10-Year Long Residence ILR: A Guide to Settlement

By Sophie Gibson – Legal Associate

02 Dec 2024

In This Article

1. What Is 10-Year Long Residence ILR?
2. Continuous Residence Defined for 10-Year Long Residence ILR
3. Absence Rules for 10-Year Long Residence ILR
4. What if I Have Excess Absences?
5. Other Breaks in Continuous Residence: What to Avoid
6. When Does the Qualifying Period Start for 10-Year Long Residence ILR
7. When Can I Apply for Long Residence ILR?
8. Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK Requirements
9. How Long Will It Take and How Much Does a Long Residence ILR Application Cost?
10. The Benefits of Indefinite Leave to Remain
11. Contact Our Immigration Barristers
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Glossary

1. What Is 10-Year Long Residence ILR?

If you have been in the UK for 10 years, you  may be eligible to submit an application for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) under the 10-Year Long Residence route.  Your residence must have been legal and continuous to be eligible for settlement based on a 10 year period. 

2. Continuous Residence Defined for 10-Year Long Residence ILR

Appendix Continuous Residence defines the criteria for applicants seeking ILR under the 10-Year Long Residence or 10-Year Continuous Residence category.  It states that an applicant will meet the continuous residence requirement if they have spent the qualifying unbroken continuous residence period required by their route lawfully in the UK. To meet the criteria for a Long Residence ILR application, you must have been in the UK legally for 10 years without gaps. What constitutes ‘gaps’ in continuous residence will be explored in detail below. You can count time spent in the UK with permission on most immigration categories, and the period can also be made up of a combination of different immigration categories. However, time spent in the UK on the following permissions cannot be counted towards your 10-Year Continuous Residence:

• As a visitor, either on a Standard Visitor visa or as a visitor without a visa
• Short-term study visa
• Seasonal Worker visa

Additionally, if you have spent time in the UK as an overstayer (remaining in the UK after the expiry of your immigration permission), on immigration bail, temporary admission or temporary release, imprisoned, or in a young offender institution or secure hospital, this cannot count towards your 10-year continuous residence. However, if you have spent time in the UK where your leave has expired but you have a pending application, your leave will have been extended by virtue of Section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 until your pending application was granted. If your pending application was subsequently granted, this does not break your continuous residence and you can rely on any such periods. 

Under paragraph 4.1 of Appendix Continuous Residence, continuous residence is not broken in long residence applications where the applicant leaves the UK with valid permission, and returns to the UK with a valid permission, whether on the same or another route, provided they do not exceed the maximum permitted absences (see below). For example, this means that if you are studying in the UK and return home over the summer holidays before your permission expires, then apply for a new visa from outside the UK and return at the start of the academic year, your continuous residence is not broken, even if you held no valid UK visa during your absence. 

It is also not permitted to rely on time spent in the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man or Channel Islands.

3. Absence Rules for 10-Year Long Residence ILR

Of course, ‘without gaps’ under the 10-Year Long Residence route does not require you to stay in the UK for 10 years without ever leaving. As of 11 April 2024, you can leave the UK for up to 180 days in any 12 month period without breaking your continuous residence. This requires looking at any 12 month period, not just each calendar year. To help calculate your greatest total absence in any rolling 12-month period, you can use this absence calculator, though please note that this website is specific to EUSS applications, and the advice below may not be applicable to you. 

However, for absences before 11 April 2024, your continuous residence will be considered to be broken if you were abroad for more than 548 days in total, or 184 days in any 12-month period. As was recently clarified in the Long Residence Guidance and the Continuous Residence Guidance, both updated 09 July 2024, this also applies to absences that began before 11 April 2024, even if you returned after this date.  This is explored in more detail in our article New Guidance Clarifies Long Residence ILR 548-Day Absence Rule.  Therefore, although the current guidance has become slightly more restrictive for individual absences, the removal of the 548 day limit for absences starting after 11 April 2024 may make the rules easier to satisfy now, a trend which we are not seeing much of in immigration law at present. 

4. What if I Have Excess Absences?

The 10-year continuous residence rules allow exceptions for excess absences in specific cases. The Home Office refers to these periods as permitted absences, meaning that some or all of a period spent outside the UK may not be counted, and therefore not considered to break your continuous residence if you are in excess of the limit. Some of these more common exceptions are:

• Travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic;
• Compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, such as the life-threatening illness of the applicant, or life-threatening illness or death of a close family member. 

However, the burden is on the applicant to prove their circumstances meet an exception and should be discounted. Moreover, this is a high threshold as the limit is considered to be generous, and can be said to provide sufficient leeway for common life events such as family emergencies, holidays, or work commitments abroad that may arise. However, the limit also ensures that applicants have maintained a genuine connection with the UK by requiring them to spend the vast majority of time (at least 94% of the 10 years) within the country. For further information on permitted absences, see our previous article on Permitted Absences Under Continuous Residence.

If your absences would not be considered to be ‘permitted’, you can also wait for them to fall outside the relevant 10-year qualifying period provided you continue to hold valid leave to remain in the UK. There is no requirement that your ILR Long Residence application begins when you first enter the UK. To wait for your absences to fall away, you should continue to extend your leave via a grant of limited leave to remain, and apply once your preceding 10 year period has a total of absences under 548 days. 

5. Other Breaks in Continuous Residence: What to Avoid

Time spent in the UK  as a visitor does not count towards your qualifying period. More importantly though, any time spent in the UK as a visitor will break continuous residence, meaning re-entering the UK as a visitor between two grants of leave to remain will break your continuous residence. Therefore, when re-entering following a new entry clearance application, your continuous residence period will restart.

6. When Does the Qualifying Period Start for 10-Year Long Residence ILR?

It is often assumed that your qualifying period can only begin on the date you first entered the UK. However, Appendix Long Residence LR 11.2 sets out periods which will not count  towards the qualifying period for Long Residence:

•  time spent on immigration bail, temporary admission or temporary release; and
• any period of overstaying between periods of permission before 24 November 2016 even if a further application was made within 28 days of the expiry of the previous permission; and
• any period of overstaying between periods of permission on or after 24 November 2016 even if paragraph 39E applies to that period of overstaying; and
• any current period of overstaying where paragraph 39E applies.

It is worth noting that there is no mention of an absence at the start of the qualifying period not being ‘counted’ towards a qualifying period. Your 10-year long continuous residence period can therefore start on the day you were first granted entry clearance. 

The guidance states that, when calculating periods of continuous residence: ‘the time between the grant of entry clearance and the date of arrival is a period during which they had permission on that route and should be treated as a period of lawful residence.’  The decision maker must take the time between the grant of entry clearance and the date you entered the UK as an absence, which counts towards your total absences. 

There is no provision in the Rules that precludes you from making an application where you were outside the UK on the start date of the qualifying period, nor are you precluded from including this initial absence in your qualifying period. 

7. When Can I Apply for Long Residence ILR?

An application for Long Residence ILR can be made up to 28 days before completing 10 years in the UK, but no earlier. Any applications that are considered more than 28 days before the qualifying period is completed will be refused, on the basis that the applicant has not completed the required period of permission in the UK. 

When calculating your qualifying period, the decision maker must count backwards from whichever of the following is most beneficial to you:

• The date of application;
• Any date up to 28 days after the date of application;
• The date of decision.

Which of these is most favourable will often depend on your total absences from the UK, and whether you opt for priority services to get a faster decision. According to GOV.UK, there is no standard processing time for ILR Long Residence applications, but you will normally receive a decision within 6 months. However, your application is deemed to be complex, it may take longer. Therefore, if you have a high number of absences at the start of your qualifying period, 28 days after the date of application, or the date of decision may be more favourable for you, to allow some of your absences to fall away. 

The downside of this requirement is that ILR applications can no longer be based on a historic period of continuous residence, as to qualify, the 10 year period must continue up to one of these three dates.

If your current permission was granted on or after 11 April 2024, you must also have held permission on your current immigration route for at least 12 months at the date of application. This means that even if you’ve already completed 10 years of continuous residence, you might have to wait up to a year longer before you are eligible to make an application. However, it is arguable that ‘current immigration route’ just means you must have held the same type of permission for the preceding 12 months. If you were granted further leave to remain after 11 April 2024, but had held this same type of permission for at least 12 months already, then you should satisfy this requirement, though it is worth noting that the Immigration Rules do not explicitly clarify this point. 

8. Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK Requirements

If you’re aged 18 to 65 years old, you must pass the Life in the UK Test, and prove you have sufficient English language skills. The required English language qualification is level B1 or above. You can find the approved test providers for the English language requirement, and you can book your life in the UK test.

9. How Long Will It Take and How Much Does a Long Residence ILR Application Cost?

As discussed above, there is no official standard processing time for long residence ILR applications, but it is likely you will hear within 6 months whether your application is successful. However, super priority service is available for settlement applications, costing £1,000 per applicant. This means you’ll get a decision by the end of the next working day after providing your biometric information (if your appointment is on a weekday), or two working days after providing your biometric information (if your appointment is on the weekend or bank holiday). However, even when you opt for super priority, your decision may take longer if your case is deemed to raise exceptionally complex issues and they require further time to consider your case. Therefore, super priority is not always advisable. 

The application fee for indefinite leave to remain is currently £2,885, which increased by 20% on 04 October 2023. You can read more on the recent increase in cost of UK visa application fees. You will also need to have your biometric information taken, consisting of your fingerprints and photograph. Whilst it is possible to get a free appointment, these are not always easy to secure and may take longer to book. The alternative is to pay for an appointment. 

10. The Benefits of Indefinite Leave to Remain

If your application for Indefinite Leave to Remain is granted, you are entitled to live in the UK indefinitely without any time restrictions.

Gaining ILR through the 10-Year Long Residence route also encompasses work authorisation, meaning you no longer need separate permission to work, and there are no restrictions on job type, hours, or salary. You can also start a business in the UK or become self-employed.

You can access the NHS and other public services just the same as British citizens, and you are entitled to the same educational opportunities, including access to state schools, universities, and eligibility for student loans and grants.

Any child born in the UK while you hold ILR will automatically be a British citizen. Children born before this time may now be eligible to be registered as British. You may also be able to bring non-British family members to join you in the UK.

You can travel in and out of the UK without restriction. However, if you stay outside the UK for more than 2 years continuously, your indefinite leave to remain will lapse. You’ll need to apply for a Returning Resident visa before you can return to the UK to regain your ILR status. 

Importantly, ILR is a key requirement for naturalisation as a British citizen. You will normally have to hold ILR for 12 months before applying. 

For expert advice and assistance on an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, or any related visa or immigration application, contact our immigration barristers on 0203 617 9173 or complete our enquiry form below.