Indefinite Leave to Enter vs Indefinite Leave to Remain

The Difference in One Line

Indefinite leave to enter is granted as entry clearance, before the person arrives. Indefinite leave to remain is granted to a person already in the UK. Both are settlement. Neither expires on a date.

When Indefinite Leave to Enter Is Used

• Family members applying from abroad on the routes where the Immigration Rules grant settlement at the point of entry rather than after a period in the UK, such as the adult dependent relative route.
• Returning residents who need entry clearance to come back, covered below and in our returning residents guide.

The right of abode is a separate thing again. It is not indefinite leave: it is a status held by British citizens and by some Commonwealth citizens, and it does not lapse through absence.

When Indefinite Leave to Remain Is Used

This is the common form, granted on an application made from inside the UK after a qualifying period. The routes include:

• 5 years on the Skilled Worker route
• 5 years on the partner route
• 10 years' continuous lawful residence on the long residence route
• 5 years with refugee status or humanitarian protection, where there is no fee
• 5 years' continuous residence under the EU Settlement Scheme, which is free

The fee on the paid routes is £3,226 for the applicant and £3,226 for each person included. See our settlement guide.

What Settlement Gives You

• Work: no restriction on the work you can do, and no sponsor.
• Public funds: settlement removes the no recourse to public funds condition. Individual benefits still have their own tests, including habitual residence tests for some of them.
• NHS: you are treated as a resident and pay what a resident pays. In England that is £9.90 per prescription item and dental bands of £27.90, £76.60 and £332.10. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is no immigration health surcharge, and none is charged on a settlement application either. See our health surcharge guide and our refunds guide.
• Renting: right to rent checks are an England-only scheme, so what a landlord must check depends on where the property is. See our renting guide.
• Citizenship: naturalisation is a separate application, usually 12 months after settlement, and costs £1,839 for an adult: £1,709 to apply and £130 for the ceremony.

See our rights and benefits guide.

How Indefinite Leave Is Lost

• Absence. GOV.UK says indefinite leave is lost after more than 2 continuous years outside the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Ireland. Returning after that needs a Returning Resident visa, which costs £726. GOV.UK lists exceptions for people working in the British armed forces, certain UK government departments, and the British Council. Settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme instead allows 5 continuous years, or 4 for Swiss citizens.
• Deportation. A deportation order invalidates existing leave.
• Deception. Leave obtained by deception can be cancelled.

British citizenship is not lost through absence, though it can be removed in the narrow circumstances set out in the British Nationality Act 1981. See our settlement to citizenship guide.

How the Status Appears

Biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024, and GOV.UK says all of them have now expired and been replaced by eVisas. Indefinite leave, granted either way, is a digital record in a UKVI account, viewed and shared through the GOV.UK immigration status service. A share code lasts 90 days.

Employers, landlords and banks see the same status either way. See our eVisa guide and our right to work guide.

Questions and answers