ILR Skilled Worker: When You Can Apply After 5 Years
Enter the day your Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker time started to see when you can apply to settle.
Put in the date and you will see the day you can apply.
Most Skilled Workers can put in an ILR application after five years in the UK on this visa. ILR stands for indefinite leave to remain, which lets you live in the UK permanently with no limit on how long you stay. Applications open up to 28 days before you reach the five-year point.
Time That Counts Towards Your Five Years
The clock only runs while you have your own work visa. Any time spent here as a dependant partner or child on someone else's visa does not count towards the five years.
Travel matters too. You must not be more than 180 days outside the UK within any single 12-month window, so note down when you leave and return.
Settling on a Health and Care Worker Visa
Health and Care Worker visa holders also need five years in the UK to settle. Here again, time as a dependant partner or child is not counted.
If your job is paid on a national pay scale, as many healthcare and education jobs are, a lower pay rule applies: you need £25,000 a year or the pay-scale rate, whichever is higher.
How Much Do You Need to Earn?
What you earn each year has to reach a fixed figure and match the going rate for your role. That going rate is the minimum yearly salary the government sets for jobs like yours. Which figure applies comes down to your job and when you were sponsored.
| Who you are | Minimum yearly pay for ILR |
|---|---|
| Standard Skilled Worker cases | £41,700, or the going rate if that is higher |
| First sponsored before 4 April 2024, with Skilled Worker visas held ever since | the higher of £31,300 or the lower going rate |
| Role on the Immigration Salary List | £33,400 or more |
| Health or education role paid on a national scale | £25,000, or the scale rate if that is higher |
The Immigration Salary List names the jobs that are allowed a reduced salary. All of these amounts are listed on the GOV.UK salary page.
Further Rules for Settling as a Skilled Worker
On top of the five years and the pay rules, settlement asks for a few other things:
- Your employer needs to confirm you are still needed in your role.
- Anyone aged 18 to 64 has to pass the Life in the UK Test as part of the application.
- Each person in the application pays the fee.
Do You Need an English Test?
Apply before 26 March 2027 and no English test at settlement is required, because you proved your English for the visa.
Apply on or after 26 March 2027 and you need B2 level English for speaking and listening. B2 sits on an international language scale and shows you can speak comfortably about daily life and work.
ILR Fees and Faster Decisions
The cost is £3,226 for each person applying. Family members who apply with you each pay the same amount.
A quicker decision is available if you pay extra.
| Option | Extra charge |
|---|---|
| Priority | £500, usually a decision in 30 working days |
| Super priority | £1,000, usually a decision by the end of the next working day |
These prices are set out in the GOV.UK guide for this route.
Could the Five Years Become 15 Years?
Right now, five years is still the requirement. A government proposal would raise it to 15 years for Skilled Workers in jobs below RQF level 6, which is the official skills level for roles at degree standard.
At this stage it is only a consultation proposal, not an active rule.