Immigrants with a settled status (ILR) in the UK are often puzzled about losing their settlement if they are outside the country for long. But what they don’t know is, that if they are eligible, they can apply for UK Returning Resident visa.
You can return to the UK if you had indefinite leave to remain, by applying for a UK Returning Resident visa, but only if you meet the eligibility criteria and fulfil all the requirements.
As a “returning resident,” if you had previously lived in the UK, you might be qualified to do so permanently.

You must:

• Have had indefinite leave to remain in the UK when you last departed from it.
• Have not received financial assistance from the Home Office to leave the UK

• An online application is required for a returning resident visa.
• After you begin your application, you can save it and finish it later.
• At a visa application centre, your fingerprints and photo—collectively referred to as “biometric information”—must be taken.
• Depending on the nation you’re in, you might ‌obtain your visa more quickly; check with your visa application centre.

To get a Returning Resident Visa Entry Clearance, you will need to meet the Requirements for entry as a Returning Resident.

• If you were gone for less than two years, you still have your indefinite leave to remain.
• Show the stamp, vignette, or biometric residency permit that originally granted you permission to settle in the UK when you arrive there.
• Carry both your old passport and your new passport when you travel if it is in an older passport.
• You lose your indefinite right to remain if you have been absent from the UK for more than two years (Returning Resident visa).
• By requesting a Returning Resident visa, you could be able to re-enter the UK and receive an indefinite right to remain.

You must offer sufficient proof to demonstrate:

• Your strong ties to the UK, such as – you or your family have resided here for the majority of your life, your current situation, and the reasons you have lived abroad.
• Members of the family (‘dependants’) are still in the UK
• If your partner and children are qualified, they must apply individually for a Returning Resident visa.

If you apply for returning resident visa, you should hear back from the visa application centre within 3 weeks of your scheduled appointment.
Check with your visa application centre to see if there are any services or if you may acquire your visa quicker based on the country you’re in.

The Returning resident visa UK fee is £637, to apply.

The Returning resident visa UK validity is from the intended travel date to the expiry date of the passport.

When determining whether a person qualifies for readmission to the UK as a returning resident, the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) will take into account the following factors:

• Their degree of ties to the UK, as well as the other aspects of such ties
• Length of initial stay in the UK, the extent to which those ties have been upheld throughout the applicant’s absence
• The duration of the applicant’s absence from the UK
• The circumstances of their departure from the UK, their reasons for absence, Their current desire to return, whether they would stay in the UK if readmitted, and any other compelling or sympathetic elements.

Anybody with a settled status in the UK, who has been outside the country for less than 2 years, looking to go back to the UK; will need a UK Returning Resident visa.

Have a look at the video to know more.