Eligibility to qualify for UK ILR (Indefinite leave to remain) PR

Eligibility

To qualify for ILR (also known as Permanent Residence), you will need to remain in the UK on your specific visa for a set amount of time. The number of years needed on a visa to qualify varies between the different visa categories as follows*:

Type of visa

Time needed to gain Permanent Residency

Marriage/Spouse Visa

2 Years

Unmarried Partner Visa

2 Years

Tier 1 General

5 Years

Tier 1 Entrepreneur

5 years

Tier 1 Investor

5 years

Work Permit

5 Years

Ancestry Visa

5 Years

Writers, Composers and Artist Visa

5 Years

Lawful Stay on any Visa

10 Years

Unlawful stay or a combination of lawful and unlawful stay

14 Years


*Please note that you can technically apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after 4 years and 11 months if you are on a Work Permit, a Tier 1 Visa (excluding Tier 1 Post Study Work Visa) or an Ancestry Visa.  Likewise, if you are on a Marriage (Spouse) or Unmarried Partner Visa, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after 1 year and 11 months.  For those clients applying under the 10 Year Long Residence Rule, you can apply up to 28 days before you have stayed in the UK continuously for 10 years. This is possible as you have the right under the immigration rules to apply up to 28 days before your visa expires.

As well as having spent sufficient time in the UK, applicants will also need to have:

Passed the life in the UK test (you are exempt if you qualify under the HSMP judicial review)
Be able to prove that you have sufficient funds to support yourself and any dependents
Have suitable accommodation for yourself and any dependents
Have a job that brings you in suitable regular income


In addition to the above requirements, applicants should also consider:

You are entitled to take holidays and travel on business trips. You should try to not leave the UK for longer than one month a year (this amount of time excludes business trips where you have a letter from your employer) and not more than 3 months in one single trip.
Please note that the Home Office case worker can offer discretion and not include any business trips you have taken as time spent outside the UK (as long as this point is argued properly in our cover letter attached to your ILR application). We recommend that you keep documentation proving that your trip was solely for business reasons.


How much time can you spend outside the UK and still ensure that you qualify for Permanent Residence? Our advice…

This is the most common question that our clients ask and the answer depends on which visa you are switching from when applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain?  The rules are follows:

Applying after 2 years on a Spouse/Civil Partner visa:

Theoretically you should not leave for more than 36 days a year but due the nature of a Spouse/Civil Partner there is a degree of flexibility.

 Applying after 5 years on an Ancestry/Tier 1/Tier 2/Work Permit visa:

We can confirm that the main applicant must not leave the UK for more than 180 days in total during the five years and not for more than 90 days in one trip.  You will not find this fact stated anywhere on the UK Border Agency website but we assure you that this is the case.  We have only received ILR approvals since 2007 on this basis.

Applying after 10 years Long Residence:

You are allowed to be outside the UK for up to 540 days (18 Months) in the 10 years and must not have left the UK for more than 6 months (180 days) in one trip.

The UK Border Agency changed their policy in December 2009 and removed any mention of the time you are allowed outside from their website. Their intention when they changed the "time spent outside the UK" policy was to get you to simply state all the trips you have taken and how many days you have spent outside the UK. The Home Office caseworker would then decide whether the time you have spent outside the UK is reasonable or you have spent too much time away and they will refuse your ILR application. This was a worrying development as such a vague policy would lead to some client's being refused for very little travel and others approved when being outside for far longer periods

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