Requirements for indefinite leave to remain, route by route
Every settlement application passes the same five gates: suitability, a qualifying period, unbroken residence, Life in the UK and, depending on the route and date, English. Then each route adds its own condition. Check your dates first with the calculator.
Qualifying date for your route and trips
Earliest date to apply for ILR
15 September 2025
No 12-month window holds more than 180 days: your 3-year period is unbroken.
| 3 years completed | 13 October 2025 |
| Apply from (28 days early) | 15 September 2025 |
| Worst 12-month window | 30 days |
| Days abroad on the trips listed | 30 days |
| Citizenship, at the earliest | 13 October 2027 |
On that date: 30 days abroad in 5 years (limit 450), 0 in the last 12 months (limit 90); set by 5 years after you started living in the UK.
Whole days only: the day you leave and the day you come back are not counted. Citizenship assumes ILR granted on the first application date; enter the real date when you have it.
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
Indefinite leave to remain has a shared core and route-specific extras. The core: you must not fall for refusal under Part Suitability; you must have completed the qualifying period of your route (5 years for most, 3 on the fast Global Talent path, 10 for long residence) with permission throughout; you must have stayed within 180 days abroad in any 12 months; and, aged 18 to 64, you must pass the Life in the UK test. English depends on the route until 26 March 2027, when B2 becomes the standard on most of them. On top of that, a Skilled Worker needs a sponsor still licensed and a salary at the settlement threshold, a Global Talent holder needs earnings in their field, a UK Ancestry holder must still be able and willing to work, and a long residence applicant must usually have held the current permission for 12 months. Time as a dependant or as a fiancé does not count where the rules exclude it.
The extra condition each route adds
| Route | Period | Route-specific condition | English at settlement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skilled Worker | 5 years | sponsor licensed on the decision date; still needed; salary of £41,700 and the going rate (lower rows for some) | none before 26 March 2027, then B2 |
| Global Talent | 3 or 5 years | money earned in the endorsed or prize field; endorsement not withdrawn | yes; B2 from 26 March 2027 |
| UK Ancestry | 5 years | Commonwealth citizen, able to work and intending to, no recourse to public funds | yes; B2 from 26 March 2027 |
| Long residence | 10 years | current permission held 12 months if granted on or after 11 April 2024 | B1 before 26 March 2027, then B2 |
For Skilled Workers the salary test is not a formality. SW 24.3 sets rows by situation: £41,700 and the going rate in the usual case, £33,400 if your latest job was on the Immigration Salary List, £31,300 with the lower going rate if your first certificate of sponsorship came before 4 April 2024, and £25,000 with the pay-scale rate for listed health and education roles. The sponsor must confirm both the job and the pay "for the foreseeable future", so a planned move to a lower salary can sink the application.
On the fast Global Talent path, endorsement by the Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering or UKRI, exceptional talent with Arts Council England or Tech Nation, or a listed prize gives settlement after 3 years (GT 11.1). Someone endorsed in early February 2024 with two short trips could apply from 9 January 2027, as the calculator shows. Exceptional promise endorsements take 5 years.
Time that does not count
Most refusals on the qualifying period come from time the applicant assumed would count. The rules exclude, among others:
- Dependant time, for a main applicant. A Skilled Worker cannot count years spent in the UK as someone else's partner or child; SW 21.2 requires permission "not as a dependant". The same wording sits in GT 11.3.
- Student and Graduate time on the work routes. They are not in the list of routes that combine with Skilled Worker time. They do count towards long residence.
- Fiancé(e) time. On the family routes, months spent as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner are left out of the five years.
- Visitor, short-term study, Seasonal Worker and Ukraine scheme permission, for long residence (LR 11.1).
- Immigration bail, temporary admission, prison and overstaying gaps, which never count and may break continuous residence altogether (CR 2.1 and CR 4.1).
Absences are their own test: no more than 180 whole days outside the UK in any rolling 12 months, with exceptions for documented emergencies. The absence calculator tests every window.
Evidence to have ready
The online form tells you which documents to upload, and you can have them scanned at the UKVCAS appointment instead. Expect to provide:
- your current passport and every passport you held during the qualifying period, which is how travel dates are checked;
- your biometric residence permit, even expired, or a share code from your eVisa;
- the Life in the UK unique reference number, or the older test reference ID for tests before 17 December 2019;
- for Skilled Workers, the sponsor's confirmation that you are still needed and of your salary, with payslips that match it;
- for children over 16 on the form, proof of where they live (bank statement, NHS registration, a letter from their school) no more than a month old, and three months of bank statements if they live away from home;
- certified translations of anything not in English or Welsh.
Keep your own list of trips with dates before you start: the form asks for every absence, and gaps in your records are what slow a file down. The ILR overview sets out the timing, and the fee page what each person pays.