Getting a Permanent Residence (PR) in the UK

On 23rd September, 2021, I received the confirmation letter from the Home Office, UK regarding the approval of my Permanent Residence (PR) a.k.a Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) a.k.a Settled status:

Download this pdf here

And subsequently on 29th September, 2021 I received my Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) card. In this blog post, I am going to elaborately specify the steps and attach the various documents that I gathered to make my application. Hope this will be helpful for folks who are, soon to or in process of, making their ILR applications.

Rules for eligibility

For people who live and work in the UK, they can be eligible for an ILR in any duration between 2 to 5 years depending on the type of visa. A majority of expat workers have a tier-2 visa which requires 5 years. However for different types of tier-1 visas, the time can be 2 or 3 years. These rules are subject to updates and best to check them out at the government website.

My case

I arrived to the UK in September 2018, and lived for about a year on tier-2 visa. Subsequently got my tier-1 exceptional talent visa in 2019. You can read all the details about my tier-1 visa application story in my previous blog post. With a tier-1 exceptional talent visa, you need 3 years until you are eligible for the ILR. However, these 3 years can be inclusive of your time spent under tier-2 as well. Therefore for me, instead of becoming eligible for my ILR in 2022, I was already eligible by September 2021. And that is when I made my application.

Life in the UK test

Before even going into the whole - gathering of various documents - phase, I saw that there are 2 strict requirements for this application. One of them is - having a thorough knowledge and understanding of life in the UK. This is the official website for life in the UK test, where you can know more about it and more importantly book a test. It costs 50£. You’ll have to answer 24 multiple choice type questions in 45 minutes. You must score 75% or above, i.e. at least 18 questions should be answered correctly. One good thing is that once you pass this test, the scorecard is valid indefinitely. Hence, you can work on this test anytime before your ILR application eligibility date and get past this checkpoint.

My case

I used this wonderful resource (free) to prepare for the test. I have to admit that I over-prepped to only realise that the actual test was not that difficult. I prepped slowly and steadily over 1.5 months wherein I first went through the reading material given in the resource. And then I started practising the mock tests. My suggestion would be to focus more on practising the mock tests and less on mugging the texts, because at least for me, the actual test literally had questions straight-up from the mock tests. Just make sure you are consistently scoring above 90% or so across mock tests and at that point you’ll be good to go. The test appointments can be busy, hence, make sure to book one well within time. In reality you’ll most certainly not need 45 minutes to finish. It took less than 5 minutes in my case.

English language requirement

This is the second critical requirement for the ILR application. There are different ways of proving your English language ability. Two of the most popular routes are

  • Using university degrees ensuring English was the main language of education, or
  • Taking one of those English language tests (IELTS).

Please go through the official website to understand what might be applicable for you.

My case

Thankfully, while applying for my tier-2 visa in 2018, I had to prove my English language ability. For that, I had used my University degrees both from Undergrad as well as Grad Uni. Essentially, I had received a certificate from NARIC (the then government body for certifying English language levels) certifying my language levels. And I was able to re-use that certificate again this time for my ILR application.

ILR Application

Once past the above two requirements, you will need to get a list of documents ready to submit alongside the ILR application. You can use this official link to apply for the ILR. The application fee usually is 2389£. This regular fee means that you will get a decision anytime within 6 months of applying. If you go for a priority or a super-priority service, which cost an additional 500£ or 800£ respectively, then you will get a decision within 5 or 1 working days respectively. I went with the priority service. Adding to these costs, finally you will need to book your biometric appointment which will cost anywhere between 60£ to 200£. So for me, the overall ILR application cost including the life in the UK test (50£) was around 3100£ to 3200£.

While using the above link, besides providing details such as passport info, you will have to provide your travel history ever since you first entered the UK. Make sure to gather all the entry and exit dates to and from the UK, to the places you went to and a short text providing the reasons for travel. Also, make sure you haven’t spent more than 180 days outside of the UK in any window of 365 days. Because if so, then the clock for counting the years until ILR eligibility resets. In my case, I had violated this rule but it was due to extraordinary circumstances during COVID-19. The Home Office applies discretion in such exceptional cases as they did in mine.

Once past these steps of the application, you will have to make the application fee payment. You will then receive instructions to a portal where you have to submit your documents before 2 days of the chosen biometric appointment date.

I am going to now list the various documents that I uploaded in the portal, starting with a cover letter, which itself summarised and listed the various documents that I provided in my application.

Cover Letter

Download this pdf here

Passport with visa stamps (sample from my old passport)

Download this pdf here

Download this pdf here

Previous Biometric Residence Permits (tier 1 and tier 2)

(self explanatory)

Tier 1 Visa Endorsement Letter

Download this pdf here

Payslips from last 6 months

(self explanatory)

Bank statements from last 6 months

(self explanatory)

Letter from employer confirming authenticity of payslips

Download this pdf here

P60s from last 3 years (sample from 2020)

Download this pdf here

Employment contract

(self explanatory)

Download this pdf here

(this section is specific for every person, and hence my documents won’t be helpful, take your own judgement)

NARIC language level certificate

Download this pdf here

Degree certificates

(self explanatory)

Conclusion

Start preparing for your ILR application roughly 3-4 months before date of eligibility. Reserve some time to get through the life in the UK test. Ensure you have evidence to demonstrate English language fluency. Also ensure your travel history doesn’t have long gaps (more than 180 days in a moving 365 days window). And finally, gather all the necessary documents as specified on the government website. Be prepared to spend anywhere between 3000£ to 3500£ in the process. And that shall be it. You shall receive your biometric card within 6 months, or 5 days or a day of your biometric appointment date depending on whether you chose super-priority, priority or regular service respectively.

I hope this was useful. Thanks for reading !!

Written on October 31, 2021