Indefinite leave to remain (settlement)

Overview

With indefinite leave to remain you can live, work, study and run a business in the UK without immigration conditions. You can claim benefits if you are otherwise eligible, and you no longer need to renew a visa or rely on a sponsor. Your status is held as an eVisa, which you view and share through your UKVI account.

Settlement is also the usual step before British citizenship. It is not quite permanent in every sense: it lapses if you spend more than 2 years in a row outside the UK, and it can be revoked for serious crime or deception.

Two points about the rules today matter:

• For applications made on or after 26 March 2027, most settlement routes will require English at B2 instead of B1. The British National (Overseas) route is not affected.
• The Government has consulted on wider changes, called "earned settlement", that would lengthen the usual qualifying period. Apart from the higher English level, none of these proposals is in the Immigration Rules, and the periods below are the law today.

Who can apply

You can apply once you have completed the qualifying period on your route. The main routes are:

• Work: 5 years on a Skilled Worker (including Health and Care Worker) or Scale-up visa; 3 years on an Innovator Founder visa; 3 or 5 years on a Global Talent visa, depending on your field and endorsement.
• Family: 5 years as the partner of a British citizen or settled person, or as the parent of a British or settled child; 10 years on the longer family or private life route; partners and children of people on work routes, alongside or after the main applicant.
• Family breakdown: partners whose relationship ended because of domestic abuse, and bereaved partners, can apply without waiting for the usual period.
• Other routes: 5 years on a UK Ancestry visa or a BN(O) visa; 10 years of lawful residence on any mix of visas (see ILR based on long residence).

Refugees and people with humanitarian protection have their own settlement rules, which changed in 2026. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who lived here by 31 December 2020 usually settle under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Time on some visas, such as Student or Graduate visas, does not count towards the 5-year work and family routes, although it can count towards the 10-year long residence route. Time as a visitor counts towards neither.

Requirements

Each route has its own rules, but most applications turn on the same points:

• Qualifying period: you have completed the required time with permission on your route.
• Continuous residence: on most routes, no more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period, and no long gaps without permission.
• Still meeting the route: for example, your job and salary on a work route, or your relationship and finances on a partner route.
• English language: B1 in speaking and listening today, B2 on most routes from 26 March 2027, unless you are exempt.
• Life in the UK test: a pass if you are 18 to 64.
• Suitability: the Home Office can refuse because of criminal convictions, past immigration breaches, deception, or unpaid NHS charges of £500 or more.

Skilled workers

Your sponsor must still hold a licence and confirm that it needs you and will pay you at least the settlement salary. In the standard case that is £41,700 a year and the going rate for your job. Lower thresholds apply to some people, including many who were first sponsored before 4 April 2024 and some health and education workers.

Skilled workers applying before 26 March 2027 do not usually have to prove English again. From that date the rules require B2, so if your visa was granted on a B1 test, plan for a new test.

Partners

On the 5-year partner route, you and your partner need a combined income of at least £29,000 a year if you first applied on or after 11 April 2024. If you first applied before then, the earlier level of £18,600, plus more for some children, still applies. The 10-year route has no income requirement.

English language exemptions

You do not need to prove English if you are under 18 or 65 or over, if a long-term physical or mental condition prevents it, or if you are a national of a listed English-speaking country such as Australia, Canada, Jamaica or the USA. A degree taught or researched in English also counts.

How to apply

1. Work out your qualifying date. You can apply up to 28 days before you complete the period, but not earlier.
2. Check your absences against your passport stamps and travel records, and gather evidence for the whole period, such as payslips, bank statements and proof of living together.
3. Pass the Life in the UK test and, if needed, an approved English test.
4. Complete the online settlement form for your route and pay the fee for each person.
5. Prove your identity at a UKVCAS appointment, where your fingerprints and photo are taken, or with the ID Check app where your route allows it.
6. Stay in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you have a decision. If you travel further, your application is treated as withdrawn.
7. If you are granted, your eVisa is updated to show indefinite leave to remain.

Costs

Each applicant pays the Home Office settlement fee. There is no Immigration Health Surcharge on a settlement application. The current figures are on this page and in our visa cost calculator.

Other costs include the Life in the UK test, an English test if you need one, priority services, and translations of documents not in English.

Processing times

The Home Office usually decides settlement applications within 6 months of your biometrics appointment. Depending on your route, you may be able to pay for priority, with a settlement decision usually within 30 working days, or super priority, with a decision usually by the end of the next working day. Complex cases can take longer, whichever service you use.

Partners and children

On work routes, your partner and children can usually apply with you, or later, if they were your dependants when you settled. Partners on most work routes need 5 years as your dependant themselves. Partners of UK Ancestry holders do not have a minimum period.

Children normally settle when both parents are settled or British, unless one parent has sole responsibility or another exception applies. Children aged 18 or over can settle if they were already your dependants and still live with you.

Some routes, including long residence, do not allow you to include family members. They must qualify in their own right or apply as the partner or child of a settled person. For family routes generally, see our Spouse visa page.

Extending your stay and settlement

Once you have indefinite leave to remain, there is nothing to extend. The next step for most people is British citizenship: you can usually apply 12 months after settling, or straight away if you are married to a British citizen, once you meet the residence and other requirements.

A child born in the UK after you settle is a British citizen automatically. If you plan to live abroad, remember that indefinite leave lapses after 2 years outside the UK. You may then need a returning resident visa.

If you are not ready to settle, for example because you have not yet passed the English test, apply to extend your visa before it expires.

How we can help

We check your immigration history and confirm your qualifying date, including the counting of absences and any gaps between visas, which is where many applications fail. We then give you a document list for each family member and review your evidence before you apply.

We prepare the application and, where something is unusual, a covering letter that deals with it: a long absence for a family illness, a past overstay, a criminal record or a change of employer. We deal with Home Office requests and advise on administrative review or appeal if you are refused. To discuss your case, book a consultation.

Frequently asked questions

When is the earliest I can apply?

On most routes, 28 days before you complete the qualifying period. If you apply earlier, the application may be refused and you would lose the fee.

I spent 7 months abroad caring for my mother. Have I lost my continuous residence?

Not necessarily. Absences for compelling and compassionate reasons, such as the life-threatening illness or death of a close relative, can be disregarded. You need good evidence, such as medical records, and you should explain the absence in your application.

Do I need to take the Life in the UK test again for citizenship?

No. If you passed it for settlement, the same pass counts for citizenship.

I changed employer during my 5 years on a Skilled Worker visa. Does that matter?

Not if you made a new visa application for each new employer, as the rules require, and there were no gaps in your permission. It is your current sponsor that must confirm your job and salary when you apply to settle.

Does indefinite leave to remain give me a British passport?

No. You can only get a British passport once you are a British citizen. Until then, you travel on your own passport and prove your status with your eVisa.