ILR for Bereaved Partners: How to Apply After Their Death

Reviewed by: Paul Gulbenkian , Senior Consultant & Former Tribunal Judge

Last updated: August 20, 2026

Reviewed by: Oshin Shahiean , Managing Partner

Last updated: August 20, 2026

ILR for Bereaved Partners: How to Apply After Their Death

In Brief

If your spouse or partner has passed away, your UK immigration status will initially feel of low priority. In time, you may want guidance and support in understanding your UK settlement rights as the bereaved spouse or unmarried partner living in the UK on a Family Visa.

When the time is right for you to take immigration legal advice following the death of your loved one, our UK Immigration Solicitors can help you secure Indefinite Leave to Remain using our expertise in making settlement applications using the bereaved partner route.

Talk to OTS Solicitors.

UK Settlement for Bereaved Partners

The bereaved partner Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) route is for bereaved husbands, wives, civil partners, or unmarried partners who are living in the UK on a Family Visa, Spouse Visa, Civil Partner Visa, or Unmarried Partner Visa.

To qualify for bereavement-based ILR, you do not need to have lived in the UK for five years at the time of your ILR application.

To qualify, you do need to:

Have last been granted permission to live in the UK based on your relationship with your deceased sponsoring partner
Have been living with your partner in a genuine relationship at the time of their death

Who Cannot Apply for ILR Using the Bereavement Route?

You cannot normally use the ILR bereavement route if you are in the UK on:

A Fiancé Visa
A Civil Partner Fiancé Visa
A non-Family Visa, such as a Skilled Worker Visa or Health and Care Worker Visa

If you fall into one of these non-Family Visa categories, and you have suffered the loss of your partner or spouse who had:

British citizenship
Indefinite Leave to Remain
Settled status

It's best to speak to a UK Immigration Lawyer who can answer your questions on whether the Home Office would allow you to use the bereavement route or assess your immigration visa and settlement options in light of your changed family circumstances.

An Immigration Solicitor may advise that you have the grounds to make an application outside the immigration rules, relying on a human rights claim under the European Convention on Human Rights. It's especially important to take time and get immigration legal advice if you have children, as your decisions may also affect their future.

Dependent Children

A parent in the UK on a Family Visa can apply for bereavement-based ILR on behalf of their dependent children. The child doesn’t need to have lived in the UK for five years or meet a residence requirement at the time of their ILR application. The Home Office waives the residence requirement on compassionate grounds.

Bereaved Partner ILR Requirements

To qualify for ILR using the bereavement route, a partner in the UK on a relevant Family Visa must meet these requirements:

You must be in the UK*
Your deceased partner must have been your spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner, and your sponsoring partner when they passed away
Your deceased partner must have been either a British citizen, held Indefinite Leave to Remain or had status under the EU Settlement Scheme at the date of their death
Your relationship with your partner must have been ongoing on the date of their death. You must not have been separated, estranged or divorced. The immigration rules say you must have been in a genuine and subsisting relationship
Your last visa application must have been a Family Visa. This can either be a Spouse Visa, Unmarried Partner Visa or Civil Partnership Visa
You must fall outside the general criteria for the refusal of an application. The general criteria for refusal include having a serious criminal conviction or having been assessed as posing a security threat

*You are exempt from the requirement to be in the UK if your last visa was granted as a partner under Appendix Armed Forces and you are making your application from outside the UK.

The bereavement ILR eligibility requirements do not require you to:

Have lived in the UK for a minimum period before being eligible to apply for ILR. Even if you recently arrived in the UK on a Spouse Visa, you qualify for bereavement-related ILR if you meet the above six criteria, as there is no minimum residence requirement
Pass an English language test
Pass the Life in the UK test

Uncertainty Over Your Partner’s Immigration Status

Sometimes a bereaved partner is embarrassed as they don’t know their deceased partner’s immigration status and are worried that they won't be eligible to apply for ILR using the bereavement route. You should not be embarrassed if you don’t know your partner's exact UK immigration status or cannot find their paperwork to confirm it.

Your late partner would have had to prove that they either held British citizenship, ILR or settled status at the time of your Family Visa application to qualify to sponsor you. An Immigration Solicitor can help you trace and locate the documents proving your late partner’s UK immigration status.

If you are concerned about whether you meet the ILR eligibility criteria, speak to a specialist Settlement Lawyer.

Contact OTS Solicitors for ILR legal advice

Documents and Evidence Needed for a Bereaved Partner ILR Application

These are some of the standard documents you must send with your ILR application:

Your late partner’s official death certificate
Evidence of your legal relationship with your late partner, such as your marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate
Evidence that you were in a genuine and ongoing relationship with your partner at the date of their death and that you had intended to continue to live together

Relationship Evidence for an ILR Application

It's horrible to think that you need to provide evidence of your relationship when you’re grieving the loss of your partner, but it is a necessary part of the ILR application process.

The required relationship evidence depends on your personal circumstances, but it generally includes:

Your marriage certificate, civil partnership certificate or evidence of cohabitation
Evidence that you were living together in a genuine relationship
Evidence that you planned to continue to live together

An Immigration Solicitor in London can carefully guide you through the evidence requirements for your circumstances. Their ILR immigration legal advice will depend on whether:

You were cohabiting and in the UK on an Unmarried Partner Visa, and so cannot produce a marriage or civil partnership certificate
You and your spouse spent significant time apart during your relationship
You or your spouse was overseas on the date of their death
You recently entered the UK on a Family Visa
There are matters in your immigration record that may make Home Office officials assess your application with particular care

Cohabitation and Living Together: Evidence for an ILR Application

If you were not married to your partner, you need to take particular care in providing evidence of cohabitation. An Immigration Lawyer can advise you on the best evidence for your situation, but it will typically include:

House occupation documents such as a tenancy agreement in your joint names, land registry documents if you are joint property owners or your mortgage statement
Your cohabitation agreement, if you signed one before you started living with your partner
Utility bills. These should ideally be in your joint names, but if they aren’t, you need to provide utility bills for a set period showing that you were both paying utility bills at the same address
Council tax paperwork and correspondence
Official letters from your GP, hospital, tax office, DVLA or employers
Evidence of your child’s address for official purposes, such as for school registration or in their medical records

If your partner either owned or rented the property in their name and paid all the utility bills, you may need to provide supplemental cohabitation evidence, such as:

Photographs taken while you were living together
Social media posts referring to your cohabitation
Emails, texts or WhatsApp messages
Statements from professionals or employers. For example, a copy of the notification form if your partner nominated you to receive their death in service benefits

In some situations, you will need to focus on evidence of your planned intention to live together permanently. This may be necessary if you were living apart from your partner for periods while you were in the UK on a Family Visa. Explanations may include that your partner was absent on a work secondment or that you or they were overseas on an extended trip to see family. If the separation period/s might raise questions, you will need to outline the reasons for the absences in your ILR application and in your supporting statement and evidence.

It's best to address potential red flags for Home Office officials and provide a full, evidence-based explanation, rather than risk having your ILR bereavement application rejected.

Separation Before the Death of a Partner

When you arrive in the UK on a Family Visa, adjusting to life in a new country can be difficult. Relationships can become strained, and you may even separate.

If you were separated from your partner when they died, and the separation was because of their domestic abuse, you may still qualify for ILR. In UK law, there is a wide definition of domestic abuse (it includes both physical and psychological or emotional or economic abuse).

Deadline for Making a Bereaved Partner ILR Application

There is no deadline to make an ILR bereavement application after the death of your partner. However, Immigration Solicitors recommend that as soon as you feel able, you talk to an ILR Lawyer and submit your application. The solicitor will guide you through the application process and make sure that the application and evidence gathering are as stress-free as possible.

Sometimes our ILR Lawyers get phone calls from people stressed because their Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa has expired, and because they were grieving, they didn’t think to take immigration legal advice before it expired.

Our lawyers also get calls from people worried that they will be deported because the Home Office curtailed their Family Visa after being notified that their sponsoring partner has passed away. It is a Family Visa condition that the visa holder must be in an ongoing relationship with their sponsoring partner. If not, the Home Office will curtail the visa (end it early).

Key ILR timing issues:

There is no time limit to make an ILR bereavement application
You can make an ILR bereavement application even if your Family Visa has expired and the Home Office classes you as an overstayer
You can qualify for a bereavement-based ILR application even if your visa was curtailed

Although there are no time limits, our UK Settlement Lawyers say it's best to make your application as soon as you can because:

Overstaying or having your visa curtailed can add to the stress and worry when you are grieving
If you delay, you may lose or mislay important evidence to support your application
If you are employed, you may fail a repeat right-to-work check carried out by your employer. Your employer must repeat right-to-work checks when you have a time-limited visa. It's against the law for an employer to continue to employ you if you have lost your legal right to work and are classed as an overstayer
If you need to work to pay the bills, you won't be able to find employment unless you either have a valid visa that gives you the right to work in the UK or you have Indefinite Leave to Remain
If you need to travel overseas to visit friends or family, you may be refused re-entry to the UK if you have not sorted out your immigration status
The government is consulting on ILR earned settlement reforms to change the eligibility criteria for Indefinite Leave to Remain

Settlement Applications for Bereaved Dependent Children

In addition to making your own bereavement ILR application, you may also need to make an application on behalf of your dependent child.

The requirements for ILR as a bereaved dependent child are:

Your child had or has leave to stay in the UK as the dependent of your deceased partner
Your child was under 18 when their visa was granted
Your child is not living independently and isn't married or in a civil partnership
Your child will continue to live with you in the UK
You have accommodation for your child and can look after them without recourse to public funds

Even if your child was over 18 when your partner died or when they made their ILR application, they may still qualify for ILR if:

They are still dependent on you
They meet the English language requirement for an ILR application
They pass the Life in the UK test

Indefinite Leave to Remain as a Bereaved Partner

If you are granted ILR under the bereavement route, your ILR status will be just the same as if you had met the settlement residence requirement. ILR means you don’t have to apply for visas, and your right to live and work in the UK is no longer time-limited.

Immigration Solicitors warn that you could lose your ILR status if you leave the UK for over two years. If you are absent for over two years, you will need to apply for a Returning Resident Visa. The Home Office has discretion on whether to grant the visa.

Applying for British Citizenship After Obtaining ILR as a Bereaved Partner

If you want British citizenship, you can make a citizenship application as soon as you meet the eligibility criteria. There is no requirement to apply for citizenship if you don’t think it will add anything to your settlement in the UK. ILR Lawyers recommend that you talk about a British citizenship application when you apply for ILR, so you know what is involved and the advantages of citizenship.

Talk to OTS Solicitors

When you have suffered a bereavement, it's hard to prioritise what you need to do when you are overwhelmed and uncertain about your rights. If you are worried about your visa status following the loss of your partner, our Immigration Solicitors can help with expert immigration legal advice to help make sense of your options and to provide you with all the support you need to secure Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Talk to OTS Solicitors Today.

Frequently Asked Questions on Indefinite Leave to Remain for Bereaved Partners

Do I have to have been married to qualify for bereavement settlement?

No, you will qualify for ILR on the bereavement route if you are in the UK on an Unmarried Partner Visa and meet all the bereavement route eligibility criteria. ILR Lawyers can identify what information and documents will best support your application.

How long does it take to get bereavement-based ILR?

The Home Office normally takes at least six months to process an application, but it could take longer if your circumstances are complicated. Our ILR Solicitors will guide and support you throughout the application process to make it as stress-free as possible.

Do I need to pass an English language test to qualify for ILR?

If you apply for ILR after suffering a bereavement, you don’t need to sit the English language test or prove that you are exempt from sitting it because of your qualifications or nationality.

Do I have to be in the UK to apply for bereaved partner ILR?

Yes, you usually need to submit your application from within the UK. There is an exemption to this if you are making your application under Appendix Armed Forces as the partner of a member of the armed forces.

Can I work in the UK if I am granted bereaved partner ILR?

Yes, if you are granted ILR, you are no longer subject to UK immigration control. You can work or study in the UK. You are not restricted to the type of work you can do. You do not need an employer to sponsor your employment.

Can I include my child in my bereaved partner ILR application?

If you have a dependent child, they may qualify for ILR because you are a bereaved partner and they meet the eligibility criteria for a child applicant. You will need to submit a separate application on their behalf if they are under 18.

Can I appeal against the refusal of bereavement-based ILR?

If your application is refused, you need specialist ILR advice to look at your options. They include an administrative review application, a new ILR application prepared by experienced ILR Lawyers or submitting a judicial review application. Protocol requires your Immigration Solicitors to send the Home Office a PAP letter explaining the basis for your planned judicial review application. A well-argued PAP letter can prompt the Home Office to review its decision and grant ILR.

Contact OTS Solicitors Today