For those who have resided lawfully in the UK for a 'continuous period' of 10 years with a visa, then subject to the immigration requirements below, they may be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) through the Long Residence Rule.
Please note, the category of visas an individual has held does not have to be in a single category, but can be in a combination of them.
Applying through the 10 year Long Residence route can be done through the Home Office Super Priority Service within 24 hours, subject to availability and by paying the optional £1000 processing fee.
To qualify for permission to stay in the UK through the 10 Year Long Residence Rule the applicant will need to demonstrate they:
- have had at least 10 years continuous lawful residence in the United Kingdom but not including time spent as a Visitor, Short-term Student or Seasonal Worker;
- from 11 April 2024, that they have held their current immigration permission for at least 12 months prior to applying, unless that visa was granted prior to 11 April 2024 - a significant change as referred to below;
- have not been absent from the UK for more than 180 days during the 10-year residency period or up to 184 days if the absences was pre-11 April 2024, unless an exception applies;
- have sufficient knowledge of the English language and sufficient knowledge about life in the United Kingdom unless exempt. For those who cannot satisfy this requirement they may be able to apply for a visa to stay in the UK through this route for up to 2 years at a time; and
- having regard to the public interest there are no reasons why it would be undesirable for them to be given ILR on the ground of long residence, taking into account age, strength of connections to the UK, personal history (including character, conduct, associations and employment record), domestic circumstances, and any compassionate circumstances.
Post 11 April 2024 changes to the Long Residence Rule
Attention should be paid to the new requirement for those applying post 11 April 2024 as their current visa must be held for at least 12 months - this does not apply to individuals granted a visa pre 11 April 2024.
For example, those granted a student visa on 12 April 2024 can only apply for ILR through the Long Residence route on 12 April 2025 (or 28 days prior to) - this would obviously put some potential applicants in the unfortunate position of having to wait almost 11 years to apply through the 10 Long Residence Rule.
Therefore, it is important for those approaching a visa extension (perhaps students more so) to carefully manage their extensions to ensure they do not contravene this requirement, otherwise they face having to wait for a longer period to apply for ILR through the Long Residence Rule than necessary and perhaps more frustratingly, incur more in visa fees than what was required.
Please also note, the requirement to have not been absent for more than 548 days throughout the 10 year period was removed on 11 April 2024.
The removal of the 548 day absence from the Long Residence rule is a significant, but welcome change. It will potentially benefit those who need to be absent from the UK for long periods for example students who come to the UK whilst they are minors and need to travel home during the holiday periods.
For those who were absent from the UK for exceptional reasons such as COVID-19, absences can be disregarded when applying through the 10 year Long Residence route for ILR and is particularly useful for those who contravene the 180 day absence, but we recommend immigration advice should be sought - RLegal have successfully argued this point.
Finally, it is important to note the Home Office will only consider 10 years 'continuous residence' from date of application or decision, which ever is more favourable to the applicant. This means an applicant cannot select an 'historic' period of 10 years where they met the requirement for ILR but did not apply.