not apply to late applicants to the scheme who have reasonable grounds for missing the application deadline.
Pre-settled status holders with long absences should also bear in mind that the Home Office is currently targeting those with long absences (five years or more) to remove their pre-settled status and treat their leave as lapsed. Those with long absences who eventually wish to settle in the UK, including under the new rules, should make every effort to limit future absences to ensure their leave is not curtailed.
Finally, it is worth noting that the new rule applies even where leave will have previously been treated as having lapsed under the two-year rules on lapsed leave in place prior to the 21st of May 2024. This is good news for people worrying about absences of over two years which took place before this date and indicates that they may be able to qualify for settled status.
Should you have any questions about whether you qualify for settled status under the EU settlement scheme, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and one of our advisors will be happy to speak to you about your situation.
By:Cameron Dyer