Free UK ILR Calculator: Check Your Settlement Eligibility

Most ILR refusals we see come down to two things:

• Not meeting the continuous residence requirement
• Incorrectly calculating the residency durations

This free UK ILR Calculator, built by Conroy Baker Ltd’s IAA-regulated advisers, checks both in under a minute – your continuous residence, your absence position, and your earliest application date under the 28-day rule. Use the tool below, then read our guidance on the traps that catch most applicants.

Important Notice: Use of this Free ILR Calculator
This Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) Calculator is a complimentary online tool provided for informational and preliminary assessment purposes only. The results generated are estimates based solely on the data you enter and are not a guarantee of eligibility for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Read our full legal disclaimer here.

Employers: also see our free UK Sponsorship Cost Calculator.

The free UK ILR Calculator by Conroy Baker checks three things: whether your absences from the UK stay within the 180-day rolling 12-month limit, whether your continuous lawful residence meets the qualifying period for your route (3, 5 or 10 years), and your earliest possible application date under the 28-day early application rule. It covers the Skilled Worker, Spouse/Partner (Appendix FM) and 10-Year Long Residence routes. The result is an estimate, not legal advice – an IAA-regulated adviser should confirm your position before you apply.

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) is the status that permits you to live, work, and study in the UK without any time limits or immigration restrictions. It is the final step before British Citizenship. However, reaching this goal requires meeting strict criteria, including the continuous residence requirement, the Life in the UK test, and English language proficiency.

Our calculator is a crucial first step, helping you instantly assess the length and legality of your stay. When dealing with the Home Office, certainty is your greatest asset, especially when planning your future in thriving UK cities like London, Birmingham, and Manchester.

The rules on absences from the UK are the primary reason for ILR application refusal. Do not fall into the trap of simply counting your total days out over a five-year period – that methodology is outdated and dangerous.

The Home Office reviews your travel history on a rolling 12-month basis. This means that for any consecutive 12-month period during your qualification time, you must not have spent more than 180 full days outside the UK.

For example: A trip taken from April 2024 to March 2025 might be perfectly fine, but a trip from September 2024 to August 2025 could be the one that breaches the limit. Our expert audit scrutinises your travel log date-by-date to find these hidden dangers, often saving an applicant from a catastrophic refusal.

Timing matters as much as eligibility. Applications submitted before the permitted window are routinely refused, even where every other requirement is met. The 28-Day Early Rule sets the earliest date you can safely submit – before you have technically completed your full continuous residence period.

The Home Office allows you to apply up to 28 calendar days before you complete the required qualifying period (for example, 5 years or 10 years). Submit earlier than that and the application is likely to be refused – with the fee not refunded.

Indefinite Leave to Remain is not one process. Your visa route determines your qualifying period, the rules your absences are checked against, and the evidence you must provide.

The most common route to settlement, requiring 5 years of continuous residence. Three points decide most applications:

• Salary at the point of application: You must meet the salary threshold and going rate for your occupation code at the time you apply for ILR – not the rate that applied when your visa was granted. These figures change regularly, so check the current position before you rely on it.
• Changing sponsor: You can move between Skilled Worker sponsors, but each change requires a new Certificate of Sponsorship and application. Gaps between roles can affect your continuous residence, so the dates need checking carefully before you move.
• Work travel counts: Absences for business trips count toward the 180-day limit even when your sponsor requires them. Only limited exceptions apply, such as serious illness or travel disruption beyond your control – routine work travel is not one of them. If your role involves frequent travel, track your days from the start.

This route applies if you have lived in the UK lawfully and continuously for 10 years, under any combination of visas. It is the hardest route to self-assess, because different absence rules apply to different parts of your qualifying period:

• Before 11 April 2024: no single absence longer than 184 days, and no more than 548 days of total absences across that part of your period.
• From 11 April 2024: no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period.
• One further requirement: if your current permission was granted on or after 11 April 2024, you must have held it for at least 12 months on your current route before applying.

Time spent without valid permission, however brief, can break continuity. In limited cases the Home Office may disregard short gaps – whether yours qualifies needs assessing against the current guidance, not assumed.

This route typically requires 5 years of residence as the spouse or partner of a British citizen or settled person. Two requirements decide most applications:

• The financial requirement: You must meet the minimum income threshold – £29,000 as at the date of publication, though this figure is subject to change – evidenced under the categories set out in Appendix FM-SE. The evidence rules are strict: the right income presented in the wrong format is a common reason for refusal.
• A genuine and subsisting relationship: You must evidence your relationship across the full qualifying period, from cohabitation records to shared financial commitments. Thin evidence in the early years is a frequent weak point, so gather it as you go rather than reconstructing it at the end.

Important Notice: Use of this Free ILR Calculator
This Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) Calculator is a complimentary online tool provided for informational and preliminary assessment purposes only. The results generated are estimates based solely on the data you enter and are not a guarantee of eligibility for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Conroy Baker Ltd is not liable for any action taken or not taken based on the results provided by this calculator. Immigration law is complex, highly detailed, and subject to frequent rule changes and subjective interpretation by the Home Office. Factors such as criminal history, character requirements, precise compliance with visa conditions, and complex absence exceptions (e.g., COVID-19 concessions or compulsory service) cannot be accurately assessed by any automated tool.

You must always seek professional, tailored legal advice from an IAA-regulated immigration adviser before submitting any application to the Home Office. By using this tool, you acknowledge this disclaimer and understand that no adviser–client relationship is created.