Requirements for naturalisation as a British citizen
Naturalisation asks for residence (5 years, within 450 days abroad and 90 in the last year), settled status held 12 months, English, Life in the UK, good character and the intention to stay. Test your travel history against the limits below.
Test your trips against the citizenship limits
Earliest citizenship application
15 September 2028
No 12-month window holds more than 180 days: your 5-year period is unbroken.
| 5 years completed | 13 October 2027 |
| Apply from (28 days early) | 15 September 2027 |
| Worst 12-month window | 30 days |
| Allowance left today | 180 days |
| Days abroad on the trips listed | 30 days |
| Citizenship, at the earliest | 15 September 2028 |
On that date: 30 days abroad in 5 years (limit 450), 0 in the last 12 months (limit 90); set by 12 months after indefinite leave.
Whole days only: the day you leave and the day you come back are not counted. Citizenship assumes ILR granted on the first application date; enter the real date when you have it.
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
The requirements for naturalisation after indefinite leave to remain fall into three groups. Residence: you must have lived in the UK for at least 5 years before the application, been physically present on the day exactly 5 years before the Home Office receives it, and should not have spent more than 450 days outside the UK in those 5 years or more than 90 in the last 12 months. Status: ILR, settled status or indefinite leave to enter held for 12 months (no wait if your spouse is British), and no breach of immigration law in the period. Personal: over 18, knowledge of English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic, a Life in the UK pass, good character under the Home Office naturalisation guidance, and the intention to continue living in the UK. Settling does not mean you meet the residence test: the 180-day settlement allowance can add up to far more than 450 days over five years, as the example below shows.
The conditions in one table
| Condition | Rule | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Age | over 18 | children register instead |
| Residence | 5 years in the UK before applying | time exempt from immigration control (diplomats, visiting forces) does not count |
| Presence at the start | in the UK exactly 5 years before receipt | online forms are received the same day |
| Absences, whole period | no more than 450 days | from your own travel records |
| Absences, last 12 months | no more than 90 days | often the one that delays applicants |
| Settled status | held 12 months | ILR, EUSS settled status or indefinite leave to enter |
| Immigration compliance | no breach in the period | pre-ILR breaches not usually checked |
| Language | English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic | proved with the application |
| Life in the UK | a pass | the settlement pass is reused |
| Good character | naturalisation guidance | read it before applying |
| Future intention | to continue living in the UK | stated on the form |
The application page explains how these dates combine into a first possible day and what the form and fee involve.
Settled, yet over the citizenship limit
The two sets of absence rules measure different things. Settlement caps any 12 months at 180 days; citizenship caps the whole five years at 450, an average of 90 a year. Someone can use most of the settlement allowance several times and still settle, then find citizenship further away than expected.
Take a Skilled Worker who arrived on 2 September 2019 and spent three long spells abroad of 170, 166, 151 whole days. No 12-month window exceeds 180 days (the worst holds 170), so ILR comes on time and we assume it is granted on the first day possible, 5 August 2024. Twelve months later, on 5 August 2025, the five years before hold 487 days abroad, above 450. The total falls back under the limit on 17 February 2026, but that date lands inside the 2021 trip five years earlier, so the presence rule still fails. The calculator's first workable date is 29 June 2026, the day after the anniversary of the return.
When absences are above the limits
GOV.UK words the absence limits as what you "should not have" spent abroad, not as an automatic bar, and the naturalisation guidance is where the Home Office sets out how it treats an excess. This site does not publish thresholds or outcomes for applications above 450 or 90 days, because none are given on the GOV.UK pages we use. What GOV.UK does say:
- the form asks for every absence, and the Home Office checks its own records and corrects gaps or errors in what you give;
- presence on the first day of the period can be excused for special circumstances, such as health reasons or travel restrictions that stopped you living in the UK at the start, or an order to leave that was later overturned;
- a long time away after settling can mean the ILR itself has lapsed: more than 2 years at a time, or more than 5 years for EUSS settled status.
If you are over a limit, waiting is the only route the calculator can show: it finds the day the window clears. For an application on discretion, talk to a solicitor or an adviser registered with the Immigration Advice Authority first; the fee is high enough to make a check worthwhile.
Immigration history, character and what this page leaves out
You should not have broken immigration law during the period, living in the UK illegally being the example GOV.UK gives. Holding ILR helps: the Home Office will not usually check for breaches before it. Good character is assessed under the naturalisation guidance; changes after you apply, such as an arrest, must be reported to UKVI by email.
Two topics are outside this page. Dual nationality: GOV.UK explains how dual citizens can travel to the UK, but whether your other country lets you keep its citizenship is for that country's authorities, and this site does not cover it. And other routes, such as the spouse of a British citizen route or registration for children, have their own conditions. The ILR absence calculator covers the settlement side of the same trips.