UK immigration planner
Plan from the visa you hold — including switches, combined long residence, and household ILR — through to British citizenship. See a timeline, log absences, estimate fees, and build a document list. Your plan stays in this browser.
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Time usually counts toward 5-year work settlement if you keep meeting salary and sponsorship rules. Absences of more than 180 days in any 12-month period can break continuous residence.
ILR: 5 years · Absences: 180 days · English: B1 · Life in the UK: required
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Standard partner route is 5 years (two 2.5-year grants). A 10-year route applies if the 5-year financial or other requirements are not met. Family time does not usually combine with a work ILR clock.
ILR: 5 years · Absences: 180 days · English: B1 · Life in the UK: required
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Student and Graduate leave do not lead to ILR. The 5-year ILR clock usually starts only after a switch to Skilled Worker (or another qualifying route). Switching is typically allowed in-country from Student or Graduate.
ILR: 5 years · Absences: 180 days · English: B1 · Life in the UK: required
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
ILR after 3 years if endorsed as exceptional talent or holding an eligible prize; 5 years if endorsed as exceptional promise. The 3-year clock usually requires time spent on Global Talent.
ILR: 3 years · Absences: 180 days · English: B1 · Life in the UK: required
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Settlement based on 10 years of continuous lawful residence, which can combine different visas (Student, Graduate, work, family, GBM and others). Visitor leave does not count. The 180-day absence rule is applied strictly.
ILR: 10 years · Absences: 180 days · English: B1 · Life in the UK: required
Further UK categories the engine can sketch, including visas with no ILR clock of their own and child registration.
ILR: 3 years · ILR after 3 years if the business receives a settlement endorsement.
ILR: 5 years · A sponsored scale-up visa.
ILR: 5 years · A sponsored sporting route that can lead to ILR after 5 years.
ILR: 5 years · A sponsored religious worker route that can lead to ILR after 5 years.
ILR: none · GBM routes do not lead to ILR.
ILR: none · YMS is temporary.
ILR: 5 years · For Commonwealth citizens with a UK-born grandparent.
ILR: 5 years · A 5-year path to settlement for eligible BN(O) status holders and family members.
ILR: none · HPI does not lead to ILR.
ILR: 5 years · People with refugee status or humanitarian protection have typically been able to apply for settlement after 5 years.
ILR: 5 years · Pre-settled status can convert to settled status after 5 years’ continuous residence under EUSS rules.
ILR: 5 years · Partners and children as dependants typically apply for ILR after 5 years, often alongside the main applicant.
ILR: none · A child born in the UK whose parent later becomes settled, or a child under 18 with a British parent, may register as British rather than naturalise.
Skilled Worker, family, study-to-work, Global Talent and 10-year long residence, plus Innovator Founder, Scale-up, GBM, Youth Mobility, dependants and child registration.
Log trips and see the usual 180-day ILR rule plus citizenship 90 / 270 / 450-day windows.
Compare staying put with switching onto another MVP route, including a rough fee for the move.
Basic Home Office fees from 8 April 2026, plus IHS, ILR, tests and citizenship.
Evidence lists tailored to the visa you hold, stored locally in this browser.
Visa expiry, ILR window, and tests — with a calendar file you can download.
Always re-check GOV.UK. Fees and rules change.