UK Residency - Permanent Residence in the UK

To be able to qualify for permanent residency in the UK (or indefinite leave to remain) it will depend on the status of your stay in the UK to date and thus how long you need to have been here to qualify.

Permanent residence	Time needed to gain permanent residency
HSMP and Work permit	5 years
Ancestry	5 years
Marriage	2 years
Unmarried partners	2 years
Investors	4 years
Writers, composers and artists	4 years
Sole reps	4 years
Persons establishing themselves in business	4 years
Unlawful stay or a combination of lawful and unlawful stay	14 years
Lawful stay on any basis	10 years

Please be aware! That some of the times needed to gain permanent residence changed on April 3, 2006. You may find details of these changes in our news section.

Permanent residence is known as "indefinite leave to remain" and is often referred to as ‘settlement’.

An application for permanent residence can be made after four years of residence under some immigration categories (for example, work permit holders, business entrepreneurs and investors), as long as the conditions specified by the Immigration Rules continue to be met.

A person with permanent residence may stay in the UK indefinitely so long as they do not leave the country for extended periods. The "returning resident" rules state that a person should not normally leave the UK for a period of over two years without returning to reclaim their residency.

Some types of residence, notably those relating to dependant relatives, confer immediate permanent residence. A more complete discussion of each type of UK entry and the rights to residence & citizenship it confers may be found below.

Long Residence

Those who wish to have permanent residency in the United Kingdom may be eligible to apply for a UK Long Term Residency visa providing that they have resided in Great Britain for a sufficient length of time. The Long Residency visa, which is granted only at the discretion of the Home Office, is a UK immigration service, which allows people who have been in Great Britain for exceptionally long continuous periods to stay in the country on Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK (ILR) better known as permanent residence in the UK.

Coddan can help you at all stages of your UK visa or UK work permit application. Whether you need to apply for permanent residency or a more short-term immigration visa such as a visiting visa or tourist visa, a UK immigration consultant from Coddan will be able to provide a complete UK visa service including immigration lawyer advice and complete on arrival solutions.

Please be aware to the fact! That many of these requirements here are only likely to be relevant if you are applying on the basis of ten years rather than fourteen years in the UK. If you are applying on the basis of fourteen years stay in the UK it is very unlikely that you have been absent from the UK at all during most if not all the of the fourteen years.

Once Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK (ILR) often referred to as permanent residency has been granted, there will be no time limit on your stay in the United Kingdom. What's more as a permanent UK resident no restrictions are placed on the work or business you are allowed to do in Great Britain.

Whilst there is no time limit on a permanent residence visa, it is important to note that holders of ILR must not spend periods of more than two years outside the United Kingdom as this may lead to the loss of ILR. For as long as the residency requirements have been met, a person with Indefinite Leave to Remain can usually make an application for British citizenship or British naturalization as a UK citizen one year after being granted the Indefinite Leave to Remain.

In the case of a long term Residency visa application Indefinite Leave to Remain will be granted for periods of exceptional continuous periods spent in the United Kingdom. Generally these long-term residency visas for Britain are awarded after 10 or 14 years in the country.

10 year Visa:
This category of UK Long Residency Visa applies to applicants who have been in the country legally for ten years. In these circumstances Home Office approval is necessary. If approved by the Home Office, a grant of permanent residency will be awarded and the applicant will be permitted to stay in Britain.

14-year Visa:
This class of visa for immigration for long term UK residents may be granted to persons who have remained in Great Britain continuously for a period of more than 14 years whether legally or illegally. In these cases a successful applicant will be awarded indefinite leave to remain.

Applications such as this will be considered so long as there are no circumstances which may counter the application for example a criminal record.