10-Year Long Residence Route to ILR: What You Need to Know

What Is the Long Residence Route?

The 10-year Long Residence route to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) is an alternative pathway for people who have lived continuously and lawfully in the UK for 10 years. Unlike the standard 5-year ILR routes (such as Skilled Worker or Spouse), the Long Residence route does not depend on a single visa category. Instead, it recognises the total duration of your lawful residence, regardless of which visa types you held.

This route is governed by paragraph 276B of the Immigration Rules and uses the SET(LR) application form. The current fee is £2,885.

The Long Residence route is particularly useful for applicants who have switched between visa categories over the years — for example, starting on a Student visa, moving to a Graduate visa, and then transitioning to a Skilled Worker visa. As long as the total continuous lawful residence adds up to 10 years, you may qualify for indefinite leave to remain via this route.

Who Qualifies?

To qualify for the 10-year Long Residence route, you must meet the following core requirements:

• 10 years of continuous lawful residence in the UK, ending on the date of your application
• No breaks in lawful residence — you must have held valid immigration permission (or a pending application) throughout the entire period
• Compliance with absence limits — you must not have spent too long outside the UK during the qualifying period
• Good character — no serious criminal convictions or immigration offences
• Knowledge of English and Life in the UK — pass the Life in the UK test and meet the English language requirement (B1 or above)

The route is available to most visa holders, but time spent on certain visa types does not count toward the 10-year period. See the excluded visa types section below.

Continuous Residence Requirement

“Continuous residence” means you must have had lawful immigration permission to be in the UK for the entire 10-year period. This does not mean you cannot leave the UK — it means you must have held valid leave (or had a pending in-time application) at all times.

If your immigration permission lapsed at any point — even briefly — and you did not have a pending in-time application, your continuous residence chain may be broken. A broken chain means the 10-year clock restarts from the date you next obtained valid leave, pushing back your indefinite leave to remain eligibility date significantly.

The key distinction is between short administrative gaps (such as a few days between visa grants) and genuine breaks in lawful status. See the gaps between visas section for the specific thresholds.

Absence Rules

The absence rules for the Long Residence route have changed over time. Which rules apply to your trips depends on when you left the UK:

Modern rules (trips departing on or after 11 April 2024)

Since 11 April 2024, the Long Residence route follows the same 180-day rolling 12-month window rule as other ILR routes. You must not have been absent from the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period during your qualifying period.

This is identical to the absence limit for standard 5-year ILR routes. For a detailed explanation of how rolling 12-month windows work, see our ILR Absence Rules guide.

Historic rules (trips departing before 11 April 2024)

Before the rule change, Long Residence applicants were subject to a different set of absence limits:

• Single absence limit: No single trip outside the UK could exceed 184 days (approximately 6 months)
• Total absence limit: Total absences across the entire 10-year qualifying period could not exceed 548 days (approximately 18 months)

The departure date of each trip determines which rule set applies. A trip that began before 11 April 2024 is assessed under the historic rules, even if the return date was after the cutoff.

If you have trips spanning both periods, both sets of rules are checked: historic rules for pre-April 2024 departures, and the 180-day rolling window for post-April 2024 departures. You must comply with both.

Excluded Visa Types

Not all time spent in the UK counts toward the 10-year qualifying period. The following visa types are excluded:

If you held an excluded visa type during part of your residence, that period is subtracted from your qualifying time. For example, if you spent 2 years on a Visitor visa followed by 8 years on work visas, only the 8 years count — you would not yet qualify.

Gaps Between Visas

It is common to have short gaps between visa grants, especially when switching visa categories. The Home Office treats these gaps differently depending on their length:

To avoid gaps, always submit your next visa application before your current visa expires. An in-time pending application preserves your continuous residence even if there is a delay in processing.

Application Process and Fees

Long Residence indefinite leave to remain applications are made using form SET(LR). The current fees are:

You can apply up to 28 days before completing the 10-year qualifying period. The application is made online through the GOV.UK settlement page, followed by a biometric appointment at a UKVCAS centre.

Documents You Need

The Long Residence route requires more extensive documentation than standard ILR routes because you need to demonstrate 10 years of continuous lawful residence. Key documents include:

• Valid passport (current and any expired passports covering the 10-year period)
• Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) for each visa held
• Visa grant letters / Home Office correspondence for every visa during the period
• Proof of address covering the full 10 years (utility bills, council tax bills, bank statements)
• P60s / SA302s / payslips as evidence of UK presence and employment
• Travel history — stamps, boarding passes, or other evidence of UK entries and exits
• Life in the UK test pass certificate
• English language test certificate (B1 level or above, unless exempt)

The caseworker will scrutinise your entire 10-year history, so ensure there are no unaccounted gaps. Our Application Planner can help you track which documents you have collected and which are still outstanding.

Common Pitfalls

The Long Residence route has a higher refusal rate than standard indefinite leave to remain routes, often due to avoidable mistakes. Here are the most common issues:

• Gaps in lawful residence: Even a single day without valid leave (or an in-time pending application) can break the chain and reset the 10-year clock.
• Exceeding historic absence limits: Many applicants are unaware that the pre-April 2024 rules allowed a maximum of 184 days for any single trip and 548 days total. Exceeding either limit for trips departing before April 2024 can result in refusal.
• Including excluded visa time: Visitor visa periods, Seasonal Worker periods, and Ukraine Scheme periods do not count. Applicants sometimes assume all lawful residence qualifies.
• Insufficient documentation: Unlike 5-year routes where your current sponsor can provide much of the evidence, Long Residence requires you to independently document 10 years of residence, employment, and address history.
• Confusing the application form: The SET(LR) form is specifically for Long Residence. Using SET(O) or another form will result in your application being rejected.

Tracking Your Progress

Monitoring your eligibility for indefinite leave to remain via the Long Residence route requires tracking both your qualifying period and your absences across potentially many years and visa types. Our ILR Eligibility Calculator supports 10-year qualifying periods, and if you create an account, the Dashboard automatically calculates your progress based on your visa history and recorded trips.

To get started, set your ILR route to “10-Year Long Residence” in your Visa Settings and add your previous visa history. The system will automatically adjust all calculations, including your qualifying period, absence tracking, and financial planning, to reflect the Long Residence route.