When Can I Get UK ILR?

UK Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) is the main step towards permanent residence in the UK. Your route decides when you can apply. Most people qualify after three, five or ten years.

What Is UK Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR)?

Definition and Overview

ILR, also called settlement, is permission to stay in the UK without a time limit. With ILR you can live, work and study in the UK without visa conditions. ILR is now issued as an eVisa, which you access through your UKVI account.

You apply online on GOV.UK (online applications have replaced the old paper SET forms). From 8 April 2026 the fee is £3,226 per person, including each dependant. There is no Home Office fee for giving your fingerprints and photo. The Home Office usually decides within six months of your biometrics appointment, and a super priority service is available on many routes for an extra £1,000. You should not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man while your application is pending.

Key Benefits of ILR

• No visa conditions: you can work for any employer, be self-employed or study without sponsorship.
• No Immigration Health Surcharge: you do not pay it on an ILR application, and you use the NHS on the same basis as other UK residents.
• Access to public funds: the "no recourse to public funds" condition no longer applies, subject to the usual eligibility rules for each benefit.
• A route to British citizenship: most people must hold ILR for 12 months before applying to naturalise. If you are married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen, you can apply as soon as you have ILR, provided you meet the other requirements.

Your ILR can lapse if you spend more than two years in a row outside the UK.

Differences from Other Immigration Statuses

General Eligibility Criteria for ILR

Continuous Residence Requirement

You must have completed the qualifying period for your route without breaking your continuous residence. For most work and business routes (such as Skilled Worker and Global Talent) and the 10-year long residence route, Appendix Continuous Residence applies: you must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period. Some absences can be disregarded, for example for compelling and compassionate reasons such as the life-threatening illness of a close family member, or travel disruption caused by a natural disaster, conflict or pandemic.

The partner route under Appendix FM does not use the 180-day rule, but you must show you and your partner have been living together in the UK.

Keep a log of every trip abroad with dates and reasons, and check it against the rules for your route. Our absence counter can help.

Good Character and Suitability

The Home Office assesses every ILR application against Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules. It can refuse for reasons including criminal convictions, deception or false information in current or previous applications, breaches of immigration law, and unpaid NHS debts. Disclose everything honestly: non-disclosure can itself lead to refusal.

Qualifying Periods on The Main Routes

You can usually apply up to 28 days before you complete your qualifying period. If you apply earlier, the Home Office will refuse the application and you will not get the fee back.

Standard 5-Year Route

Most work routes lead to ILR after five years. On the Skilled Worker route (which replaced the Tier 2 (General) visa in December 2020), you must still be sponsored when you apply, your employer must confirm they still need you, and you must be paid at least the salary threshold that applies to you at the settlement stage. The general Skilled Worker threshold rose to £41,700 from 22 July 2025, but different thresholds can apply depending on when you were first sponsored and your occupation. Time on certain other routes can be combined with Skilled Worker time.

10-Year Long Residence Route

Under Appendix Long Residence (which replaced paragraph 276B in April 2024), you can apply for ILR after 10 years of continuous lawful residence. Most types of permission count, but time as a Visitor, on a Short-term Student (English language) visa, as a Seasonal Worker, under the Ukraine schemes, on immigration bail, or while overstaying does not. You will usually need to have held your current permission for at least 12 months. See our long residence guide for practical tips.

Accelerated Routes

Some routes allow settlement after three years:

• Global Talent: you can settle after three years if you were endorsed by the Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering or UKRI, endorsed under the exceptional talent criteria by Arts Council England or Tech Nation, or qualified through a listed prestigious prize. If you were endorsed under the exceptional promise criteria by Arts Council England or Tech Nation, you need five years. The endorsement fee is £561 and the visa fee is £205 (£766 for prize winners who do not need an endorsement). See our Global Talent visa guide.
• Innovator Founder: you may be able to settle after three years if your endorsing body confirms your business has met the settlement criteria. There is no longer a minimum £50,000 investment requirement for the initial visa.
• Tier 1 Investor (closed): this route closed to new applicants in February 2022. Existing holders who invested larger amounts may still be able to settle after two or three years.

Family and Partner Routes to ILR

Spouse or Partner

As the partner of a British citizen or settled person, you can apply for ILR after five years (60 months) with permission as a partner under Appendix FM, provided you still meet the relationship, financial and English requirements and have passed the Life in the UK test. The minimum income requirement is £29,000 if you first applied on or after 11 April 2024; transitional provisions apply if you first applied before that date. If you do not meet the requirements of the five-year route, you may be on a 10-year route instead. See our guide to ILR with a British partner.

Children

Children under 18 usually apply for ILR at the same time as, or after, their parent. Each child pays the full ILR fee. Children under 18 are exempt from the English and Life in the UK requirements.

Domestic Abuse and Bereavement

Partners whose relationship broke down because of domestic abuse, and partners whose British or settled partner has died, may be able to apply for ILR without meeting the usual requirements.

English Language and Life in The UK

Most ILR applicants aged 18 to 64 must show English at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference in speaking and listening, and pass the Life in the UK test. The rules already provide for the English level to rise to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027.

• English: you can meet the requirement with an approved Secure English Language Test (SELT), a degree taught or researched in English, or by being a national of a majority English-speaking country on the Home Office list. People aged 65 or over, and those with a long-term physical or mental condition that prevents them meeting it, are exempt.
• Life in the UK test: the test costs £50, has 24 questions and lasts 45 minutes. You only need to pass once. Under 18s, people aged 65 or over and those with a long-term physical or mental condition are exempt.

Proposed Changes: Earned Settlement

In November 2025 the government published a consultation, "A Fairer Pathway to Settlement", proposing an "earned settlement" model with a longer baseline qualifying period that could be reduced or increased depending on factors such as contribution, English and compliance. At the time of writing, these proposals are not in force and the qualifying periods above still apply. Check the latest position before you apply, as the rules may change.