ILR Eligibility Calculator

What Is an ILR Calculator?

An ILR calculator is a planning tool that estimates when someone may become eligible for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) — the UK's term for permanent settlement. Rather than a fixed answer, a good calculator works through the same building blocks a Home Office caseworker would check: how long you need to have lived in the UK on a qualifying route (your qualifying period), whether you've maintained continuous residence without excessive time abroad, and what date you could realistically submit an application. This calculator also checks the 28-day early application window, flags gaps in your absence history, and separates the requirements it can measure from the ones — like the Life in the UK Test or your English level — that you need to confirm yourself.

What Does This ILR Calculator Check?

Who Can Use This ILR Eligibility Calculator?

Anyone in the UK on a route that can lead to settlement — from Skilled Worker (Tier 2 to ILR) and Health and Care Worker visa holders to partners of British citizens, Global Talent and Innovator Founder endorsement holders, UK Ancestry visa holders, dependants of a main applicant, and people relying on 10 years' continuous lawful residence under the Long Residence route. If your situation involves an unusual visa history, historical categories, or gaps in status, the calculator is designed to say "manual review recommended" rather than guess. For a fuller route-by-route breakdown of what each category actually requires, see our Immigration Guides.

ILR Calculator by Route: 5-Year, 3-Year & 10-Year Qualifying Periods

This is a simplified overview, not an exhaustive list of every route or every historical/legacy category. Always confirm your specific route's current requirements on GOV.UK.

Tier 2 to ILR: Requirements

Anyone who transitioned from the old Tier 2 (General) category to Skilled Worker keeps their continuous qualifying period running — Tier 2 to ILR is treated as one continuous 5-year route, not a reset, provided sponsorship was maintained throughout. The Skilled Worker route selection in the calculator above covers Tier 2 indefinite leave to remain calculations on the same basis: 5 years of continuous residence, the 180-day rolling absence rule, and salary at or above the going rate at application. If you're still building up your Skilled Worker time, our UK Skilled Worker Visa Points Calculator is worth checking alongside this tool.

Dependant ILR: Do My Dependants Qualify for Settlement Too?

A dependant partner or child generally needs to complete the same qualifying period as the main applicant (usually 5 years) under continuous, lawful dependant leave, and must separately meet the relationship, English language and Life in the UK requirements that apply to adult dependants. A dependant of ILR can normally apply for settlement:

• At the same time as the main applicant, once both have completed the qualifying period; or
• After the main applicant, once the main applicant already holds ILR or British citizenship (provided they held the relevant permission when they settled).

Switching visa categories can reset a dependant's own qualifying period, so it's worth tracking a dependant's absences and continuity separately using this calculator, rather than assuming their timeline automatically matches the main applicant's. As with the main applicant, this is a live area of the proposed Earned Settlement reform — treat any "10-year dependant" claims you see elsewhere with caution unless they cite a source confirming the rule is actually in force.

How to Apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK

1. Step 1 — Select your route. Choose the visa category your current permission falls under.
2. Step 2 — Enter visa history. Add the date your qualifying period started and any earlier periods you think should count.
3. Step 3 — Add UK absences. Log every trip abroad during the qualifying period.
4. Step 4 — Check other requirements. Confirm your Life in the UK, English and route-specific position.
5. Step 5 — View your result. Get key dates, an absence risk breakdown, a requirements checklist and a personalised action plan.

Once you know your qualifying period completion date and earliest 28-day application date from the calculator, the general process for how to apply for ILR in the UK is: confirm you meet the Life in the UK and English requirements, gather your evidence (passport/BRP or eVisa, sponsorship or relationship evidence, absence records), submit your application and pay the fee online, book your UKVCAS biometric appointment, and wait for a decision. Before you apply, our UK Skilled Worker Visa Cost Calculator can help you budget the full cost of your visa and ILR application, including dependants. Always confirm the current fee and document list on GOV.UK before applying.

ILR Qualifying Period Calculator: How We Calculate Your ILR Date

The calculator takes your qualifying-period start date and adds the number of years required for your selected route (typically 3, 5 or 10). That gives your qualifying period completion date. Where the 28-day early application rule applies to your route, it subtracts 28 calendar days from that completion date to show the earliest date you could lawfully submit an application. We don't expose the underlying source code here, but conceptually: every date is calculated from the information you enter, checked against the route rules summarised above, and never adjusted for a proposed rule that isn't in force yet.

180-Day Rule for ILR (Rolling 12-Month Absence Calculator)

Most 5-year and 3-year settlement routes require that you do not spend more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period during your qualifying period. This is not a calendar-year count — it's assessed on a rolling basis, so a run of trips spread across two calendar years can still breach the limit if they land inside the same 365-day window. GOV.UK's continuous residence guidance sets out limited exceptions — for example, some absences linked to a national or international humanitarian crisis, or compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, may not count toward the limit if you can evidence them. The calculator flags these situations for manual review rather than deciding for you. If you're weighing up a trip during your qualifying period, our Europe Travel Cost Calculator can help you budget it alongside the absence check above.

Long Residence has different absence rules

Under Appendix Long Residence, a single absence that began before 11 April 2024 is measured against a 184-day limit, while absences that began on or after 11 April 2024 follow the same 180-day rolling rule used elsewhere. If your Long Residence history spans that date, treat the result as a starting point and check the official caseworker guidance directly.

ILR 28-Day Calculator: When Can I Apply for ILR?

On most 5-year routes, you can apply for ILR up to 28 calendar days before your qualifying period completes — but not one day earlier. Applying too early is treated as not having completed the qualifying period and risks refusal, with no fee refund. The 28 days count backwards from your qualifying period completion date, not from your visa expiry date. Always confirm the exact rule for your route before submitting.

Does the Calculator Guarantee ILR?

No. This tool checks time-based residence and absence data — the part of ILR eligibility that can be calculated from dates. It cannot verify your salary evidence, sponsor status, character and suitability record, documentary evidence quality, or how the Home Office would treat an unusual case. Two people with identical dates can have very different outcomes depending on facts this calculator never sees. Treat every result as a planning estimate to confirm against GOV.UK, not a decision. If you'd like to see how this plays out in practice, our Immigrant Stories collect real settlement journeys from people who've been through the process.

What Can Cause an ILR Application to Fail?

Common categories worth reviewing before you apply include: continuous-residence breaches from rolling 12-month absences; miscalculating the qualifying-period start date; salary or sponsorship gaps on work routes; an unclear or undocumented physical entry date; visa switches that don't combine the way an applicant assumed; incomplete Life in the UK or English evidence; and suitability issues such as overstaying or criminal record matters. This is not an exhaustive list — the Home Office assesses suitability and evidence on the specific facts of each case.

ILR Requirements Checklist

• Completed qualifying period on a route that leads to settlement
• Continuous residence maintained (no rolling 12-month period over the relevant absence limit, without an accepted exception)
• Life in the UK Test passed, or a documented exemption
• English language requirement met, or a documented exemption
• Route-specific conditions met (e.g. sponsorship and salary for work routes, financial requirement for partners)
• Current permission valid, with no unresolved suitability issues
• Correct application timing — not more than 28 days early where that rule applies

What the Calculator Cannot Tell You

It cannot confirm whether a specific absence would be excused under an exception, assess the strength of your supporting evidence, verify sponsor licence status, calculate route-specific salary thresholds precisely (these change and depend on your occupation code), or predict a Home Office decision. Where your case involves any of these, the result will say "review required" rather than a definitive answer.

Official Sources

This calculator is built from, and should always be checked against:

• Continuous residence caseworker guidance — GOV.UK
• Settle in the UK: Indefinite Leave to Remain — GOV.UK
• The Immigration Rules — GOV.UK
• Life in the UK Test and English language requirements — GOV.UK
• A Fairer Pathway to Settlement consultation (Earned Settlement proposals) — GOV.UK

Methodology & Change Log

Every calculation rule in this tool is drawn from the sources above, reviewed by our editorial team against the Immigration Rules and Home Office guidance in force on the date shown. We do not implement proposed rules — like the Earned Settlement 10-year baseline — until they are formally laid before Parliament and in force.

ILR Calculator FAQs