Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK

What indefinite leave to remain means

ILR stands for indefinite leave to remain. “Leave to remain” is the Home Office term for permission to stay in the UK; “indefinite” means that permission has no expiry date.

Limited leave to remain is permission that runs out on a set date — a Skilled Worker visa, a spouse visa or a Student visa are all limited leave. Indefinite leave to remain is the same permission without the end date, which is why GOV.UK describes it as how you settle in the UK. If you hold ILR you can live here as long as you like, work for any employer or none, study, and use public services, without applying to extend anything again.

People searching for “permanent residence UK” are usually describing ILR. The UK does not issue a permanent residence card any more: for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who were here by 31 December 2020, the equivalent is settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme; for everyone else it is indefinite leave to remain.

Limited leave to remain

Permission with an expiry date, and usually conditions attached

Indefinite leave to remain (ILR)

Settlement with no expiry date, granted through a route below

Settled status

The EU Settlement Scheme equivalent of ILR; pre-settled status is limited leave

British citizenship

A separate application, usually 12 months after ILR or settled status

Not sure whether your qualifying period is complete? The ILR calculator works out your earliest application date and checks your absences against the 180-day rolling limit.

What ILR gives you

ILR removes time limits on your stay and gives you the freedom to live, work and study in the UK as long as you like.

Indefinite leave to remain is how you settle in the UK. GOV.UK also calls it settlement. Once granted, you can work, run a business, study, use public services such as healthcare and schools, and apply for public funds and pensions. It has no expiry date, and it is the status most people hold before they apply for British citizenship — usually after a minimum of 12 months with ILR.

There is no single ILR application. The route you use, the qualifying period and the route-specific requirements all follow from the visa you currently hold, so the first step is always to identify which route applies to you.

Routes to ILR and qualifying periods

GOV.UK groups the ways to settle by your current visa. The qualifying period is set by the route, not by how long you have lived in the UK overall.

Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, T2, Scale-up

5 years

Innovator Founder / Innovator

3 years

Global Talent — exceptional talent, academic endorsement or prize

3 years

Global Talent — exceptional promise

5 years

Tier 1 (Investor) — £10m / £5m / £2m invested

2 / 3 / 5 years

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) — 10 jobs or £5m income / 2 jobs

3 / 5 years

Partner on the family visa

5-year, 2-year or 10-year route

UK Ancestry visa

5 years

British National (Overseas) visa

5 years

Long residence

10 years

Eligibility in detail

The conditions below apply across most ILR routes. The section that follows sets out the extra route-specific requirements.

• Complete the qualifying period on a qualifying visa

  Usually 5 years; 3 years for Innovator Founder and some Global Talent applicants; 2 to 5 years on Tier 1 routes; 10 years for long residence. Time on some visas — visitor, Short-term study, Seasonal Worker, Ukraine schemes, immigration bail — never counts.

• Continuous residence

  You must not have spent more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period. Absences on the long residence route that began before 11 April 2024 are judged on the older 184-day and 548-day limits instead.

• Lawful residence throughout

  You must have held valid permission for the whole period and complied with its conditions. Time spent overstaying, on immigration bail, temporary admission or in prison does not count, and a gap in permission can break continuous residence.

• Life in the UK test (aged 18 to 64)

  Book and pass the Life in the UK test before you apply. Under-18s, people aged 65 or over, and people with a long-term physical or mental condition supported by medical evidence are exempt. On the long residence route the age band GOV.UK gives is 18 to 65.

• English language

  On the family route this means a recognised English qualification at level B1 or above in speaking and listening, or a degree taught or researched in English. Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker and T2 applicants do not prove English again at settlement because they did so for their visa.

• Route-specific financial or business requirements

  Work routes carry a salary threshold and a sponsor confirmation; family routes carry an income requirement on the 5-year route; Innovator Founder requires a fresh endorsement; UK Ancestry requires you to show you can support yourself and can and plan to work.

• Apply from inside the UK, at the right time

  You must be in the UK to apply. The earliest you can apply on the work, business, family and ancestry routes is 28 days before the qualifying period ends; apply before your current visa expires or extend it first.

• Do not travel while the application is pending

  Leaving the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before a decision withdraws the application. On the long residence route GOV.UK says the fee is not refunded if this happens.

Time that never counts towards continuous residence, according to GOV.UK:

• Time on a Standard Visitor visa or as a visitor without a visa.
• Time on a Short-term study visa or a Seasonal Worker visa.
• Time on any of the Ukraine schemes.
• Time on immigration bail, temporary admission or temporary release.
• Time in a prison, young offender institution or secure hospital.
• Time after your permission ran out (overstaying), including periods covered by COVID-19 exceptional assurance.
• On the work and business routes, time spent in the UK as a dependant on someone else’s visa.
• For Innovator Founder settlement, time on any visa other than Innovator Founder or Innovator.

Route-specific requirements

Each route adds its own conditions on top of the common ones. These are the figures GOV.UK publishes for the most used routes.

Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, T2 and Tier 2. You must have lived and worked in the UK for 5 years, meet the salary requirement at the point you apply, and still be needed for your job afterwards — your sponsor must provide a document confirming this. Time on any combination of Tier 1 (except Graduate Entrepreneur), Skilled Worker, Scale-up, Minister of Religion, Sportsperson, Innovator Founder, Global Talent and Representative of an Overseas Business visas can be combined.

Skilled Worker — usual minimum

£41,700 or the standard going rate

Healthcare or education on national pay scales

£25,000 or the pay-scale going rate

Health and Care Worker occupations with different rules

£31,300 (£25,000 if on the Immigration Salary List) or the lower going rate

Job on the Immigration Salary List (Skilled Worker)

£33,400 or the standard going rate

First certificate of sponsorship before 4 April 2024

£31,300 (£25,000 if on the Immigration Salary List) or the lower going rate

Tier 2 (General) in listed science and research codes

£25,000 or the different going rate

International Sportsperson, T2 Sportsperson

£35,800 or more

T2 Minister of Religion

Same as UK workers in the role, and national minimum wage

Innovator Founder. You need a new endorsement letter from an approved endorsing body — not necessarily the one that endorsed your visa — and must apply within 3 months of receiving it. You must have an active key role in the day-to-day management of a business that is registered at Companies House with you as director or member, is currently trading and can continue trading for at least the next 12 months. The business must have done at least 2 of the following:

• Had £50,000 of investment, which you have spent on developing the business.
• Doubled its number of customers in the last 3 years, to a number higher than the average for similar businesses.
• Applied for intellectual property protection in the UK.
• Made £1 million revenue in the last full year covered by accounts.
• Made £500,000 revenue in the last full year covered by accounts, with £100,000 of this from exporting overseas.
• Created the equivalent of 10 full-time jobs for settled workers that have existed for 12 months.
• Created the equivalent of 5 full-time jobs for settled workers that have existed for 12 months, with an average salary of £25,000 a year.

Partner on the family visa. Your current permission must be based on the relationship, you must have lived together since your last visa was granted and intend to continue the relationship. On the 5-year route you must also meet the financial requirement in the same way you did for your visa; on the 2-year route you must show adequate maintenance; on the 10-year route there is no financial requirement and you cannot include children in your application. Time as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner never counts.

Family visa first granted before 11 April 2024

£18,600 combined income

Plus for a first non-British child

£3,800

Plus for each further child

£2,400 (total capped at £29,000)

Family visa first granted on or after 11 April 2024

£29,000 combined income

Partner receiving disability or carer’s benefits

Adequate maintenance test

2-year route

Adequate maintenance test

10-year route

No financial requirement

UK Ancestry. After 5 continuous years on the visa you must show you have enough money to support yourself and your dependants, that you can and plan to work in the UK, and that you are still a Commonwealth citizen.

Global Talent. Your qualifying period depends on your endorsement (see above). Time spent abroad on work related to your field may be disregarded from the 180-day limit if you were endorsed by the Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, British Academy or UK Research and Innovation, or qualified through an eligible prize in science, engineering, humanities or medicine.

Long residence. You must have permission to stay, 10 years of continuous lawful residence (time in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands can count) and usually one year on your current permission. If you meet the residence test but not the Life in the UK or English requirement, you can apply to extend your stay for 2 years instead.

Life in the UK test and English language

Two knowledge requirements apply on almost every route for applicants aged 18 to 64.

• You do not need to take the Life in the UK test if you are under 18 or aged 65 or over.
• You do not need to take it again if you have already passed it — for example for an earlier settlement application.
• A long-term physical or mental condition exempts you if you provide an exemption form or a doctor’s letter.
• The name on your test booking must exactly match the ID you use, and you must bring the same original ID on the day.
• You cannot bring children or family members to the test centre.

Fees and costs

Figures as published on GOV.UK, last updated 6 January 2025 (work route), 5 November 2024 (family route) and 31 October 2024 (long residence and Innovator Founder).

ILR application — per person, including each dependant

£3,226

Biometric enrolment (fingerprints and photo)

No fee

Priority service — decision within 5 working days

£500 extra

Super priority service — next working day

£1,000 extra

Life in the UK test

£50 per attempt

Long residence — extend stay instead of settling

£1,407

Processing times

Settlement applications are not covered by the 8-week in-country visa standard. GOV.UK publishes a separate timescale for ILR.

Standard service

Usually within 6 months

Priority service

Within 5 working days

Super priority — weekday biometrics appointment

End of the next working day

Super priority — weekend biometrics appointment

Within 2 working days

Long residence — extension of stay (not ILR)

Usually within 8 weeks

The clock starts when you provide your fingerprints and photo at a UKVCAS service point, or when you submit through the UK Immigration: ID Check app if you are told to use it. Working days are Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays. GOV.UK says you will be contacted if your application is complex and will take longer — for example if your documents need to be verified, you need to attend an interview, or because of your personal circumstances such as a criminal conviction.

Documents you will need

You are told exactly what to provide when you apply. These are the documents GOV.UK names across the routes.

• Your current passport or other valid travel document, and — for long residence — every passport you have held during your time in the UK.
• Your biometric residence permit (even if expired) or an eVisa share code proving your current status.
• Your Life in the UK test unique reference number (or the pass letter if you tested before 17 December 2019).
• Evidence of English language — a recognised B1 qualification or a degree taught in English — unless your route exempts you.
• Work routes: payslips or other evidence that you meet the salary requirement, plus a letter from your sponsor confirming you are still needed for the job.
• Innovator Founder: your new endorsement letter, dated within the last 3 months, and evidence of where your money came from.
• Family route: proof of income and where you live, proof you have lived with your partner since your last visa, and evidence the relationship is genuine.
• UK Ancestry: evidence you can support yourself and your dependants, and that you can and plan to work in the UK.
• For each dependant: evidence of your relationship; for children aged 16 and over, 2 documents dated within the last month showing where they live.
• Certified translations of any document not in English or Welsh.

Partner and children

Dependants can often settle with you, but they qualify on their own facts.

On the work, Global Talent, Tier 1, Innovator Founder and UK Ancestry routes you can include your partner and children on the same form if they are eligible. Long residence is different: dependants cannot be included and must apply separately in their own right. A family member who is not yet eligible can carry on extending their dependant visa even after you have been granted ILR, and apply later.

• Your partner must have permission as your dependant, have lived in the UK with you as your dependant for at least 5 continuous years, be in a genuine relationship with you that you intend to continue, and not be relying on public funds. Time as your dependant on an earlier visa counts; time on their own visa does not.
• Partners aged 18 to 64 must pass the Life in the UK test and meet the English language requirement.
• Children under 18 must have permission as your dependant, not be married, in a civil partnership or living independently, and will live with and be supported by you without public funds. Both parents must be settling or settled unless you are the sole surviving parent, have sole responsibility, or there are serious or compelling reasons.
• Children aged 18 or over can be included only if they were under 18 when first granted permission as your dependant and still do not live an independent life. They must also pass the Life in the UK test and meet the English requirement.
• Children aged 6 or over must provide biometric information.
• A partner on the family visa applies under the family route; a partner who is a dependant on your work or Innovator Founder visa applies the same way as you, at the same time or after you settle.
• Dependants currently in the UK as visitors, Short-term students, Parents of a Child Student, Seasonal Workers, domestic workers in a private household, on immigration bail or with permission outside the rules cannot apply for ILR from those categories.

Application process

After you are granted ILR

Settlement is indefinite, but it is not unconditional. Time abroad is the usual way it is lost.

Indefinite Leave to Remain

Lost after more than 2 years outside the UK

EU Settlement Scheme — settled status

Lost after more than 5 years outside the UK

Swiss citizens and their family with settled status

Lost after more than 4 years outside the UK

British citizenship after ILR

Usually after a minimum of 12 months

• If you lose ILR through absence you must apply for a Returning Resident visa before you can come back to live in the UK.
• Dependants who were not ready to settle with you can keep extending their dependant visa and apply for ILR later.
• Once you have held ILR for 12 months (and lived in the UK for 5 years) you can normally apply for British citizenship by naturalisation. Spouses and civil partners of British citizens can apply as soon as ILR is granted.

Common reasons ILR applications are refused

• Applying before you have completed the qualifying period — GOV.UK warns that applying more than 28 days early may lead to refusal.
• Absences of more than 180 days in a 12-month period breaking continuous residence, or on long residence, pre-April 2024 absences over 184 days at a stretch or 548 days in total.
• Counting time that does not qualify — time as a dependant on someone else’s visa, time on a visitor, Short-term study or Seasonal Worker visa, or a period of overstaying.
• No valid Life in the UK test pass, or English evidence that does not meet B1 in speaking and listening from a recognised qualification.
• Work routes: salary below the threshold for your occupation and visa history, or no sponsor confirmation that you are still needed for the job.
• Innovator Founder: no fresh endorsement letter, or a business that cannot show at least 2 of the growth criteria and 12 months of continued trading.
• Family route: income below the applicable threshold, or gaps in evidence that you have lived together since your last grant and that the relationship is genuine.
• Travelling outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man while the application is pending, which withdraws it.
• False or incomplete documents, or documents not in English or Welsh without a certified translation.
• Personal circumstances that engage the general grounds for refusal, such as criminal convictions, which GOV.UK says can also delay a decision.

Source note

Information sourced from GOV.UK (Check if you can get indefinite leave to remain, last updated 29 November 2024; Indefinite leave to remain if you have a Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, T2 or Tier 2 visa, 6 January 2025; Indefinite leave to remain if you have an Innovator Founder or Innovator visa, 31 October 2024; Indefinite leave to remain if you have family in the UK, 5 November 2024; Indefinite leave to remain if you have been in the UK for 10 years (long residence), 31 October 2024; Indefinite leave to remain if you have a business, investor or talent visa, 25 January 2022; UK Ancestry visa, 26 February 2015; Apply for the Global Talent visa, 31 October 2024; Skilled Worker visa, 31 October 2024; Family visas: apply, extend or switch, 31 October 2024; Life in the UK Test, 4 December 2024) and reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Rules change; we verify requirements at the point of instruction.

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