Skilled Worker Dependent - ILR eligibility after 195 days absence

[Rad28]

Hi,

I applied for ILR on September 2021 after being on the Tier 2/Skilled Worker 5 year route and obtained British Citizenship on December 2022.

My wife obtained her Skilled Worker Dependent visa on December 15, 2020 and entered the UK on February 28, 2021.

Since October 7, 2023 until today she has been outside the UK for 195 days. This was not planned. We were on vacation in Spain and France recently, where she would have been out of the UK for 177 days but she had to cut the vacation short and travel back home to take care of her sick 1 year old niece (considered god daughter and she considers her as her own daughter) who has recently had developed a heart condition. The niece's mother (my wife's sister) needed my wife's help. This is very unfortunate as she could have applied for ILR in November 2025 without any broken continuous residence.

The question is, would the 195 days completely be considered unacceptable and would she have to restart the 5 years OR are there any ways that discretion could be applied?

Thank you.

[vinny]

Same advice.

[Rad28]

Same advice.

Thank you, have you seen any cases where discretion has been applied for ILR with over 180 days absence or is it very uncommon?

Is this reason I mentioned here valid?

[CR001]

Discretion is very very rarely applied.

The reasons you stated would likely not be considered exceptional.