When can I apply for ILR?

Das Bounded-TeamAufenthalt · Vereinigtes KönigreichSeptember 2026

Kurze Antwort: You can apply for indefinite leave to remain up to 28 days before you complete your qualifying period — five years on most work and family routes, three years on accelerated routes such as Global Talent and Innovator Founder, two years on a few legacy routes, and ten years for long residence. That only holds if your absences stayed within 180 days in every rolling 12-month period; a breach can push your date back.

How long the qualifying period is

Indefinite leave to remain (ILR, or settlement) is not tied to a fixed number of visa renewals. It is tied to a qualifying period of continuous residence on an eligible route, and the length of that period depends on the route you are on:

Five years — Skilled Worker (and its predecessor Tier 2 General), Health and Care Worker, Scale-up, Representative of an Overseas Business, most Global Talent applicants, the five-year partner and parent routes, and most other work and family routes.
Three years — the accelerated routes: Innovator Founder, and Global Talent applicants endorsed under the "exceptional talent" criteria or holding a qualifying prize.
Two years — a small number of legacy investor categories that are now closed to new applicants but still allow existing holders to settle.
Ten years — the long residence route, for anyone who has lived in the UK lawfully for ten continuous years on any combination of visas.

On several work routes the years do not all have to be on the same visa: time on Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Innovator Founder, Scale-up and a few other listed routes can be combined into one five-year period. Time as a Student, Graduate or visitor generally cannot. The Home Office has also consulted on lengthening the standard qualifying period under an "earned settlement" model, so confirm the figure for your route on GOV.UK on the day you apply rather than relying on what applied when your first visa was granted.

Where the clock starts and how it is counted

The qualifying period is counted in continuous residence, defined in Appendix Continuous Residence of the Immigration Rules. In practice:

1Find your start date. For most people this is the day you entered the UK on your first visa in the route (or the day your permission was granted, if you were already in the UK when you switched into the route). Appendix Continuous Residence sets out how any gap between your visa start date and your arrival is treated, so check that provision if you arrived some time after the visa became valid.
2Count forward the length of your route's qualifying period — for example, five years from that start date.
3Check every rolling 12-month period inside that span. In each one, your total days outside the UK must be 180 or fewer. Every trip counts, not just the longest.
4If any window is over 180 days, continuous residence is broken at that point and the qualifying period generally restarts from your return — unless a specific exception applies to that absence.

The 180-day cap is explained in full on the ILR 180-day absence rule page. The key point for timing is that it is a rolling test: a long trip straddling two calendar years can breach the cap even though each year looked fine on its own.

The 28-day early application window

You do not have to wait until the last day of the qualifying period. GOV.UK allows you to submit your ILR application up to 28 days before you complete it. So if your five years finish on 15 March, you can apply from 16 February. Two cautions:

Do not apply earlier than 28 days out. An application submitted before the window opens is normally refused, and the fee is not refunded. There is no discretion to "hold" it until you qualify.
Apply before your current permission expires. If your visa runs out before your qualifying period ends, you need to extend first and apply for ILR later. Applying in time protects your status under section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 while the decision is pending.

The 28 days count from the date you submit the online form and pay, not from your biometrics appointment. Once submitted, see how long an ILR decision takes and what documents to have ready.

What breaks continuous residence

Beyond the 180-day cap, the following normally break or interrupt continuous residence:

A gap in permission. Overstaying, or a period between one visa expiring and the next being granted, outside the short grace period the rules allow.
Leaving the UK after a refusal, or when your permission has already lapsed, or being removed or deported.
Time on a route that does not count — for example switching from Skilled Worker to a Student visa and back: the Student time does not count towards the five years.
A custodial sentence, which resets the period on most routes.

Some absences are treated more leniently: time spent outside the UK for serious or compelling reasons, certain absences connected to your employment, or travel disrupted by events such as the pandemic may be disregarded, but only where the rules or published guidance say so and only with evidence.

How to find your own earliest application date

Working the date out by hand means listing every trip abroad since your start date and testing each 365-day window against 180 days. The free UK ILR calculator does this from your trip dates: it shows your worst rolling 12-month window, how many days you have left in it, and the earliest date you can apply once the 28-day window is applied. If a trip you are planning would push a window over 180, it shows that too, so you can shorten or move it before it costs you months.

A worked example

Priya entered the UK on a Skilled Worker visa on 10 June 2021. Her five years finish on 9 June 2026, so her earliest application date is 12 May 2026 — provided no 12-month window contained more than 180 days abroad. In 2023 she spent 120 days in India across four trips and another 70 days abroad in the following six months: 190 days inside one rolling window. That breach means her continuous residence restarted when she returned, and her new five-year period (and new earliest date) runs from that return.

Common mistakes

Counting from the visa issue date rather than the start of continuous residence. Those can be weeks apart. Use the date the rules actually recognise for your route.
Testing absences per calendar year. The 180-day cap is rolling. Two "fine" years can hide one breaching window across the turn of the year.
Applying more than 28 days early because a renewal date is approaching. The fix is an extension, not an early ILR application.
Assuming only long trips matter. Frequent short business trips add up to the same total.
Forgetting the other requirements. Reaching the date is necessary but not sufficient: you also need the Life in the UK test, the English language requirement, and — on Skilled Worker — a sponsor who confirms you are still needed at a qualifying salary.

Prüfen Sie Ihre eigenen Daten mit dem kostenlosen Tool

ILR-Rechner UK: 180-Tage-AbwesenheitenIhre schlechtesten rollierenden 12 Monate gegen die 180-Tage-Grenze des durchgehenden Aufenthalts.

Die vollständige RegelVereinigtes Königreich — 180-Tage-Abwesenheitsregel für ILR

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