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The ILR checklist
Everything to gather before you pay the fee, in the order a caseworker reads it. Print it, tick it, and keep it with the application.
How to use this: tick each line only when the document is in the file, in the right name, with the right dates.
1. Before you gather anything
- Route confirmed: long residence / spouse or partner / family route
- Qualifying date calculated from your first grant of leave, not your arrival
- Application window noted: no earlier than 28 days before that date
- Current leave expiry checked: it must not lapse before the window opens
- Any gap, refusal or overstay identified and explained in writing
2. Tests
- Life in the UK test passed, pass notification saved (£50)
- English B1 speaking and listening certificate, from an approved provider
- Or exemption evidence: degree taught in English, majority English-speaking passport, age 65+, or medical exemption letter
3. Identity and immigration status
- Every passport held during the qualifying period, including expired ones
- All Home Office decision letters and refusal letters
- Biometric residence permits, front and back
- UKVI account details and a screenshot of your eVisa record
- Birth certificate and any name-change evidence, if your names differ across documents
4. Residence: two to three items for every year
- Tenancy agreements or mortgage statements
- Council tax bills for each address
- Utility, water or broadband bills
- Bank statements showing your address
- Payslips, P60s or employer letters
- University transcripts, school letters or GP registration letters
- HMRC letters, benefits letters or insurance policies
5. Absence log
Complete one line for every trip outside the UK, including weekends. Count the days between departure and return, and check the total for each rolling 12-month period.
| Departed | Returned | Days | Destination | Reason | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- No more than 180 days abroad in any rolling 12 months
- Long residence: if your total had reached 548 days before 11 April 2024, transitional limits apply, with no single pre-April 2024 absence over 184 days
- Passport stamps and booking records cross-checked against the log
6. Financial evidence (partner and family routes)
- Six months of payslips, matching the bank credits
- Six months of personal bank statements, showing name and address
- Employer letter stating role, contract type, salary and start date
- P60 or end-of-year tax document
- Self-employment: tax returns, SA302, business bank statements and accounts
- Savings statements covering six months, or property sale evidence
- Benefit award letters, if relying on a disability exemption
- Calculation of income and savings against the correct threshold
7. Relationship evidence (SET(M) and partner route)
- Marriage or civil partnership certificate, with certified translation if needed
- Six items of correspondence per year, from at least three sources
- Evidence covering every address you shared, with move-in and move-out dates
- Evidence of shared finances, childcare or household responsibilities
- Divorce or death certificates for previous relationships, where relevant
8. Before you submit
- Form dates match payslips, tenancy dates and passport stamps
- Every document is legible, complete and in colour where colour matters
- Certified translations included for every non-English document
- Home Office fee ready: £3,226 per applicant
- Priority or super priority availability checked, if you need a faster decision
- Biometrics plan: ID Check app or service point appointment
- Copy of the whole submission saved, including the payment reference
- No travel booked until the decision arrives
One more thing
A checklist is not an eligibility opinion. If your history includes a gap, a refusal, a long absence or a change of route, have the timeline reviewed before you gather documents — the evidence you need depends on how those points are answered.