Do I meet the long residency requirement?

I am currently in Year 13 and may be using student finance for next year, but the bigger concern for me is whether I will get home fees or international fees from my universities. However, I've been told that if I can be eligible for SFE, then I should also be eligible for home fees, which is why I am posting my situation here.
I think that I may be eligible under the long residency requirement for student finance. I don't have settled status, however, I have been living in the UK since 2013 on a dependant visa, courtesy of my mother. The problem is, in 2018 my mother had to transfer back to India(my country or origin) for a period of nearly one year before coming back, and in doing so, as I was a dependant of hers, I also had to follow. We returned to the UK in 2019 and have been residing here ever since. The long residency requirements does state that if I am above the age of 18, to qualify, I must live in the UK for a period of half my life, which I do. Will the temporary residence in India affect this, as my stay is not continuous? Is it possible to argue my case of UK being my country of residence in 2018, and the residence in India being temporary? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Hi there,
Can you please tell us your age, and your date of birth?
Thanks, Graeme

I’m currently 17 and my DOB is 29th May 2007

Thanks, just to clarify: it's up to the university to decide whether or not to charge you home fees.
That's up to them, so it's definitely worth asking directly, if you have a particular university in mind.
Do you know when you want to begin the course?
Thanks, Graeme

Hi, thanks a lot. I’ll be asking my universities directly then. I want to begin my course in 2025.

Thanks, time spent abroad can be okay if it was temporary, even in regards to long residency.
In this case we'd recommend that you submit an application online as soon as they open.
That way we can tell you for sure if you're eligible, and request any evidence that we need.
The 25/26 applications should open in Spring 2025. You can then login and apply here.
Thanks, Graeme
https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login

Thanks a lot for your reply! You won’t believe how much this reply his helped me haha…I’ve been stressing so much over the past few days over this. I’ll submit the application as soon as they open!