Settle in the UK permanently - apply now before it changes to 10 years!
Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK: Settlement permanent residency after 5 years as a worker, partner, family member or after 10 years total residence. Advice on settled and pre-settled status under EU Settlement Scheme, including how time you spent abroad could affect it. Advice on eVisa.
eVisa in 2026
During 2025 all UK visas changed to a digital eVisa. An electronic status in the UK Government system, without a physical card or stamp. All BRP cards “expired” on 31.12.2024, but it does not represent the expiry date of your status. The visa eligibility rules, and requirements towards the evidence, remain the same. You can register for eVisa by creating a UKVI account here.
Waiting times for ILR
The standard timing is within 6 months. There is a fast-track option in most categories, with decision made by the next working day (after biometrics). In some categories there is also an option of 5 working days, costing extra £1,000 and £500 respectively. If your application is under EU Settlement Scheme, it can be an instant online decision, or you may have to provide additional evidence with the decision taking longer; depending on how much information the Home Office has about you, such as your work and tax records. You may also be moved from pre-settled to a settled status automatically.
What is my status while waiting, can I work? Do I have a Right to Rent?
If you submitted ILR application before your previous visa expired (even on its last day), your status automatically extends in the same category as before, all the way until decision. This is known as a Section 3C leave. For as long as it takes, doesn’t matter if the decision comes after your visa expiry date.
Example: you had a Skilled Worker visa, before it expired you applied for Indefinite Leave. It can take up to 6 months, so your status would continue as Skilled Worker during that time. Meaning you can only work for your Sponsor until the approval of ILR. Your Right to Rent isn’t affected.
Can I travel abroad while waiting?
You cannot travel abroad after applying and until the decision, even though you’l have your passport. If you do, your applications gets cancelled, it’s the law.
Most common routes to ILR
Partners & Parents
Workers
10 Years Residence
Can I combine visa categories to get 5 years?
It depends. You can combine Skilled Worker and Global Talent.
Categories that cannot be combined to get 5 years
Student and Skilled Worker, Graduate and Skilled Worker. Ancestral visa cannot be combined with others. Spouse or Partner visa needs 5 years in the 5-year route and cannot be combined with another category or with the same category in 10-year route. Main and dependant visas cannot be combined, such as Skilled Worker cannot be combined with a SW Dependant. Main is main, dependant is dependant, these are different visa categories.
Hong Kong BNO visa and combinations
ILR needs 5 years in the UK, with the latest being a BNO visa. Can be combined with any category that leads to Settlement. For example, Skilled Worker + Hong Kong BNO. Or a Partner visa + Hong Kong BNO. But Student + BNO won’t work because Student visa is not a category that leads to Settlement.
Partner and Private Life 10-year route
Partner, Parent and Private Life visas can normally be combined to make up 10 years for ILR. Some other categories can also be included if they lead to settlement (such as Skilled Worker), if you are not an illegal entrant. A child born in the UK can get settlement after 7 years in the UK on any status (including without a legal status) and/or can be registered as British after 10 years. Otherwise, a child or a young adult need 5 years on Private Life visas to qualify for ILR; an adult – 10 years. This is different from the below Long Residence route, where almost all categories can be combined.
ILR 10 years Long Residence
This ILR route is expected to be abolished in the autumn 2026. Apply now if you are eligible! Has to be 10 years of continuous legal residence in the UK. Most visa categories can be included except Visitor, Parent of a Child at School and some others. If you had some “permitted” overstaying, it does not count towards 10 years but does not break the continuity either. Unauthorised overstaying or time in prison break the continuity and “restart the clock”. There are strict requirements on absences and they are different for the period before and after April 2024. Also, for ILR your last visa must have been held for at least 12 months, otherwise you could apply for a Long Residence extension and then ILR.
Indefinite Leave is not "indefinite"!
You could lose ILR if you leave the UK and stay abroad for too long. For those with a settled status under EU Settlement Scheme it is 5 years. For Swiss citizens it is 4 years. For everyone else it is just 2 years. To prevent this, you can apply for British Citizenship and then leave the UK for as long as you wish.
Advice on EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) - too much time abroad
The EUSS Rules were changed in 2025. You can now qualify for a settled status if you spent a total 30 months (2.5 years) during a 5-year period. It was made easier from the old limit of 6 months per year. Therefore, longer absences are now acceptable. If you were refused solely on this basis, your case may now be reconsidered.
How do I convert my pre-settled status to settled?
You may get it automatically after 5 years. Or you may get an automatic extension for another 5 years (pre-settled) and then get an automatic settled status. However, you can also apply yourself, if you qualify sooner, such as if you started on a Family Permit. It is free to apply. You can also apply if the automatic checks don’t confirm your 5 years, but you can provide evidence to support it.
#1 for Settlement advice
We advise on the UK Immigration Rules, we train other lawyers and we do it well! We are accredited by The IAA , formerly called The OISC, at the highest level 3. Ref F200800152, in which 2008 stands for the year of accreditation. We serve customers of all nationalities to settle in the UK after 5 years or after 10 years here, depending on your category.
Dependants
Normally, dependants can only qualify for ILR when the main applicant does. For example, a Skilled Worker needs 5 years to qualify for ILR, so all dependants would have to wait until then. Exception: if a dependant has spent 10 years in the UK, they can apply for ILR in their own right. Dependant partner or spouse needs to spend 5 years in the UK on Dependent visas.
Dependant child can only apply for ILR with both parents. There is no minimum time that children have to spend here, but if a child came with you from abroad, in practice it means at least 5 years. However, a child born in the UK can be registered as British as soon as one parent secures ILR, without the need to apply for the child’s ILR. A child born in the UK can also apply for ILR after 7 years of living in the UK, legally or illegally, regardless of the parents’ status.
What if I qualify for ILR but my dependants don't?
This can happen if your family joined you later in the UK, so your partner will achieve 5 years later than you do. In this case, your partner still needs 5 years in the UK, so he/she would need an extension. Such extensions are for 3 years at a time, even if you need less time to make up 5 years. Your children will have to wait, get extension if needed, and apply with your partner, unless a scenario from above applies.
Can my children apply with me, without my partner?
We are often asked this question and answer is usually No. Children can only qualify for ILR when both parents do. Or one parent has ILR and the other is applying later, so the children would have to also apply “later”. Otherwise, it is only possible for a single parent, a sole surviving parent or a parent who has sole responsibility for the child.
Dependants in a 3-year accelerated route
Global Talent and Innovator visas have an accelerated route, where ILR can be secured after just 3 years in the UK. However, a Dependant partner still needs 5 years. In this scenario, children will have to wait and apply with the 2nd parent, unless one of scenarios above applies, such as a child born in the UK.