ILR 10 Year Route: Your Long Residence Date
To find out when you may apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), type in the date your lawful stay started.
Put in the date and you will see the day you can apply.
You can apply for permanent settlement through the ILR 10 year route after living in the UK legally for 10 years with no gaps. ILR, short for indefinite leave to remain, lets you live and work in the UK permanently with no further visa needed. Up to 28 days before you reach 10 years, you can send your form, since the Home Office may count your 10 years as far as 28 days after your application date.
Visas That Count Toward Long Residence
You may count time from most UK visas toward 10 years of legal stay, provided your visa history meets three rules:
- A lawful, unbroken stay of 10 years in the UK is required, with no gap between one visa and the next.
- At least one year on your current visa is required.
- Months spent here on a visitor visa never add to your 10 years.
Overstaying means remaining in the UK after a visa expires, and that period is not counted. Before paying the application fee, you can have an immigration solicitor review your dates if any gap between old visas concerns you.
Absence Limits for the Settlement 10 Year Rule
To keep your 10 years continuous, every holiday and trip abroad has to fall within the strict Home Office absence limits. The start date of each trip outside the UK decides which limit you fall under.
| When the trip started | The limit |
|---|---|
| Before 11 April 2024 | Any one trip may not exceed 184 days, and all such trips combined may not total more than 548 days. |
| On or after 11 April 2024 | In any 12-month period, all trips combined must not put you outside the UK for more than 180 days. |
Any trip that began before 11 April 2024 stays under the older limits, even when your 10 years reach into the new period. The ILR absences rules explain how travel days get counted.
Are the Life in the UK Test and English Needed for a 10 Year ILR Application?
Ages 18 to 64: passing the Life in the UK Test and showing your English is required. Once you are 65 or over, the test is not part of your application. You can instead apply to extend your stay if you meet all other settlement rules but have not yet passed the test or English.
Before 26 March 2027, your English qualification must be at level B1, and from that date onward level B2. For speaking and listening in English, B1 and B2 are standard grades, and B2 is one step above B1.
After your test results and documents are complete, you can submit your online application and wait for a standard decision. A faster answer is available if you add £1,000 for the super priority service on top of the usual fee.
Is This the Same as the 10 Year Partner Route?
No, they are different. The 10-year partner route is for couples: at least one year of your time must be on a visa based on your relationship, and years on other settlement visas can be added. No minimum income applies. Long residence has nothing to do with a relationship.
Ending the separate long residence route is proposed in a government consultation on earned settlement.
You can look at the proposed earned settlement rules to see what would happen if the law were changed.
Ask a Solicitor About the 10-Year Route
A gap between visas or one long trip can reset the 10 years. Send the details and a solicitor can check your dates.