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Hello,

I am writing to clarify a particular rule regarding Long Residence (10 year route) application to settle in the UK. I wanted to know about the principle on which 'continuous residence' is assessed. I know that for 'continuous residence' for 10 years, one can leave the UK for 180 days at a time and 540 days in total.

My question is: if someone had gone out of the UK on a valid Tier 2 Dependant visa to seek fresh entry clearance for a new Tier 2 General from the home country, and entered the UK on a fresh Tier 2 General within 180 days, would that be considered as a break in 'continuous residence'? I ask this because in such cases the new Tier 2 General visa overrides the existing Dependant visa. Does the old Dependant visa stand cancelled on the day the decision on the new (successful) Tier 2 is taken by the Home Office? Because there is usually a few days gap after which the applicant is allowed to travel back to the UK on the new Tier 2 ( as one cannot travel more than 15 days before the start date that is mentioned on the new COS). Will one be considered without a visa for those interim few days and will that interrupt the 'Continuous residence'?

I would look forward to your guidance on this.

if someone had gone out of the UK on a valid Tier 2 Dependant visa to seek fresh entry clearance for a new Tier 2 General from the home country, and entered the UK on a fresh Tier 2 General within 180 days, would that be considered as a break in 'continuous residence'?

No.

I ask this because in such cases the new Tier 2 General visa overrides the existing Dependant visa. Does the old Dependant visa stand cancelled on the day the decision on the new (successful) Tier 2 is taken by the Home Office?

Yes.

Because there is usually a few days gap after which the applicant is allowed to travel back to the UK on the new Tier 2 ( as one cannot travel more than 15 days before the start date that is mentioned on the new COS). Will one be considered without a visa for those interim few days and will that interrupt the 'Continuous residence'?

No.

There is no requirement to have a valid visa when outside the UK for the whole 180 days.

The requirement is ONLY that they left with a valid visa and returned to the UK on another visa or the same visa even, within 180 days from the date of UK departure.

Thank you very much CR001. This is very helpful.