ILR But No eVisa? How to Make a No Time Limit (NTL) Application

Understanding the Purpose of a No Time Limit Application

Some people have indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK but only have old-fashioned or ‘legacy’ documents to prove their immigration status. They may have no documents proving their immigration status at all. In such circumstances, there can be barriers to setting up a UKVI account and obtaining an eVisa under the UK’s new digital immigration system. The no time limit application process allows such a person to access an eVisa to prove their immigration status.

Do I Need to Apply for a No Time Limit Application if I Already Have Indefinite Leave?

An important reason to make a no time limit application is to allow you to transition to the UK’s new digital immigration or ‘eVisa’ system. From 2025, eVisas are set to replace physical documents that evidence immigration status. This includes BRPs, biometric residence cards, passport endorsements (such as a wet-ink stamp) and vignette stickers in passports. We have several articles on our Knowledge Centre which helpfully explain the digital transition. A UKVI account is required to access the ‘view and prove’ service and see your eVisa. 

To register for a UKVI account, you need one of the following:

• a valid passport and your visa application number (this is a global web form (GWF) number or unique application number (UAN)); or
• a valid passport and your biometric residence permit (BRP) number; or
• a BRP card.

You may not have documentation of this kind. For instance, you may not have a BRP card or a valid passport. You may never have held such documents, or they may have been lost or stolen. Alternatively, you may not have a requisite visa application number.

Instead, you may have a different type of physical document to evidence your immigration status in the UK (such as a Form for Affixing a Visa or ‘FAV’, wet-ink stamp, sticker or vignette in a current or expired passport). These are sometimes called ‘legacy’ or ‘old-style’ immigration documents. Alternatively, you may have no physical documents at all to prove your immigration status.

If any of these circumstances apply to you, you cannot create a UKVI account and register for an eVisa. Instead, you must submit a no time limit application. A successful applicant will be able to access an eVisa.

Legacy Documents and the Importance of a UKVI Account

As part of the roll-out of the new digital immigration system, the Home Office has been sending emails to visa-holders informing them about the transition from physical documents to eVisas. If you have held indefinite leave for a long time, the Home Office may not have an email address on file through which it can contact you. Even if you have not been told by email to set up a UKVI account, it is important that you consider doing so at the earliest opportunity.

It is currently unclear whether physical immigration documents (including legacy documents) will continue to be treated as valid proof of your immigration status beyond 1 January 2025. It is quite possible that, once the transition to a digital immigration system is complete, physical immigration documents will not be accepted as proof of status by border officers.

You may previously have been able to travel to and from the UK without obstacles, merely by carrying your currently-held paper evidence. But there is a risk that you could be turned away at the border in the future if you attempt to rely on these documents. For this reason, it is important to take action now to set up a UKVI account before 31 December 2024 and to continue to travel to the UK without difficulties.

Can I Confirm My Immigration Status Directly with the Home Office?

This is, effectively, the nature of the no time limit application process. These applications are requests for confirmation that a person has indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK.

But it is important to understand that a no time limit application is not just a procedural application to obtain or exchange physical immigration documents. Instead, it consists of an active review of a person’s immigration status. It evaluates:

• Whether a person has leave to enter or remain in the UK;
• Whether that leave has lapsed or been renounced;
• Whether there are grounds to revoke your existing leave.

Therefore, no time limit applications present an opportunity for the Home Office to revisit its previous decision to grant you indefinite leave. Even if you have previously gone through an application process to demonstrate that you qualify for indefinite leave (as will be the case for many people with such immigration status), a no time limit application requires you to demonstrate again that you have valid indefinite leave.

Eligibility Criteria for a No Time Limit Application

In order to make a no time limit application process, the applicant must have indefinite leave to enter (ILE) or indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK. This includes persons with indefinite leave to enter or remain in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, who also have indefinite leave in the UK.

It also includes some European nationals who have been granted indefinite leave under the Immigration Rules, but not under the EU Settlement Scheme set out in Appendix EU to the Immigration Rules. For instance, this includes:

• A person granted indefinite leave as an EEA national before the right of permanent residence was created under the EEA Regulations (i.e. before 30 April 2006);
• A person granted indefinite leave before the country of which they are a national joined the EU;
• A spouse or partner of a person present and settled in the UK, granted indefinite leave under the Immigration Rules on this basis;
• A person with indefinite leave under the routes associated with the European Communities Association Agreement with Turkey.

In addition, an eligible applicant may include dependents on their application form, in circumstances where the dependents also have indefinite leave. This includes a spouse, civil partner, unmarried partner, same-sex partner and/or children who are under the age of 18.

Who Is Not Eligible to Make a No Time Limit Application?

A no time limit application is not suitable for British citizens, who are generally not subject to immigration control. Similarly, an application is not suitable for Irish citizens, or other Commonwealth citizens who have a right of abode in the UK. Though not British citizens, such individuals are (like British citizens) generally not subject to immigration control. However, an application may be made by a former British citizen who renounced their citizenship and was later re-granted indefinite leave.

In addition, a no time limit application should not be made by:

• A person settled under the Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) route;
• An EEA national without indefinite leave;
• An EEA national with indefinite leave under the EU Settlement Scheme;
• A non-EEA national family member of an EEA national;
• An EEA national with permanent residence.

If you are not eligible to make a no time limit application, your application will be voided as inappropriate. This is often because certain individuals have another way of confirming their status (such as a secure digital status).

Key Requirements for a Successful No Time Limit Application

First and foremost, you must already be in the UK when you make your application.

Secondly, you must have been granted indefinite leave on an earlier occasion. 

You must not make a no time limit application if you have a pending application for leave to remain, for which you have not yet received a decision.

Thirdly, the Home Office caseworker reviewing your application must ensure that your identity has not changed (or if features of your identity such as your name, gender or nationality have changed, that this is legitimate). Applicants must provide photographic documentary evidence confirming their identity.

Fourthly, you must not have lost your indefinite leave. There are several different ways in which indefinite leave may be lost. A person may lose their status if they are outside the UK for more than two consecutive years (this is discussed in greater detail below). 

A person may also have their status revoked. Even if your indefinite leave has not been revoked at the time the no time limit application is made, the Home Office may determine that (upon review) there are grounds for revoking your indefinite leave. For instance, indefinite leave may be revoked if you obtained leave by deception. 

Aside from lapsing or being revoked, indefinite leave can also be lost by renunciation: when a person renounces their British citizenship, their former indefinite leave is not automatically reactivated. If you have renounced your British citizenship and have not subsequently applied for and been granted indefinite leave, you will not qualify as having indefinite leave for the purposes of a no time limit application.

What Evidence Do I Need to Support My No Time Limit Application?

When making an application, you must provide evidence that you have been granted indefinite leave. You will be asked to send the Home Office all current or expired Home Office travel or immigration documents that you hold. This evidence can take many forms, such as a form for Affixing a Visa or ‘FAV’, wet-ink stamp, sticker or vignette in a current or expired passport, or a ‘RON 60’ letter.

In addition, you must show that you have not lost your indefinite leave in the intervening period since it was granted. The circumstances under which a person may lose their indefinite leave are explored in greater depth in a previous article. For present purposes, it suffices to say that holders of indefinite leave stand to lose their status if they are outside the UK for more than two years. 

Therefore to succeed in a no time application, where you were granted indefinite leave more than two years ago, you must provide proof of residence in the UK since the date on which you were originally granted indefinite leave. The no time limit application form will ask you to justify all continuous absences of more than six months since your original grant of status, providing the reason for each period of absence.

Various documents may be used to prove your ongoing presence in the UK, such as your UK driving licence, council tax statements, utility bills, bank statements, payslips or letters from your GP. Other relevant documents could include plane tickets to and from the UK.

Further, if your identity has changed (such as your name, gender or nationality), you may have to provide evidence that this change is legitimate. You may need to include evidence such as a deed poll, statutory declaration or marriage certificate.

For general advice on providing documents and other evidence to the Home Office to support your applications, you may find our previous article on this topic helpful.

What if I Don’t Have Proof of Indefinite Leave in the UK?

If you are unable to send the Home Office documents evidencing that you have been granted indefinite leave, the application form will ask you why not. This may be, for instance, because an immigration document you once held was lost or stolen, or that it has already been sent to the Home Office. It may also be because you do not have any documentary evidence at all which confirms that you have indefinite leave.

If you do not have any immigration documents proving your status, this is not fatal to a no time limit application. The no time limit application process is, to an extent, a collaborative endeavour between the applicant and the Home Office. The Home Office will check its internal systems and files for evidence to show that you have been granted indefinite leave. Whether or not your application will succeed depends on whether the Home Office is satisfied that you have indefinite leave, in light of the evidence that you submit (and its own internal records).

No Time Limit Application Cost

Until 6 April 2022, the cost of making a no time limit application was £248.20, which included a £229 application fee and a £19.20 biometric enrolment fee. It is now free to make such an application.

No Time Limit Application Processing Times

The Home Office states that you should receive a decision on your no time limit application within six months. This is only an estimate. Waiting times may be shorter or longer.

Can I Travel While I Am Awaiting an Application Decision?

You may be familiar with the fact that certain visa applications which were made from within the UK are treated as withdrawn if the applicant travels outside the Common Travel Area (the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland) before a decision is made. We have previously written about travelling outside the UK while
waiting for an immigration decision.

If you have existing travel plans, you may be wondering whether you can make a no time limit application now.

The answer is: yes. A no time limit application is not withdrawn by travel outside the Common Travel Area. You can continue to travel whilst waiting for a decision on your application. That means that you can submit your no time limit application as soon as practicable, even if you have future travel plans.

What Are My Options If My No Time Limit Application Is Rejected?

If your no time limit application is rejected, for instance on the basis that your indefinite leave has lapsed through your absence from the UK for more than two consecutive years, there are alternative applications that you can make to gain readmission to the UK.

One back-up option in this scenario might be to make a returning resident visa application. You can read more about returning resident visa applications in our guide.

A returning resident visa application is a mutually exclusive alternative to a no time limit application. The two applications have important differences. Whereas a no time limit application is granted on the basis that you have indefinite leave, a returning resident visa application is granted on the basis that you once had indefinite leave but have since lost that status. And, whereas a no time limit application must be made from within the UK, a returning resident visa application must be made from outside the UK. 

Considering a No Time Limit Application: Final Thoughts

Put simply: if you are currently unable to register for a UKVI account because you do not have the required documentation, you cannot set up an eVisa. It could become difficult for you to prove your immigration status in the future under the digital immigration system. Therefore it may be wise to consider making a no-time-limit application to access your eVisa and transition to the digital immigration system.

For expert advice and assistance in relation to an application for an eVisa or indefinite leave to remain, contact our immigration barristers in London on 0203 617 9173 or via the enquiry form below.