ILR Eligibility Calculator

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) gives you permanent residence in the UK. Most routes require 5 years of continuous lawful residence, though some, such as the partner route, have their own specific pathway. You must also pass the Life in the UK test and meet the English language requirement, currently B1 or above. For settlement applications made on or after 26 March 2027 that rises to B2 (Statement of Changes HC 1691), and the change applies to people already part-way through a route. Proposals to lengthen the standard qualifying period have also been consulted on, so check gov.uk for the current position before relying on a 5-year date.

The 5-year clock runs on the Skilled Worker, Spouse, Global Talent and Family visas, along with certain Tier 1 routes, while Innovator Founder holders, and Global Talent holders in several endorsement categories, can settle after 3 years. Whichever one you hold, you have to keep meeting its requirements throughout the period rather than only at the beginning and the end. Anyone settling from the Spouse or Family route must still meet that route's income requirement, which is £29,000 for partners first granted on or after 11 April 2024.

Continuous residence means you must not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period. Since April 2024 that has been assessed on a rolling basis instead of fixed years, which catches out people whose trips cluster either side of a visa anniversary. This calculator checks your eligibility date based on your visa start date, shows the ILR application fee, and flags any potential issues with absences.

A second door exists for people whose history is untidier. Ten continuous years of lawful residence in the UK, across any visa or combination of visas, qualifies you for ILR through the long residence route. Lawfully is the operative word, because a gap between visas breaks the chain and the application fails. Absences follow the same limit of 180 days in any 12-month period; the older caps of 548 days in total and 184 days in one go survive only for absences that began, or totals reached, before 11 April 2024. The route suits applicants who have switched visa types several times and fit none of the 5-year categories cleanly.

The ILR application fee is £3,226 per person from 8 April 2026. There is no IHS for ILR itself, but you continue to pay IHS on any visa extensions needed before becoming eligible, which is worth budgeting for alongside the ILR fee itself. Someone who began a Skilled Worker visa in September 2021 becomes eligible in September 2026, and with the £50 Life in the UK test plus an English test from £160 the immediate outlay comes to £3,436.

The Life in the UK test is 24 multiple choice questions on history, society, government and culture, sat at a test centre over 45 minutes, with a pass mark of 75%, meaning 18 correct. It costs £50, is booked through lifeintheuktest.gov.uk and can be retaken as often as you need. The official handbook is Life in the United Kingdom: A Guide for New Residents. You only ever sit the test once, since the same pass counts towards British citizenship later.

Applications go on the form matching your route, SET(M) for a spouse, SET(O) for a skilled worker and SET(LR) for long residence, and a biometric appointment follows. Standard processing takes up to 6 months, priority usually decides within 5 working days for an extra £500, and super priority by the end of the next working day for £1,000. Victims of domestic abuse pay the same £3,226, but it can be waived if paying would leave them destitute. The usual causes of refusal are the wrong application form, thin evidence of continuous residence and missing original documents, so a regulated immigration adviser earns their fee on anything complicated.