When can I apply for ILR?

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, Global Talent applicants endorsed under the "exceptional promise" criteria by Arts Council England or Tech Nation, the five-year partner and parent routes, and most other work and family routes.
• Three years — the accelerated routes: Innovator Founder, and other Global Talent applicants (endorsed under the "exceptional talent" criteria, by the Royal Society, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering or UKRI, or granted through a listed 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:

1. 1Find your start date. The Home Office's continuous residence guidance counts from the date your first entry clearance on the route was granted (or the date your permission was granted, if you switched into the route inside the UK). If you arrived after the grant, the days between grant and arrival count as lawful residence but also as absence from the UK, so they go into your 180-day totals.
2. 2Count forward the length of your route's qualifying period — for example, five years from that start date.
3. 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.
4. 4If any window is over 180 days, continuous residence is broken at that point and, in practice, you need a fresh qualifying period after that absence — unless a specific exception applies to it.

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 are complete on 15 March 2027, you can apply from 15 February 2027. This works because Appendix Continuous Residence (CR 1.1) counts the qualifying period back from whichever is most favourable to you: the date of application, any date up to 28 days after it, or the date of decision. Two cautions:

• Do not apply earlier than 28 days out. GOV.UK warns that an earlier application may be refused, and the fee is not refunded. The decision-date rule only helps if your period happens to be complete by the time a caseworker decides, which you cannot plan around.
• 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 rolling 12-month period 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 was granted Skilled Worker entry clearance on 10 June 2021 and flew in the same day. Her five years are complete on 10 June 2026, so her earliest application date is 13 May 2026 — provided no 12-month window contained more than 180 days abroad. Suppose instead that between March and August 2023 she spent 120 days in India across four trips, and another 70 days abroad between September 2023 and February 2024: 190 days inside the 12 months from March 2023 to February 2024. That breach broke her continuous residence, so she needs a fresh five-year period after that absence, and her earliest date moves back accordingly.

Common mistakes

• Counting from your arrival but forgetting the days before it. The guidance counts from the grant of entry clearance, and any days between the grant and your arrival count as absence. Leaving them out understates your 180-day totals.
• 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 where your route has one (B2 on most routes for applications from 26 March 2027), and — on Skilled Worker — a sponsor who confirms you are still needed at a qualifying salary.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Indefinite leave to remain (settlement)
• GOV.UK — Indefinite leave to remain if you have a Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, T2 or Tier 2 visa
• GOV.UK — Immigration Rules Appendix Continuous Residence
• GOV.UK — Indefinite leave to remain (Skilled Worker, T2 or Tier 2): time in the UK
• GOV.UK — Continuous residence: caseworker guidance (8 October 2026)
• GOV.UK — Immigration Rules Appendix Global Talent (GT 11.1 and GT 11.2)