Settlement after ten years

Who Can Use the Long Residence Route

The long residence route is designed for people who have built their lives in the UK over a decade but do not reach settlement through another route. It fits people who:

• Have held several different permissions — a Student visa followed by a work visa, say — that together total 10 years.
• Hold a permission with no settlement route of its own.
• Have been on the private life route and have accumulated 10 years of lawful residence.

The route lives in Appendix Long Residence of the Immigration Rules. It moved there on 11 April 2024, from paragraph 276B of Part 7. Older writing about the route — a good deal of it still online — describes the paragraph 276B rules, and the absence test is not the same.

The Continuous Residence Requirement

The most critical requirement is 10 years of continuous lawful residence. This means:

• Lawful at all times: You must have had valid immigration leave throughout the entire 10-year period. Any gaps where you had no valid leave (even briefly) can break continuity. However, if you applied for a new visa before your old one expired, section 3C leave may cover the gap.
• Suitability: paragraphs LR 10.1 and LR 10.2 say you must not fall for refusal under the suitability part of the rules, must not be in breach of immigration laws, and must not be on immigration bail. See our guide on immigration breaches.
• Current permission: paragraphs LR 11.3 and LR 11.4 say you must have held permission on your current route for at least 12 months, unless that permission was granted before 11 April 2024.

Absence Limits

This is the part of the route most often described wrongly. Since 11 April 2024 the long residence route has used the same absence test as the work routes, set out in Appendix Continuous Residence:

• Now: no more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period, counted as a rolling window.
• For an absence that began before 11 April 2024: GOV.UK says the older test still applies. Under it you broke continuous residence by being outside the UK for more than 184 days in a row, or more than 548 days in total.

The same appendix lists absences that do not count towards the limit at all — a life-threatening illness of your own, or the life-threatening illness or death of a close family member; travel prevented by a natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic; assisting with a humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas. See our guide to travel and absences.

Calculating Your Qualifying Period

The qualifying period is the 10 years of lawful residence ending on the date you apply, so it moves as the application date moves. See our qualifying period start date guide.

Because the window moves, an absence or a gap in permission that falls inside it on one date may fall outside it on a later one. Rowan cannot tell you what that means for your own case; only an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, or a solicitor or barrister, may do that for a fee.

English Language and Life in the UK Test

Paragraph LR 13.1 sets the English requirement at CEFR level B1 in speaking and listening for an application made before 26 March 2027, and at B2 for one made on or after that date. Paragraph LR 14.1 requires the knowledge of life in the UK requirement in Appendix KoL UK, which is the Life in the UK test for anyone aged 18 to 64. A degree taught in English, from a majority English-speaking country or confirmed by UK ENIC, can meet the English requirement instead of a test.

For information on accepted English tests, see our guide on English language requirements for settlement.

Documents You Need

GOV.UK asks for a current passport or other valid travel document, every passport you have held during your time in the UK, and proof of your immigration status. That is a share code from your UKVI account, which lasts 90 days; GOV.UK's own list still mentions a biometric residence permit, but it now says all of those have expired and been replaced by eVisas. Anything not in English or Welsh needs a certified translation. Beyond that, the application covers a decade, and the records that carry it are:

• Evidence of continuous residence for each year (such as bank statements, payslips, council tax bills, GP records, or utility bills)
• Evidence of all visa grants and extensions
• Travel history showing all absences from the UK
• Life in the UK test pass certificate
• English language evidence

See our settlement documents checklist.

Proposed Changes to the 10-Year Route

Two things are often run together, and they are not the same.

One is already law. Paragraph LR 13.1 raises the English requirement on this route from B1 to B2 for applications made on or after 26 March 2027. That was laid in HC 1691 on 5 March 2026.

The other is not. The 2025 immigration white paper proposed a longer qualifying period for settlement. The government consulted on it between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026 and is analysing the responses. No change to the 10-year long residence qualifying period has been made, and Rowan cannot say whether or when one will be.

For the latest official information, check the GOV.UK immigration rules changes page.

Costs and Processing Times

Settlement costs £3,226 for each person applying, and there is no fee for giving your fingerprints and photo. The healthcare surcharge is not charged on a settlement application. GOV.UK says you will usually get a decision within 6 months of giving your fingerprints and photo, and that you must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you get it. See our cost breakdown and processing times guide.

Questions and answers