How long does an ILR application take?

The three service levels

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) publishes a service standard for settlement applications made inside the UK and offers two paid upgrades on top of it. Availability of the upgrades varies by route and by demand — they are switched off from time to time — so treat the timings below as what GOV.UK describes rather than a guarantee, and check the current figures before you rely on them.

• Standard service. Included in the application fee. GOV.UK states that a decision will usually be made within six months. In practice many straightforward Skilled Worker and partner applications are decided well inside that, but six months is the figure to plan around.
• Priority service. An additional fee for a decision measured in working days — GOV.UK currently describes it as around five working days. Not offered on every route, and not every application is eligible even where the route is.
• Super priority service. The highest tier, again for an additional fee, aimed at a decision by the end of the next working day after your appointment or identity check. Subject to the same availability caveats.

The fees for the upgrades change periodically; GOV.UK’s faster decision page lists the current amounts and which routes are eligible on any given day.

When the clock starts — and what pauses it

The processing time does not run from the moment you pay. UKVI counts from when your application is complete:

1. 1You submit the online form and pay the fee. This fixes your application date for the 28-day early window and protects your status while you wait.
2. 2You prove your identity — either through the UK Immigration: ID Check app or at a UKVCAS appointment where your fingerprints and photo are taken.
3. 3You upload your supporting documents (or have them scanned at the appointment). The service standard starts once identity and documents are both in.
4. 4A caseworker decides. On the standard service this is the stage that can take months; on priority services it is measured in working days from the same starting point.

These things stop or stretch the clock on any service:

• Waiting for a biometrics appointment. Free UKVCAS slots can be scarce in some cities; the weeks spent waiting for one are not counted as processing time.
• Requests for further evidence. If a caseworker asks for more documents — commonly an updated employer letter, missing payslips, or a full absence record — the standard is paused until you respond, and priority applications are often taken out of the fast lane altogether.
• Complexity. Criminal record declarations, previous refusals, unclear immigration history or an interview request all move an application into the "non-straightforward" category with no fixed timescale.

The single most common avoidable delay is an incomplete or inconsistent record of absences. A caseworker who cannot reconcile your travel history with the 180-day rule will write out for it. Producing a clean list of trips with the ILR absence calculator before you apply, and cross-checking it against your passport stamps and travel bookings, removes that risk. The full document checklist covers the rest.

What you can and cannot do while you wait

You can

• Keep working and living as before. If you applied before your previous permission expired, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 extends it on the same conditions until the decision (and any appeal or administrative review) is finished.
• Carry on in the job your application describes. On Skilled Worker the decision relies on your sponsor’s confirmation that you are still needed, so resigning or changing employer mid-application can undermine it — take advice before you move.
• Prove your right to work or rent using the Employer Checking Service or a share code from your UKVI account, since your BRP or eVisa may show an expired date.

You cannot

• Travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. Leaving the common travel area while an in-country application is pending is treated as withdrawing the application. You lose the fee, and if your old permission has expired you may not be able to return. This applies on the standard service — where six months is a long time to stay put — just as much as on priority.
• Submit a second application to "hedge". A new application while one is pending normally varies or replaces the first rather than running alongside it.

If a trip abroad in the coming months is unavoidable, either take it before you submit — checking first that the extra days do not breach a rolling 12-month window — or budget for a priority service so the decision lands before you leave.

The outcome: an eVisa, not a card

Biometric residence permits are no longer issued for new grants. When ILR is approved you receive a decision letter or email and your eVisa — the online record of your immigration status — is updated in your UKVI account to show indefinite leave to remain. There is no expiry date to renew, but you should:

• Log in to your UKVI account and check the status, name and date of birth shown are correct.
• Keep the passport linked to your account up to date — when you get a new passport, update the account or airlines and Border Force may not see your status.
• Use share codes for right-to-work and right-to-rent checks instead of showing a card.

Settlement is indefinite but not unconditional. It lapses if you stay outside the UK for more than two continuous years, and the residence rules for British citizenship are separate again. If your application is refused, the letter sets out whether you have a right to administrative review or appeal and the deadline for using it.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Indefinite leave to remain (settlement)
• GOV.UK — Get a faster decision on your visa or settlement application
• GOV.UK — Visa decision waiting times: applications inside the UK
• GOV.UK — Online immigration status (eVisa)