The long residence indefinite leave to remain route is for people who have been living in the UK lawfully and continuously for 10 years or more.

The home office has decided to delay the possibility of obtaining ILR by including a statement which mentions that ‘The applicant must also have had permission on their current immigration route for at least 12 months on the date of application or have been exempt from immigration control (diplomats and members of armed forces) within the 12 months immediately before the date of application. This requirement does not apply where the applicant’s current permission was granted before 11 April 2024.’.

This means that if you were granted permission prior to 11 April 2024, then you will be eligible to apply without having to wait 12 months. However, if you were granted permission after 11 April 2024, then you might need to wait some months longer to qualify for ILR on grounds of long residence and to have been on your current visa for at least 12 months.

What remains unclear is whether you would need to wait 12 months to apply for ILR should you have had permission under a visa that you were granted an extension for post 11 April 2024.

You will also need to be aware that if you previously held either a visitor visa, short-term student visa and seasonal worker, then these periods will break the continuous residence. This means that your clock will restart from the time you held valid leave from inside the UK.

You are informed that leave which is extended by virtue of section 3C whilst waiting a decision on an application or appeal counts towards lawful presence in the UK.

To qualify under the long residence route, you will need to show that:

• You spent a qualifying period of 10 years lawfully in the UK:
  • With valid permission, except being in the UK as a Visitor, Short-term Student (English language) or Seasonal Worker (or under any of their predecessor routes); or
  • Whilst being exempt from immigration control; or
  • Was in the UK as an EEA national or a family member of an EEA national exercising a right to reside under the 2016 EEA Regulations prior to 11pm on 31 December 2020 (and until 30 June 2021 or the final determination of an application under Appendix EU made by them by that date).
• You do not fall under the grounds of refusal
• You must have had permission on your current immigration route for at least 12 months on the date of the application, or have been exempt from immigration control in the last 12 months prior to submission of the application

(If your current visa was granted before 11 April 2024, then the above does not apply)

• You must have passed the Life in the UK test if you are aged between 18 to 65 years old
• You must meet the English language requirement either by obtaining an approved test or by way of obtaining a UK degree or a degree that was taught in English;

The following periods will not count towards the qualifying period for Long Residence and will break continuous residence:

• time spent on immigration bail, temporary admission or temporary release;
• convicted of an offence in the UK and sentenced to a period of imprisonment
• departed the UK before 24 November 2016 with no valid leave and failed to apply for entry clearance within 28 days of their previous visa expiring
• any category of visitor granted under ‘Appendix V: Visitor’ of the Immigration Rules
• short-term student granted under ‘Appendix Short-term Student’ of the Immigration Rules
• seasonal worker granted under ‘Appendix Temporary work – Seasonal Worker’ of the Immigration Rules

In addition, the following are not included in the calculation of continuous residence:

• Overstaying which is disregarded
• Periods of exceptional assurance between 1 September 2020 and 28 February 2023
• Time with permission spent in the Republic of Ireland or the Crown Dependencies (the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands)
• any period of overstaying between periods of permission before 24 November 2016 even if a further application was made within 28 days of the expiry of the previous permission; and 
• any period of overstaying between periods of permission on or after 24 November 2016 even if paragraph 39E applies to that period of overstaying; and

However, any extensions of leave granted under the Coronavirus extension concession and the following grace period (covering 24 January to 31 August 2020) will count toward the qualifying period requirement.

The approach to calculate the absences is seen as below:

• any single absences started before 11 April 2024 must be no longer than 184 days within any 12-month period; and not more than 548 days if the 10-year qualifying period completed before 11 April 2024;
• from 11 April 2024 the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period.

In accordance with Appendix Continuous Residence, any period spent outside the UK will not count towards the period of absence where the absence was for any of the following reasons:

(a) the applicant was assisting with a national or international humanitarian or environmental crisis overseas, providing if on a sponsored route their sponsor agreed to the absence for that purpose; or

(b) travel disruption due to natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic; or

(c) compelling and compassionate personal circumstances, such as the life-threatening illness of the applicant, or life-threatening illness or death of a close family member; or

(d) research activity undertaken by a Skilled Worker which was approved by their sponsor and where the applicant was sponsored for a job in one of the following SOC 2020 occupation codes:

• 2111 Chemical scientist
• 2112 Biological scientists
• 2113 Biochemists and biomedical scientists
• 2114 Physical scientists
• 2115 Social and humanities scientists
• 2119 Natural and social science professionals not elsewhere classified
• 2161 Research and development (R&D) managers
• 2162 Other researchers, unspecified discipline
• 2311 Higher education teaching professionals; or

(e) research activity undertaken by a person on the Global Talent route who was endorsed by:

(i) The Royal Society; or

(ii) The British Academy; or

(iii) The Royal Academy of Engineering; or

(iv) UKRI; or

(f) research activity undertaken by a person on the Global Talent route who qualified on the basis of a prize listed in table 6 of Appendix Global Talent: Prestigious Prizes; or

(g) for an applicant under Appendix Settlement Family Life, absences for work, study or supporting family overseas, so long as the family have throughout the period of absence maintained a family life in the UK and the UK remained their place of permanent residence; or

(h) where the applicant’s partner is absent from the UK on Crown service as:

(i) a regular member of HM Armed Forces (the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the Army (including the Brigade of Gurkhas) and the Royal Air Force); or

(ii) an employee of the UK Government, a Northern Ireland department, the Scottish Administration or the Welsh Government; or

(iii) a permanent member of the British Council, and the applicant accompanies them overseas.

This means that absences during COVID-19 would not break continuity period for applying for ILR under the long residence route.

To conclude, the changes made under the long residence route allows applicants with higher absences flexibility to be able to apply subject to meeting the requirements.

If you are interested to know more, get in touch with our immigration team who can help assist you provide you with reliable immigration advice.