You may be able to apply if you have a work visa.

You must usually have lived and worked in the UK for 5 years. If you have a tier 1 visa, it can be 2 or 3 years. If you have an Innovator Founder or Global Talent visa, it can be 3 years.

You may also need to meet the salary or financial requirements - this depends on your visa.

How you apply depends on whether you:

• have a tier 2, T2, International Sportsperson or Skilled Worker visa

• have a Scale-up Worker visa

• have a Global Talent, Tier 1 Entrepreneur or Investor visa

• have an Innovator Founder visa

• represent an overseas business

• have a Turkish Worker or Businessperson visa

• are a private servant in a diplomatic household with an International Agreement visa, or a domestic worker

You may be able to apply if you have a partner, parent or child or other relative settled in the UK - either as a British citizen or a person with indefinite leave to remain.

How you apply depends on which visa you have and how your family member settled.

There are other ways to apply if:

• your partner has died

• your relationship ended because of domestic violence

You may be eligible to apply for settlement (indefinite leave to remain in the UK) if your partner has died. Your partner must have either:

• been a British citizen

• had indefinite leave to remain in the UK

• been from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and had pre-settled status

Indefinite leave to remain is how you settle in the UK. It’s also called ‘settlement’. It gives you the right to live, work and study here for as long as you like, and apply for benefits if you’re eligible. You can use it to apply for British citizenship.

Your permission to be in the UK must have been based on being their partner as part of a family visa. A ‘partner’ is one of the following:

• your spouse (husband or wife)

• your civil partner

• someone you were living with in a relationship that’s like a marriage or civil partnership

You may be able to apply for permission to settle in the UK permanently if your relationship has broken down because of domestic violence or abuse.

Whether you can get permission to settle in the UK permanently (indefinite leave to remain or enter) depends on:

• your current immigration status (the type of visa you have, for example)

• how your relationship broke down

Your immigration status

Your current immigration status usually must be based on your relationship with your partner. Your partner must be one of the following:

• a British citizen

• a person with permission to settle in the UK permanently (indefinite leave to remain or enter)

• a member of the UK armed forces who has served for at least 4 years

• a person with permission to stay in the UK as a refugee

• a person with settled status under the EU settlement scheme

• a citizen of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement scheme

If your partner has pre-settled status, they also need to have been living in the UK by 31 December 2020.

If you have pre-settled status

You can also apply if your relationship has broken down permanently because of domestic violence or abuse and you have pre-settled status either:

• as a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner

• based on a retained right of residence because you used to have a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner who was living in the UK by 31 December 2020

How the relationship broke down

You must show your relationship broke down because of domestic violence or abuse from your partner or your partner’s family.

If you’re applying from outside the UK, you’ll need to show that you’ve been abandoned there.

You’ll be asked to give a statement about your circumstances when you apply. 

You should also include supporting evidence if you have it, but you do not need it to apply.

You may be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain if you’ve been in the UK legally for 10 continuous years (known as ‘long residence’).

You must have permission to stay (‘leave to remain’).

You must also have been in the UK legally for 10 years without gaps (known as your ‘continuous residence’). This can include time on most immigration categories, or a combination of different immigration categories.

You’ll usually need to have held your current permission for one year.

If you’re aged 18 to 65 years old, you must:

• pass the Life in the UK Test

• prove you have sufficient English language skills

Continuous residence

Continuous residence is time you’ve spent in the UK without gaps.

You can leave the UK during the continuous residence for up to 180 days in any 12 month period.

You cannot count time spent in the UK:

• on a Standard Visitor visa or as a visitor without a visa

• on a Short-term study visa

• on a Seasonal Worker visa

• on immigration bail, temporary admission or temporary release

• in a prison, young offender institution or secure hospital

• after your permission ran out (‘overstaying’) - this includes if you were given a grant of ‘exceptional assurance’ to stay in the UK because of COVID-19

You also cannot count time spent in Ireland, the Isle of Man or Channel Islands.

If your time abroad began before 11 April 2024

During the 10-year qualifying period, you do not have continuous residence if you were abroad for more than:

• 548 days in total

• 184 days in any 12-month period

You may be eligible for indefinite leave to remain if either:

• you have a visa on the basis of your private life

• you were born in the UK and have lived here continuously up to the age of at least 7

Children and young adults

If you were born in the UK and have lived here for 7 continuous years since your birth, you can apply immediately for indefinite leave to remain on the basis of your private life.

Otherwise you can apply for indefinite leave to remain on the basis of your private life if all of the following are true:

• you were given a visa on the basis of your private life when you were aged between 18 and 24

• you arrived in the UK as a child

• you have lived in the UK for 5 continuous years with a visa

You can include time you’ve spent on any other visas which lead to indefinite leave to remain. You must have had a visa based on your private life for at least one year on the day you apply.

Adults

You can apply to settle as an adult on the private life route if you:

• are aged over 18

• were given a visa on the basis of your private life in the UK

• have lived continuously in the UK for 10 years with a visa

You can include time you’ve spent on any other visas which lead to indefinite leave to remain. You must have had a visa based on your private life for at least one year on the day you apply.

Knowledge of language and life in the UK

If you’re 18 to 64 you must book and pass the Life in the UK Test.

You do not need to prove you meet the English language requirements when you apply to settle as an adult on the private life route.

You can apply if you’ve been living in the UK for 5 years on a UK Ancestry visa.

Some Commonwealth citizens have ‘right of abode’ in the UK. This means you can live or work in the UK without immigration restrictions.

You may be able to come to live permanently in the UK as a ‘returning resident’ if you were previously settled here.

What you need to do depends on how long you were away.

If you were away for less than 2 years

You still have your indefinite leave to remain if you were away for less than 2 years.

You can re-enter the UK as long as you:

• had indefinite leave to remain in the UK when you last left

• did not receive financial support from the Home Office to leave the UK

When you travel to the UK, show the stamp, vignette or biometric residence permit that originally gave you permission to settle here.

If it’s in an old passport, carry both your old passport and your new passport when you travel.

If you’ve lost your original stamp, vignette or biometric residence permit

If you do not have your original stamp, vignette or biometric residence permit, you may not be allowed to enter the UK.

You will need to get a replacement biometric residence permit.

If you were away for more than 2 years (Returning Resident visa)

You lose your indefinite leave to remain if you’ve been outside the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man for more than:

• 5 continuous years, if you have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (unless you’re a Swiss citizen or their family member)

• 4 continuous years, if you have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and you’re a Swiss citizen or their family member

• 2 continuous years for anyone else

You may be able to re-enter the UK and get indefinite leave to remain by applying for a Returning Resident visa.