Indefinite Leave To Remain

Everyone who is non-British and is not a born citizen of the UK, is visiting or working in the UK on the basis of some sort of visa. There are several types of visas which can be used depending on the nature and duration of your visit.

The Indefinite Leave To Remain visa, ILR, is also one of those many types though it is one which is not easy to get, and offers many more benefits than any other visa. This is the also the last visa that people need to get on their journey towards naturalization and citizenship of the UK. This visa has perks very similar to the regular citizenship without the features of a British passport and facilities available for citizens.

Depending on the kind of visa one is currently using, people can be eligible for the ILR visa after anywhere from 5 to 10 years of living in the UK continuously. There is also a list of requirements, along with the time duration, which one must fulfill to become eligible for the ILR visa.

Learning about your current visa will greatly help in finding out how it can lead up to ILR visa.

The benefits of the ILR visa are that the visa holder is free to enter or exit the UK with no expiration on the visa. Moreover while the person lives in the UK there is no longer a need to renew the visa and they can live indefinitely. The ILR also has no work restrictions and the holder can find employment or conduct business freely. The only thing which invalidates this visa is if the holder lives outside of the UK for more than 2 years in one stretch. If this occurs, they will have to re-apply for the visa.

There are two ways through which individuals can apply for the ILR visa, one is a five year route while the other takes ten years, to become eligible.

There is a list of particular visas in the 5 year route, which include tier 1, tier 2 and tier 5 visas which all lead to the ILR visa. On the other hand the ten year route is for all visa holders regardless of their type. After a person has served ten years on one, or a combination of any of these visas they are then eligible to apply for the ILR visa.

For both of these routes, other than the visa which makes you eligible for the ILR application there are also some other rules and regulations that you must adhere to in order to be eligible. These are detailed regulations of which some are general and some will be specific to the kind of visa category you are coming from.

The application cost and duration will depend on how fast you want the process to be. The regular channel of procedures has a standard fee and can take 6 months or more while the Super Priority Service is more expensive but much faster and brings the figure down to a few weeks and even 24 hours for some processes.

There are several processes involved in the application, some can be done overnight while others take longer.

It is most convenient to get in touch with a professional for guidance and workout which plan is best for your situation.