Most explanations of FIG regime eligibility describe it in a sentence and move on: come to the UK after enough time away, get four years of relief. The test itself is precise, and HMRC's manual has a transitional detail that changes the real value of those four years for anyone who arrived before the regime existed — worth more than a sentence.
The test itself
Per RFIG44000 and RFIG41000, you're a qualifying new resident for a tax year if, in that year, you are:
- UK resident, having
- not been UK resident for at least 10 consecutive tax years immediately before that tax year,
- not a member of the House of Commons or House of Lords, and
- at least 10 years old at the start of the tax year.
Meet that once and you're a qualifying new resident for that tax year and the three that follow — a 4-year window in total, provided you remain UK resident and don't sit in Parliament.
What doesn't factor in: nationality, domicile at any point in your history, or whether you used the remittance basis in earlier years. HMRC's SA109 notes state this directly — someone moving from India, the US, Singapore, or anywhere else qualifies on exactly the same 10-year residence test, not a nationality-specific one.
The transitional trap: your clock may have already started
The FIG regime itself only began on 6 April 2025. But eligibility is backdated: HMRC's guidance confirms someone can already be a qualifying new resident for 2022-23, 2023-24, or 2024-25, provided they meet the 10-consecutive-year test as of their arrival in one of those years.
Here's the part that catches people out. Relief under the FIG regime is only available for foreign income and gains arising from 2025-26 onwards — it can't be claimed retroactively for 2022-23 through 2024-25, even if those years count toward using up your 4-year window.
Worked through, that means someone who returned to the UK in 2022-23 (having genuinely met the 10-year non-residence test) is, by the time the regime starts in 2025-26, already sitting in year 4 of 4. They get exactly one tax year — 2025-26 — of FIG-regime relief on foreign income and gains, not the full four years someone arriving fresh in 2025-26 would get. Someone who arrived in 2023-24 gets two effective years (2025-26 and 2026-27), not four.
The 10-year non-residence test and the 4-year qualifying window are both unaffected by any of this — what changes is how many of those four years actually land inside the period the regime relieves. Always confirm your own arrival-year position and remaining window with a qualified tax advisor, since interaction with pre-2025 remittance basis claims for the same years adds further nuance HMRC handles separately.
Where FIG Tracker fits in
Once eligibility is established, FIG Tracker handles the mechanical side that sits underneath it: counting overseas workdays, sourcing RSU tranches and bonuses over their own periods, and applying the OWR £300,000/30% cap correctly for whichever of your four years you're claiming. See also how the FIG regime and OWR apply whichever country you moved from. Not every asset qualifies for relief even once you're eligible — cryptoassets are a notable exception, treated as UK-situs regardless of your residence history.
FIG Tracker is a calculation aid, not tax advice. Always verify your eligibility and figures with a qualified tax advisor before filing with HMRC.