Settlement is available under several immigration routes beyond the partner and Skilled Worker categories. Each route has its own qualifying period, continuous-residence rules and eligibility requirements.
Indefinite Leave to Remain, commonly known as ILR or settlement, allows a person to live and work in the UK without immigration time restrictions.
Routes that may lead to settlement include:
The qualifying period depends on the route:
These periods are only a starting point. Applicants must also satisfy the specific settlement requirements of their route.
Cases can become technically difficult where a person has switched between immigration categories. Some settlement routes allow time spent under specified other routes to be combined, while others require the whole qualifying period to have been completed in one particular category.
Time spent as a dependant will not normally count towards the qualifying period for settlement as a main applicant. A person who changes from dependant status to their own immigration route may therefore begin a new route-specific qualifying period.
Position as at August 2026: the existing settlement qualifying periods continue to apply. The Government has consulted on a wider earned-settlement model, including a proposed ten-year standard qualifying period, but the broader proposals have not yet been implemented through the Immigration Rules.
However, one related change has already been confirmed. For settlement applications made under affected routes on or after 26 March 2027, the English-language requirement will increase from B1 to B2 in speaking and listening. The affected routes include Global Talent, UK Ancestry, Scale-up, Long Residence, Representative of an Overseas Business, T2 Minister of Religion and International Sportsperson.
You may be eligible to apply if you:
Meeting the required number of years in the UK does not, by itself, guarantee eligibility for settlement.
Whether immigration permission can be combined depends on the route under which the settlement application is made.
For example, the Global Talent and Scale-up routes allow applicants to combine time spent under certain specified work and business routes. The permitted categories are defined by the Immigration Rules and do not include every type of UK visa.
By contrast, an Innovator Founder applying for settlement must ordinarily have completed at least three years in the UK with permission as an Innovator Founder. A UK Ancestry applicant must normally have completed five years with permission on the UK Ancestry route.
Applicants under the Hong Kong BN(O) route must normally have completed five continuous years with permission on a route leading to settlement, with their most recent permission being under the Hong Kong BN(O) route.
It is therefore important to identify the intended settlement route before calculating the qualifying period.
Most of the routes discussed in this article are subject to Appendix Continuous Residence.
As a general rule, an applicant must not have spent more than 180 days outside the UK during any twelve-month period within the relevant qualifying period. However, transitional provisions and permitted exceptions may apply.
Certain absences may be disregarded, including qualifying research activity undertaken by some Global Talent applicants and absences caused by serious humanitarian or environmental crises, travel disruption or compelling and compassionate personal circumstances.
Long Residence applications also have transitional rules for absences that began before 11 April 2024. Travel history should therefore be assessed against the Immigration Rules that applied to the particular period of absence.
Long Residence is based on ten years of lawful and continuous residence in the UK rather than on completing a single immigration route.
Permission held under most immigration categories can count. This means that time spent as a Student, Graduate, Skilled Worker, dependant or under another qualifying category may potentially be combined towards the ten-year period.
However, permission as a Visitor, Short-term Student, Seasonal Worker or under the Ukraine Scheme does not count towards Long Residence. Time spent on immigration bail, temporary admission, temporary release or without valid permission will not normally form part of the qualifying period.
Applicants whose current immigration permission was granted on or after 11 April 2024 must also normally have held permission on their current immigration route for at least twelve months before applying for settlement under Long Residence.
In addition to residence, applicants may need to meet requirements particular to their immigration category.
Applicants must have, or have last been granted, permission under the Global Talent route. Their endorsement or qualifying prestigious prize must not have been withdrawn or suspended.
They must also demonstrate that they earned money in the UK during their most recent period of permission in the field connected to their endorsement or qualifying prize.
The qualifying period is three years for certain endorsed applicants and qualifying prestigious-prize holders. It is five years for applicants endorsed under the exceptional-promise criteria in applicable arts, culture or digital-technology fields.
Innovator Founder applicants can potentially qualify for settlement after three years.
They must obtain a fresh endorsement confirming, among other matters, that they have made significant achievements against their business plan, that their business is active, trading and sustainable, and that they continue to play an active key role in its management and development.
The business must also satisfy at least two of the specified settlement-success criteria contained in the Immigration Rules.
An applicant must normally have completed five years in the UK with permission under the UK Ancestry route.
They must remain a Commonwealth citizen and continue to satisfy the relevant ancestry and employment requirements.
A Scale-up applicant must normally complete a five-year continuous qualifying period. The Rules permit time spent under certain other specified work and business routes to be combined.
The applicant must also satisfy the earnings requirements applicable to settlement under the Scale-up route.
Applicants must normally have completed five continuous years in the UK with permission on a route leading to settlement. Their most recent permission must have been granted under the Hong Kong BN(O) route.
They must also satisfy the applicable continuous-residence, English-language and Life in the UK requirements, unless an exemption applies.
This route remains open to internationally established elite sportspeople and qualified sports coaches who can make a significant contribution to their sport at the highest level in the UK.
Applicants must normally complete a five-year qualifying period and continue to be sponsored. Their sponsor must confirm that they continue to be required for the foreseeable future, and a valid Governing Body Endorsement must normally be provided.
Despite retaining the older “T2” name, T2 Minister of Religion remains an active immigration route.
It is intended for individuals undertaking key leading roles within faith-based organisations or religious orders in the UK. Applicants must normally complete a five-year qualifying period and continue to be sponsored in an eligible role.
The Representative of an Overseas Business route continues in a restricted form.
New applicants can no longer enter the route as Sole Representatives. Existing Sole Representatives can, however, continue to apply for extensions and settlement if they satisfy the relevant requirements.
The route also remains open to eligible Media Representatives employed by overseas newspapers, news agencies or broadcasting organisations and posted to the UK on long-term assignments.
Settlement normally requires the applicant to have spent the last five years in the UK with permission as a Representative of an Overseas Business and to continue meeting the relevant employment and business requirements.
Sometimes. Certain routes allow time spent under specified other immigration categories to be combined, but the permitted combinations are defined by the Immigration Rules.
Other routes require the qualifying period to have been completed entirely within that category. Your full immigration history should therefore be reviewed before your settlement date is calculated.
Time spent as a dependant does not normally count towards the route-specific qualifying period for settlement as a main applicant.
Dependent partners commonly have their own five-year qualifying period for settlement as a dependant. Switching from dependant status to a main-applicant route may cause a new route-specific qualifying period to begin.
The Graduate route does not provide a direct route to settlement. Time spent under the Graduate route will not normally count towards the qualifying period for settlement under routes such as Global Talent or Scale-up.
However, lawful time spent under the Graduate route can count towards the ten-year Long Residence qualifying period.
No. Permission as a Visitor does not count towards the ten-year Long Residence qualifying period and may break the continuous qualifying period for that route.
For most routes governed by Appendix Continuous Residence, an applicant must not normally have spent more than 180 days outside the UK during any twelve-month period.
Exceptions and transitional rules may apply depending on the route, the relevant dates and the reason for the absence. A complete travel-history audit should be undertaken before the application is submitted.
The qualifying period can generally be calculated using a date up to 28 days after the application date. This can permit an application to be submitted shortly before the qualifying period is completed.
Applying too early can result in refusal, so the correct date should be calculated carefully.
No. As at August 2026, the wider earned-settlement proposals have not replaced the existing qualifying periods.
The increase in the English-language requirement to B2 for affected settlement routes has, however, been confirmed and will apply to relevant applications made on or after 26 March 2027.
