ILR Eligibility After 5 Years
Under current UK immigration rules, several visa routes allow applicants to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after living in the UK for five years.
In this blog, our UK Immigration Lawyers look at the visa routes that can lead to UK settlement after five years and the ILR eligibility rules.
Speak to our ILR Lawyers in London now for expert immigration legal advice.
Five-year settlement routes
With the UK government white paper suggesting that some five-year settlement routes could be scrapped, our Immigration Solicitors in London have received a flurry of enquiries from visa holders about their ability to apply for ILR after living in the UK for five years.
The current UK immigration rules allow settlement applications after five years of residence for those on specified Family, Work, Business, or Investor Visas.
When asking an Immigration Solicitor for visa advice, it's best to ask for settlement timescales and visa alternatives. For example, you may want to apply for a visa with different eligibility criteria because that visa route allows for accelerated settlement.
The current five-year settlement routes include:
- Family Visas- Spouse Visas, Unmarried Partner Visas and Civil Partner Visas.
- Some Work Visas – the Skilled Worker Visa and Health and Care Worker Visa.
- The Innovator Founder Visa – a type of Business Visa.
- The Investor Visa, but settlement applications under this route have a cut-off deadline of 17 February 2028.
- Some other visa types, such as the UK Ancestry Visa.
For those in the UK on a visa that does not provide a route to settlement, such as a Visitor, Student, or Graduate Visa, it's best to take UK immigration legal advice. A UK Immigration Lawyer can explain your options to switch to a different type of visa to qualify for settlement. For example, some visa routes to settlement have different absence thresholds during the five-year residence requirement.
ILR eligibility after five years
To qualify for ILR after five years, you will need to meet your visa-specific eligibility criteria, but most eligibility criteria include:
- Five years plus of continuous lawful residence in the UK.
- Meet the visa-specific requirements.
- Meet the visa-specific financial requirement.
- Meet the visa-specific English language requirement.
- Meet the good character requirement.
The five-year residence requirement for Indefinite Leave to Remain
The five-year residence requirement for a settlement application requires an ILR applicant to have lived in the UK continuously and legally for five years preceding their ILR application.
Legal residence means the ILR applicant must have been lawfully present in the UK. If an ILR applicant overstayed on a visa or has other immigration irregularities on their immigration record, they may fall foul of this criterion. ILR Solicitors can advise whether this will impact the timing of a settlement application.
Continuous residence means an ILR applicant cannot spread the five years over seven or ten years because they have spent extended time outside the UK for work, business, or family reasons, unless their absences are within the absence threshold for their visa route.
Generally, to move from a Work Visa to Indefinite Leave to Remain, the applicant must not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days in any rolling 12 months of the residence requirement. The 12-month rule and 180-day requirement do not apply to Family Visas to ILR applicants. To complicate matters further, the immigration rules and Home Office Guidance allow for some permitted absences.
For example, absences may be permissible if there is evidence to show that the ILR applicant:
- Was assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas, provided that, if on a sponsored route, their sponsor agreed to the absence for that purpose, or
- Experienced travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic, or
- Had compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, such as a life-threatening illness, or the life-threatening illness or death of a close family member.
The visa-specific requirements for Indefinite Leave to Remain
Naturally, the visa-specific ILR requirements are specific to the visa route to ILR. For example:
- If you are applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain after entry to the UK on a Spouse or Unmarried Partner Visa, you must still be in a genuine and subsisting relationship with the same partner.
- If you are applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain after UK entry on a Skilled Worker Visa, you must still be in employment with a sponsoring employer.
ILR Lawyers specialise in ILR applications from Family Visa, Work Visa and Business Visa routes. The experts at Legal 500 recommended OTS Solicitors can advise you on the specific criteria you need to meet and the evidence you need to supply to secure UK settlement.
The visa-specific financial requirement
The visa-specific financial requirement for an Indefinite Leave to Remain application depends on the route taken by the ILR applicant and the timing of their application.
For example, the financial requirement to be eligible for a Spouse Visa has increased from £18,600 to £29,000. When moving from a Family Visa to ILR, under the transitional provisions, if you arrived in the UK on a Spouse Visa and needed to meet a financial requirement of £18,600, the same requirement applies when applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain. However, if your Spouse Visa financial requirement is £29,000, your ILR financial requirement will also be £29,000.
UK Immigration Solicitors can advise on the relevant financial requirements for your visa route. Every situation is different; for example, moving from a Skilled Worker Visa to Indefinite Leave to Remain. The immigration rules require applicants to meet a financial requirement relevant to their sponsored employment.
ILR application assistance for families
At OTS Solicitors, we understand that many visa applicants travel to the UK with family members on Dependant Visas or are joined later by family members who have successfully secured a Dependant Visa. For these families, it is crucial to obtain ILR application assistance for the whole family so that UK settlement is secured for all family members.
As experienced UK Immigration Lawyers for Indefinite Leave to Remain, our team of specialist solicitors can guide you through the ILR application process and ensure that you and your family get the bespoke immigration legal advice you need to make a successful settlement application.
Speak to our ILR Lawyers in London now.
For expert advice on making an Indefinite Leave to Remain application, call or complete our online form to make an appointment at our offices in London or for a phone or Zoom consultation.
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