How long does ILR actually take? Processing times and what to do if you're delayed

The single most common mistake applicants make here isn't about the length of the wait — it's about which date they're counting from.

The official service standard — and where it starts counting

GOV.UK's own guidance for the Skilled Worker route is direct:

"You'll usually get a decision within 6 months of providing your fingerprints and photo."

That's the detail that catches people out: the clock starts at your biometric appointment (UKVCAS, or your identity verification date if you used the ID Check app) — not the date you submitted the online form. If there's a gap of a few weeks between submitting and attending your appointment, that gap doesn't count against the 6 months.

If you paid for a faster service, GOV.UK's stated targets are:

• Super priority service: decision within 2 working days
• Priority service: decision within 5 working days

Both counted from the same biometrics/ID-check date, not submission.

GOV.UK also flags that some cases legitimately take longer, and that you'll be contacted if that applies to you — specifically where "supporting documents need to be verified," an interview is required, or your personal circumstances (their example: a criminal conviction) need extra consideration.

Last verified: 2026-07-04 against gov.uk/indefinite-leave-to-remain-tier-2-t2-skilled-worker-visa/after-you-apply.

Where to check real current performance, not just the target

The 6-month figure above is a service standard — a target, not a report of how things are actually running. The Home Office publishes actual performance against it every quarter in its Migration Transparency Data release, which covers "the volume of overseas and in-country applications received and input for each route, performance against service standard for each route, and the number of applications that remain outstanding (work in progress)."

We checked the underlying data table (VSI_02, "Percentage of applications, for each Route, processed within Service Standards") in the Q1 2026 release, covering up to Q4 2025 — and there currently isn't a clean, reportable figure for Settlement/ILR specifically. The Home Office's own note on that table says: "We are aware of a data issue with reporting performance against service standards, therefore these figures are provisional for this release. Settlement data remains unavailable due to ongoing data quality issues." There's no "Settlement" row in the table at all — only routes like Work Sponsored, Spouse/Partner, and others, and those figures mix in-country extensions and switches alongside any settlement decisions, not settlement on its own. So no publisher, including us, can currently give you an honest "X% of ILR decisions are made on time" figure — anyone who states one is going beyond what the Home Office itself is willing to report. Check the current release yourself periodically in case this changes.

What other applicants report

Applicants share their own timelines — application date, biometrics date, decision date — in immigration forums and communities, including threads like this one on Reddit's r/ukvisa. We're linking it rather than summarising it: individual posts are self-reported, not verified, and not a representative sample — someone whose case sailed through has no particular reason to post about it, so threads like this skew toward the delayed and the frustrated. Read it for real-world colour, not as a statistic, and treat the official service standard above as the only figure worth planning around.

If you're past the service standard

Check the date first. Confirm you're actually measuring from your biometrics/ID-check date, not your submission date, before you conclude you're overdue — see above.

If you genuinely are past 6 months (or your paid priority window):

1. Complain to UKVI directly. Use the official form at gov.uk/complain-uk-visas-immigration. Have your Home Office reference number ready. GOV.UK states investigating a complaint "can take up to 20 working days" — or up to 12 weeks if it involves an allegation of serious professional misconduct.
2. Ask your MP for a parliamentary enquiry. MPs have a dedicated correspondence channel into the Home Office, and enquiries routed this way are typically handled by a senior team. This is a normal, free service your MP's office provides constituents — you don't need a special reason to ask, a case that's run past its service standard is reason enough.
3. Escalate to the Independent Examiner of Complaints (IEC) if you're not satisfied with UKVI's response to a formal complaint — see the UKVI complaints procedure for the current time limit to do this.
4. Legal escalation (a pre-action protocol letter, potentially leading to judicial review) exists for serious, prolonged delays, but this isn't a step to take without a solicitor — the procedure and evidence requirements are specific, and getting it wrong can weaken a case that would otherwise have merit.

Related reading: ILR application step-by-step, and use the Family Immigration Cost Planner if you're weighing whether a priority service is worth paying for.