Can I apply for ILR with Long Residence route even though I have a spouse visa?

Hello everyone,

This forum has been very very helpful with my journey so far, thank you again for all of your help until now!
I have a question about ILR application eligibility, if anyone is able to advise, I would really appreciate the help.

[My background]
I came to UK in June 2010 as a student to do my master's degree, since then I have been in the UK legally for almost 10 years now.
In 2014, I got married to a British national and changed my visa to a spouse one, which will expire in September 2021.

My question is ..
Would it be possible to apply for ILR through the 10 years long residence route now or do I have to wait until my spouse visa ends, and switch to ILR?

Thank you for your help in advance.

As long as you can meet all the requirements for ILR based on Long Residence (no gaps in visas etc), then you can apply as soon as you are eligible, regardless of the fact that you currently hold a spousal visa.


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Hello everyone,

This forum has been very very helpful with my journey so far, thank you again for all of your help until now!
I have a question about ILR application eligibility, if anyone is able to advise, I would really appreciate the help.

[My background]
I came to UK in June 2010 as a student to do my master's degree, since then I have been in the UK legally for almost 10 years now.
In 2014, I got married to a British national and changed my visa to a spouse one, which will expire in September 2021.

My question is ..
Would it be possible to apply for ILR through the 10 years long residence route now or do I have to wait until my spouse visa ends, and switch to ILR?

Thank you for your help in advance.

Did you switch visas in 2014?  If so, you will have been eligible for ILR since 2019.

Did you switch visas in 2014?  If so, you will have been eligible for ILR since 2019.

From the OP's previous posts, it looks like they did not switch to FLR(M) until late 2016, therefore they won't qualify for ILR under the spousal visa route until 2021.

From the OP's previous posts, it looks like they did not switch to FLR(M) until late 2016, therefore they won't qualify for ILR under the spousal visa route until 2021.

Ah!  Makes sense now. 

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your replies.

I switched my work Visa to FLR(m) in 2016, so it will be expired in 2021 if that make sense.

Is that mean I have to wait the ILR until then?

Thank you in advance.

No, you can still apply for ILR based on 10 years Long Residence.

KFDancer was wondering whether you actually already qualified for ILR last year based on 5 years on spousal visas, instead of using the 10-year Long Residence route.

However, because you did not switch to FLR(M) until 2016, you will qualify for ILR under the 10-year Long Residence Route before you will qualify based on FLR(M).

If you had instead switched to FLR(M) right after you got married in 2014, you would have qualified for ILR in 2019... which is what KFDancer was querying.


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Thank you for clarifying Ksand24 .

I wasn’t really thinking at that time as I had a work permit, but I wish I did apply for Spouse visa sooner..

The thing is that if I compare 10 years route and FLRm route, it seems much easier if I go through 10 years one.
On gov website says that I will need to gather financial doc etc again if I apply for ILR after 5 years FLRm route, and long residence route doesn’t require those in my understanding.

So, I thought it would be good if I could choose long residence route.

Hope that make sense!