Settlement After Five Years on the Spouse or Partner Visa
Indefinite Leave to Remain on the partner route is the settlement application available to spouses, civil partners, and unmarried partners who have completed five years of lawful residence in the UK on the partner route. It is the step that converts a time-limited visa into permanent status with no ongoing conditions.
It is not automatic at five years. The same requirements that applied at the entry clearance and extension stages must be demonstrated again at settlement, and additional checks apply under the Earned Settlement model introduced in 2025.
Five years means five continuous years. Any gap in leave during the qualifying period, including a single day between a visa expiry and an FLR(M) submission, resets the qualifying clock. The five years is measured from the grant of the original entry clearance to the date of the ILR application, with no gaps in lawful leave throughout.
What the ILR Partner Route Requires
Five Years of Continuous Lawful Leave on the Partner Route
The applicant must have spent five continuous years in the UK on the partner route. This means the initial 30-month entry clearance followed by a successful FLR(M) extension of 30 months, with both applications submitted before the preceding leave expired. A leave gap at any point during the five years breaks continuity and the qualifying period must restart from a later date.
Genuine and Subsisting Relationship
The relationship must still be genuine and subsisting at the point of the ILR application. This is a live requirement, not a historical one. Updated evidence of cohabitation covering the period since the FLR(M) was granted is required. The relationship evidence must reflect the current position, not simply resubmit what was provided at the extension stage.
Income Requirement
The sponsor must still meet the Minimum Income Requirement of £29,000 at the point of the ILR application. The same evidential standards apply as at the earlier stages. If the sponsor's employment or income has changed since the FLR(M) was granted, this must be addressed fully in the evidence bundle.
Absence Compliance
Absences during the five-year qualifying period must not exceed 180 days in any rolling 12-month window. With UKVI's real-time eGates data now available to caseworkers, any discrepancy between declared absences and the official travel record is identified immediately. Obtain verified travel data before calculating your absence position.
Life in the UK Test and English Language
A valid Life in the UK test pass certificate is required, obtained within three years of the ILR application date. English language must be demonstrated at CEFR B1 level through a UKVI-approved provider or qualifying degree.
Good Character
The Good Character assessment applies at ILR stage under the February 2025 guidance. Any criminal record, period of overstay, undisclosed change of circumstances, or financial compliance issue during the qualifying period must be disclosed and addressed with a narrative letter.
What Changes After ILR Is Granted
Once ILR is granted, there is no expiry date on the status. The No Recourse to Public Funds condition is lifted. The right to work and live in the UK is permanent, subject only to not being outside the UK for more than two continuous years. The path to British citizenship by naturalisation opens 12 months after the ILR grant date.
Why ILR Partner Route Applications Are Refused
A gap between the entry clearance expiry and the FLR(M) grant, or between the FLR(M) expiry and the ILR application, breaks the five-year continuity. The qualifying period must be recalculated from a later start date.
Submitting the same relationship evidence from the extension application without updating it to cover the period since is a common mistake. The caseworker must be satisfied the relationship is genuine and subsisting now.
Self-calculated absence figures that miss short trips or calculate incorrectly against the rolling window lead to an undisclosed excess. UKVI's real-time data will identify this immediately.
Any matter arising during the five-year qualifying period, a CCJ, a road traffic endorsement, a missed HMRC filing, must be disclosed. Matters discovered by UKVI that were not declared are treated as deception.
The £29,000 threshold must be evidenced at ILR stage as it was at the earlier stages. A change of employer, a period of lower earnings, or incorrectly presented payslips are common points of failure.
How ClearVisa Prepares Your ILR Application
We conduct a full ILR Eligibility Audit before the application is built, covering continuous leave verification, absence mapping using verified UKVI travel data, income evidence review, relationship evidence assessment, and Good Character risk check. We then prepare the complete application to submission standard.
We work on a fixed-fee basis. We are IAA-regulated (F202536292).