A person who has lived lawfully and continuously in the UK for at least 10 years may be eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) on the basis of Long Residence.<\/p>\n
The 10-year qualifying period can include time spent in the UK under most immigration categories and can combine different types of immigration permission. For example, an applicant may have initially lived in the UK on a Student visa and subsequently switched to a work or family visa.<\/p>\n
To qualify for ILR on the basis of Long Residence, an applicant must:<\/p>\n
\u2022 have lived lawfully and continuously in the UK for at least 10 years;<\/p>\n
\u2022 have valid permission to stay in the UK at the time of application;<\/p>\n
\u2022 normally have held their current immigration permission for at least 12 months where that permission was granted after 11 April 2024;<\/p>\n
\u2022 meet the continuous residence and absence requirements;<\/p>\n
\u2022 if aged between 18 and 65, pass the Life in the UK Test and meet the relevant English language requirement;<\/p>\n
\u2022 meet the other requirements of the Immigration Rules, including the relevant suitability requirements.<\/p>\n
The rules for calculating absences depend on when the absences occurred.<\/p>\n
For periods before 11 April 2024, transitional rules apply. An absence which started before this date must generally not exceed 184 days on a single occasion, no more than 180 days for any continues 12 months period, and total absences during the relevant part of the qualifying period before 11 April 2024 must generally not exceed 548 days.<\/p>\n
For absences starting on or after 11 April 2024, the new rule applies: an applicant must normally not have spent more than 180 days outside the UK during any consecutive 12-month period.<\/p>\n
Certain absences may be disregarded in exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n
Applicants aged between 18 and 65 must normally demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the English language and pass the Life in the UK Test.<\/p>\n
Depending on the applicant\u2019s circumstances, the English language requirement can be met through an approved English language test, an eligible academic qualification or another method permitted under the Immigration Rules. Certain exemptions also apply.<\/p>\n
If an applicant meets the Long Residence requirements but does not meet the English language or Life in the UK requirements for settlement, it may be possible in certain circumstances to apply for further temporary permission to stay instead of ILR.<\/p>\n
An application for ILR can be submitted up to 28 days before completing the required 10-year qualifying period. Applying earlier may result in the application being refused.<\/p>\n
The standard processing time is normally up to 6 months. A Super Priority Service may be available for Long Residence ILR applications for an additional fee of \u00a31,000, with a decision normally made by the end of the next working day after the applicant completes the required appointment or identity verification.<\/p>\n
After obtaining ILR, an applicant may subsequently qualify for British citizenship. In most cases, ILR must have been held for at least 12 months before applying for naturalisation. Applicants married to British citizens do not normally need to wait 12 months after obtaining ILR, provided all other requirements are met.<\/p>\n
Westland Mark Immigration Specialists can assess your 10-year residence history, calculate absences under the old and new rules, determine which periods of immigration permission can count towards the qualifying period and assist with the preparation of your Indefinite Leave to Remain application.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indefinite Leave to Remain on the Basis of Long Residence A person who has lived lawfully and continuously in the UK for at least 10 years may be eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) on the basis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":607,"parent":1125,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-350","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PbavPq-5E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2193,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/350\/revisions\/2193"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westlandmark.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}