ILR processing time: from the biometrics appointment to the decision
A settlement application is usually decided within 6 months of your fingerprints and photo. Priority (£500) aims for 5 working days, super priority (£1,000) for the next working day. Enter your appointment date to see each deadline.
Expected ILR decision date from your appointment
Decision expected by
13 April 2027
UKVI service standard: 6 months.
| With priority (5 working days) | 20 October 2026 |
| With super priority (next working day; 2 after a weekend appointment) | 14 October 2026 |
| Contact UKVI if no news after | 14 April 2027 |
Counted from the day you prove your identity (app or appointment), not the day you pay. Working days skip weekends and bank holidays in England and Wales. Abroad, faster services depend on the visa centre: their timing is given when you book.
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
UK Visas and Immigration's service standard for indefinite leave to remain is a decision within 6 months, and the clock starts at the UKVCAS appointment where your fingerprints and photo are taken, not on the day you submit the form online. Two paid services shorten it: £500 for priority, aiming for 5 working days, and £1,000 for super priority, aiming for the end of the next working day after a weekday appointment or 2 working days after a weekend one. Working days run Monday to Friday and skip bank holidays, so an appointment just before Christmas waits longer. Some files fall outside the standard: documents that need checking, an interview, or a criminal record mean you will be contacted and the decision takes longer. Throughout the wait you must stay in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or the application is treated as withdrawn. The date tool above counts each deadline.
Three deadlines from one appointment
The online form is only the first half of the application. The second is the UKVCAS appointment, where biometrics are taken and documents scanned if you did not upload them, and every published standard runs from that day. Book the appointment soon after paying if you want the decision early.
| Appointment | Standard | Priority | Super priority (outer limit) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 October 2026 | 15 April 2027 | 22 October 2026 | 16 October 2026 |
| 22 December 2026 | 22 June 2027 | 31 December 2026 | 23 December 2026 |
The October appointment is a Thursday: priority lands on the Thursday after, and super priority should arrive by the end of Friday 16 October, with the following Monday as the outer limit the table shows. In December, Christmas Day and the substitute Boxing Day holiday on Monday 28 December are not working days, so the 5-day priority stretches to the last day of the year. The standard date is a calendar date and ignores holidays: six months is six months. Within the standard there is no point chasing: UKVI says it will not give status updates. If the standard date passes without a decision or a message, that is the moment to contact UKVI.
Files that take longer than six months
GOV.UK names three reasons a case is classed as complex: supporting documents that need verifying, an interview, and personal circumstances such as a criminal conviction. You will be contacted if this happens. Paying for priority does not take a case out of that category. A file is more likely to be straightforward when the evidence answers the questions before they are asked:
- a full list of trips abroad that matches the passport stamps and the Home Office's own records;
- for Skilled Workers, a sponsor confirmation and payslips that show the same salary;
- a Life in the UK reference number that matches the name on your passport;
- certified translations for every document not in English or Welsh.
Staying put while you wait
From the moment you apply until the decision, you must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. Leaving withdraws the application, and on the long residence route GOV.UK adds that the fee is not refunded. That is the practical cost of a six-month standard: a summer abroad or a family visit has to fit before the application or after the decision. If the decision date clashes with a trip you cannot move, priority or super priority is the way to buy the travel back. The ILR fee page prices both for a family.
Choosing the day you apply
You cannot apply more than 28 days before the end of your qualifying period, and you should not let your current visa run out first: if it would expire before you become eligible, extend it. Inside that window, the date of application can matter more than the date of decision. The English requirement that HC 1691 brings in on 26 March 2027 applies to applications made on or after that day, whenever they are decided. A Skilled Worker whose five years end on 7 April 2027 can apply from 10 March 2027, before the new rule, and will not need a B2 test even if the decision comes in the autumn. Wait a month and the same person needs one. The ILR calculator gives your earliest day, and the processing times page compares other routes.