⚠️ 2026 Update: The Home Office has proposed extending ILR from 5 to 10 years (consultation closed Feb 2026). Check if you're affected
ILR Tracker

Community Report · August 2026 · Real data: 3,241 timelines, 1,494 confirmed decisions

Standard ILR now takes over four months, and your route decides how long you wait.

Median standard-service ILR decision over the last 90 days: 126 days, up from 103 in our May edition. Work-route applicants wait about five weeks longer than partners. £500 priority still turns the wait into days. This edition focuses on what the data showed in July.

Published 3 August 2026 · Data snapshot: July 2026 decisions

July in numbers

11

ILR decisions reported in July

9 of 11 used a paid priority service

126 days

Standard ILR median (last 90 days)

up from 103 in the May edition

131 days

Citizenship median (July decisions)

+96% vs July 2025

6 Jul

Priority citizenship launched

+£500 · first timelines next month

ILR: your route sets your wait

standard service · last 12 months

Median days from biometrics to decision, approved applications on standard service.

Other ILR forms92 days · n=10
SET(LR): 10-year Long Residence94 days · n=16
SET(M): Partner of a settled person104 days · n=41
SET(O): Skilled Worker & other work routes133 days · n=36
Unlike citizenship, where every route waits about the same, ILR waits differ by route. SET(O) work-route applicants wait ~5 weeks longer than partners on standard service. No surprise then that 67% of SET(O) applicants pay for priority, vs 42% on Long Residence and just 14% on the partner route.

Standard service only, since paid services decide in days regardless of route. SET(DV) omitted (n=2). Small groups are indicative, not precise.

ILR: money still buys time

last 90 days · n=49

Standard ILR is slowing too: 103 days in our May report, 126 now.

ServiceMedianP90Time saved
Standard included in fee126 days175 daysn/a
Priority +£5005 days17 days−121 days
Super Priority +£1,0001 day4 days−125 days
£500 buys back ~121 days. The extra £500 for Super Priority only saves 4 more. 49% of recent ILR applicants paid for an upgrade, and in July, 9 of the 11 reported decisions were priority cases.

New this month

You can now pay to fast-track citizenship too

On 6 July 2026 the Home Office launched a Priority Service for nationality applications (naturalisation and registration): +£500 for a target decision within 30 working days of biometrics. New applications only (you cannot upgrade an application already in the system), and the 30 days is a target, not a guarantee.

Given the timing, the first community-reported priority timelines should appear in our September edition. Applied priority? Share your timeline and help the community find out if it's worth it.

After ILR: citizenship watch

Decisions issued in July took a median 131 days, vs 67 days in July 2025. Almost twice as long.

July 2025 median: 67 days
94
107
116
118
124
131
FebMarAprMayJunJul

Median citizenship wait (days) by decision month, 2026. +39% since February, with a new record every month since March.

Who actually got a decision in July? Mostly February applicants.

Applied February 2026 · median 132 days30 of 48
Applied March 2026 · median 131 days15 of 48
Applied July 2026 · decided in 2–3 days, rare fast-lane exceptions you cannot request3 of 48
UKVI is currently clearing the February queue. Applied in February or early March? Your decision is likely landing about now. April or later? You're probably still in line. Don't panic yet.
  • Slow but predictable: half of July's decisions landed inside a two-week band (122–136 days; 90% by 142).
  • Route made almost no difference in July: every route within 9 days of each other; spouse-of-British was actually the slowest (139 days, n=6).

CS email → Atlas email

10 days

Median gap between the informal "a decision has been made" reply and the official approval email (p90: 19, max: 26, n=22). Don't panic before week 3.

Approval → ceremony

19 days

Median wait from approval to ceremony (n=453). 68% of the community books a private ceremony over the group one.

The hidden pre-bio wait

6–8 days

Form submission → biometric appointment (ILR 6, n=527 · citizenship 8, n=2,564). UKVI's clock starts at biometrics, not when you paid.

Refusal rates (self-reported)

0.6% · 0.3%

Citizenship 7/1,182 · ILR 1/312. Treat as a floor, since refused applicants under-report. Real Home Office rates run ~3–5% historically.

Glossary & methodology

CS email: reply from UKVI Customer Service confirming "a decision has been made", an unofficial early heads-up. · Atlas email: the official automated decision email from the Home Office's Atlas casework system (the formal approval; ceremony invite follows). · Pre-bio wait: application submission → biometric enrolment. · Decision month: reports are bucketed by when the decision was issued, not when the application was filed.

Data: community-reported timelines (Reddit megathreads + ILR Tracker user-shared timelines), approved cases, medians. Recent months fill in as people report, so July figures will settle slightly as late reports arrive.

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