Indefinite Leave To Remain Solicitors

ILR is permission to remain without an immigration time limit. It allows you to live, work and study in the UK, subject to the applicable law. It is distinct from a temporary extension and from British citizenship.

The basis on which you apply matters. A person reaching a residence anniversary must still meet the route’s validity, suitability and eligibility requirements. Long absences after a grant can also affect settled status, so future travel plans may need separate advice.

• Compare settlement pathways

Skilled Worker settlement normally requires five years on qualifying permissions, the applicable salary conditions and confirmation from the sponsor that the worker is still needed. It is not enough simply to have held a work visa for five calendar years.

Family partner settlement depends on the route recorded in the grant. Relationship and, where applicable, financial requirements remain relevant. Long residence is a separate ten-year route, with its own exclusions and current-route requirement.

Other categories can use different periods and conditions. For example, an Innovator Founder needs the qualifying business-route period and a fresh settlement endorsement. Family members do not automatically qualify when the main applicant does.

• Settlement as a Skilled Worker
• Settlement as a family-route partner
• Long residence eligibility
• Settlement as an Innovator Founder

Build a chronology of permissions and travel before deciding which years are available. The applicable rules determine whether categories can be combined, which absences count and whether a gap breaks continuity or is treated under an exception.

Where Appendix Continuous Residence applies, the normal absence limit is 180 days in any twelve-month period, subject to the relevant historical provisions and permitted exceptions. It is not a universal test for every ILR route. Long residence requires separate consideration of absences before and after 11 April 2024.

• Immigration Rules: continuous residence

The English requirement depends on the settlement route and application date. Evidence may include an accepted test, an eligible English-taught qualification or another basis recognised by the relevant rules. In some work-route cases English has already been demonstrated; do not assume everyone needs a new test.

Age and a qualifying physical or mental condition can affect exemption eligibility. Being from an English-speaking country does not by itself remove the separate Life in the UK requirement. Check each requirement independently and provide any required medical evidence.

For long-residence settlement, the rules specify B1 speaking and listening for applications before 26 March 2027 and B2 from that date, unless exempt. This dated change should not be treated as a blanket rule for all settlement categories.

Life in the UK guidance exempts people under 18 or aged 65 or over and provides for qualifying long-term conditions. A previous pass can be reused. Check that identity details and the evidence supplied are consistent.

• English-language exemptions
• Life in the UK Test and exemptions
• Immigration Rules: Appendix Long Residence

The application instructions and rules determine the required evidence. An organised file should connect identity, immigration history and the particular basis of eligibility. There is no single document checklist that covers every settlement case.

Explain discrepancies in dates or documents and obtain certified translations where required. Disclose relevant convictions, refusals and immigration issues rather than assuming a residence period makes them irrelevant.

• Current and relevant previous passports, immigration records and decisions.
• A travel chronology supported by available records.
• Employment and sponsor evidence, family evidence or business endorsement documents as required by the route.
• Accepted English and Life in the UK evidence, or evidence supporting an exemption.

Several routes allow an application up to 28 days before the qualifying period is complete, but check the specific route and calculation first. An early application can be refused. If current permission expires before eligibility, consider the appropriate extension in time.

Submit the correct online application, provide the required identity evidence and follow any further evidence requests. Check current official charges and processing guidance. For the settlement routes linked here, travelling outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man while awaiting the decision can lead to withdrawal.

When discussing an ILR application with Highfin, identify the proposed route and any uncertainty about time or absences. Ask the team to confirm the advice and application work it can undertake. The grant, not submission, establishes settled status.

• If an extension is needed
• Long residence applications, fees and processing