10-year LR ILR — qualifying period start date (EC valid date vs entry date)

[Drsasau]

Hi everyone,

I am hoping someone with experience of long residence applications can sanity check something I have been told on this forum and elsewhere.

I am on the 10 year long residence route and plan to apply for ILR (LR). My first ever UK visa started on 20 September 2016, which is also the date I first entered the UK. This means I will have completed 10 years of continuous lawful residence on 20 September 2026, and the earliest date I can submit an ILR(LR) application should be 28 days before that, on 23 August 2026.

Since entering the UK I have been continuously lawful, first on a Tier 4 (student) visa for 7 years and then on a Tier 2 (Skilled Worker) visa for the last 3 years. My current Tier 2 visa is due to expire on 19 August 2026, and my employment contract will end slightly earlier on 5 August 2026.

Based on what I have read and gathered from this forum, it seems that it may be possible to submit the ILR(LR) online application before the qualifying date (23 August 2026) and before my current visa expires on 19 August 2026, and then book the biometrics appointment for a date that falls on or after that qualifying date, with the Home Office assessing eligibility based on the date biometrics are enrolled rather than the date of online submission.

In other words, the idea is that you can submit earlier to secure section 3C leave, then attend biometrics once you have actually reached the 28 day early window.

Before I rely on this, I would really appreciate confirmation from anyone who has either done this themselves or knows the policy basis for it.

Specifically:
1. Is eligibility for ILR(LR) assessed on the date of biometrics rather than the date of online submission?
2. Is it safe and accepted practice to submit the form before the qualifying date as long as biometrics are done after it?
3. Has anyone successfully used this to bridge a short gap before their 10 year point?
4. If this does work, does it mean that I technically would not need to have another employment contract in place after my current one ends on 5 August 2026, as I would be covered by section 3C leave while waiting for ILR?
5. Would you recommend that I speak to an immigration solicitor or adviser before doing this, or is this a well established process?
6. Are there any other pitfalls or points I should be aware of to make sure everything goes smoothly?

For completeness, I have already passed my Life in the UK Test and I am well within the absence limits for long residence.

Thank you very much in advance. This is a big moment for me and I want to get it right.

[zimba]

Yes you can. Your understanding of the rules, procedures and 28-concession is not correct. These have been discussed at length and many many times on the forum.

Read the two following links:

Read --> All you need to know about applying early, the application date, 28-day concession and more
Read -- > Changes to the Long Residence settlement route from 11 April 2024

1. It is based on date of ILR decision
2. Yes
3. Yes, many many times as it is according to the rules
4. Yes
5. You do not need an advisor at all.
6. Read the links above !

[Drsasau]

Thanks for replying, Zimba.

Just for my learning, I'm not sure what I said exactly that made you state that my understanding of the rules, procedures and 28 day concession was not correct. Would you mind elaborating on this further?

Otherwise - really happy that a massive burden has been lifted off my shoulders, there I was thinking I need to find a bridging role or else I lose my ILR over 4 days

Many thanks,
drsasau

[zimba]

Thanks for replying, Zimba.

Just for my learning, I'm not sure what I said exactly that made you state that my understanding of the rules, procedures and 28 day concession was not correct. Would you mind elaborating on this further?

Otherwise - really happy that a massive burden has been lifted off my shoulders, there I was thinking I need to find a bridging role or else I lose my ILR over 4 days

Many thanks,
drsasau

It is enough that you are clear now

[Drsasau]

Hi all,
Looking for views on my timeline and my solicitor's proposed approach. Details:

Malaysian national. First UK visa (Tier 4) issued and valid from 11 September 2016, but I first entered the UK on 19 September 2016
Continuous lawful residence ever since (Tier 4 → Skilled Worker), no gaps, no overstaying
Current Skilled Worker visa expires 19 August 2026 (with employment ending on 4th August 2026 - do not have further employment lined up at the moment)
Applying for ILR under the 10-year long residence route (SET(LR))

Question 1 — when does my 10 years complete?
My solicitor says the qualifying period runs from date of entry (19 Sept 2016), so 10 years completes 19 Sept 2026 and the 28-day early application window opens 22 August 2026 — i.e. after my visa expires. I'm sceptical, because the continuous residence caseworker guidance states the time between grant of entry clearance and arrival "should be treated as a period of lawful residence", with the pre-entry days simply counting as an absence. On that reading my period starts 11 Sept 2016, completes 11 Sept 2026, and the window opens 14 August — before my visa expires, meaning a single in-time application would work. Has anyone seen this argued successfully (or refused) in practice on the 10-year route?
Question 2 — the two-application strategy
Because the window (on his view) opens after my leave expires, my solicitor proposes:

Submit a standard SET(LR) application just before 19 August 2026 — triggers Section 3C leave and protects my status
Submit a second application on/after 22 August 2026 on Super Priority, which I understand operates as a variation of the first

Is this a recognised approach? Specifically: does 3C leave carry through the variation cleanly, and does Super Priority attach properly to the varied application? Any pitfalls (e.g. the first application being decided/refused before the variation lands)?
Absences (verified against the whole-days method, travel days excluded):

Pre-11 April 2024 portion: 514 days total (limit 548)
Longest single absence: 162 days (Covid, March–Aug 2020; limit 184 for absences starting pre-11/04/2024)
Post-11 April 2024: ~37 days, nowhere near 180 in any rolling 12 months
SAR submitted to cross-check my travel history against Home Office records before I declare

No other issues — no gaps in leave, clean immigration history. Grateful for any experience with either question, particularly the start-date point.
Thanks

[zimba]

You received extensive advice several months ago when you asked the same query. Refers to the answers given to you above. Date of entry is irrelevant as the rules were changed in 2024, so your solicitor is wrong.

There is no application date window, as I previously told you. The qualifying period is counted backwards. Simply READING the official guide makes this clear. There are NO rules that require you to apply at some point at all, that is nonsensical too. Again, extensive advice provided above. The two application approach is frankly idiotic. The claim that you cannot apply early is flat out wrong.

The window opens after visa expiry ? What kind of advice are you getting ? Can they point to any rule that says you are required to apply at any specific point ?

Simply apply a bit early and section 3C will take of all that for you. No need for any variation or all that nonsense.

READ --> All you need to know about applying early, the application date, 28-day concession and more

I suggest reading all the advice I gave you above again.

[Drsasau]

Thanks Zimba — points taken, and I've now read the posts you have suggested properly.

Three confirmations if you don't mind:

a) Qualifying period start date and applying on 14/15 August 2026
My first entry clearance vignette (tier 4) shows valid from 11/09/2016 (valid to 11/10/2016), but I actually first entered the UK on 19/09/2016. My current Skilled Worker leave expires 19/08/2026. The reason I'm pressing on this point is that I'm getting conflicting advice — online and from solicitors — on when my qualifying period actually starts: my solicitor maintains it runs from my date of entry (19/09/2016), while the caseworker guidance you quoted seems clear it runs from the grant of entry clearance. I'd just like to know for sure what my actual start date is.
Applying your formula (date of first visa issue + qualifying period − 28 days): 11/09/2016 + 10 years − 28 days = 14/08/2026 as my earliest ILR decision date. So my understanding is: the qualifying period runs from the vignette valid-from date (11/09/2016), NOT my physical entry date (19/09/2016), with the 8 days before entry simply counting as absences per the continuous residence guidance.
Have I got that right — and assuming no other issues (absences well within limits: 514 days pre-11/04/2024 under the whole-days method, longest single absence 162 days during Covid, ~37 days post-April 2024), would I encounter any problem applying on 14/15 August 2026, while my current visa is still valid?

b) HR say my visa "automatically ends" when my employment ends
My employment contract ends 04/08/2026, and my Trust's HR have told me my visa automatically ends on that date. But my grant email and my eVisa/right-to-work record both clearly show leave valid until 19/08/2026. My understanding is that a SW visa doesn't end automatically with employment — the sponsor reports the end of employment, and the Home Office would have to serve a curtailment notice to shorten my leave, which won't realistically happen with only 15 days remaining. Is that correct — my leave runs to 19/08/2026 unless actually curtailed?

c) Super Priority — availability and reliability
My brother's wedding is on 13/09/2026 and I understand I cannot travel while the application is pending. If I apply on 14/15 August, is Super Priority available on SET(LR), and are the slots normally difficult to get? Is the next-working-day decision generally reliable in practice, or do applications commonly get bumped into standard processing? Trying to work out whether I can safely count on having the decision well before 13 September.

The plan
So, with my understanding of your advice + the caseworker guidance: the plan is to apply on 14/15 August with a Super Priority slot, do the biometrics as soon as possible, and get ILR as soon as possible — comfortably before travelling on 13 September. If I've understood all of your advice and the caseworker guidance correctly — does all of this sound right?

Many thanks and apologies for all of the questions - it is confusing when I've getting mixed advice from a number of sources.

[zimba]

a) Correct. The earliest date of ILR eligibility is 11/09/2016 + 10 years - 28 days. You should aim for a ILR decision date on or after the date above.

You are getting conflicting information because many still do not fully understand the significant changes made to the long residence rules since April 2024. Since then, the rules under appendix continuous residence apply to the long residence route too and the old rules are gone.

I literally showed this change as item 1 here: Long Residence settlement route (effective 11 April 2024)

b) End of employment is NOT the same as end of your visa. Your HR does not have any power to cancel or invalidate your visa. They are simply required to report any changes to the UKVI and the UKVI decides what to do next. Your visa remains valid until expiry or until a given new expiry, if the UKVI decides to curtail your leave (often never even happens)

c) There are no service guarantees at all and every application is different. However, most applicants get a response within the set timeframe of super priority.

Also see: There’s a limit on how many people can apply for a faster decision

[Drsasau]

Hi Zimba,

I am following up on my previous posts in this thread as I am now at the final stage of my SET(LR) application. I am planning to submit this coming Friday, 14 August, at around 1am, hopefully using Super Priority if available.

I have now completed almost the entire online form, but there are a few points I would really appreciate clarification on before I submit.

1. Title on the application

My passport does not contain a title, but the SET(LR) form has a separate title dropdown and I selected “Doctor”, as I hold this title. My given name and surname are entered exactly as they appear in my passport.

Is it fine to select “Doctor” even though no title appears in the passport, or would you recommend using Mr instead?

2. “Date you first entered the UK” – physical entry date or visa valid-from date?

This is probably the main point I want to make absolutely sure about.

My Tier 4 visa for the period on which I am relying was:

valid from 11 September 2016
I physically first entered the UK under that permission on 19 September 2016

The form asks:

“When did you first enter the UK? This is the date you entered the UK when the period of stay you are basing this application on started.”

At the moment I have entered 19 September 2016, because that is literally the date I entered the country.

However, I understand from your previous posts that under the current Continuous Residence rules the qualifying period can include the period from the first visa/entry-clearance date, with the period before physical entry treated as an absence.

As I am relying on the 11 September 2016 visa valid-from date for my qualifying period, should I nevertheless answer this particular form question with the physical entry date of 19 September 2016, or should I enter 11 September 2016 here?

This is important because I am intending to apply on 14 August, 28 days before 11 September.

3. Pre-entry period as an absence

Related to the above, I have currently included the period 11 September 2016 to 19 September 2016 in my absence history.

Because the absence screen forces me to enter a “date you left the UK”, I entered:

Country: Malaysia
Left UK: 11/09/2016
Returned: 19/09/2016

and explained:

“Pre-entry period at the start of the 10-year Long Residence period relied upon. I was in Malaysia, my home country, awaiting the start of my Tier 4 visa and university studies. My Tier 4 entry clearance was valid from 11 September 2016 and I first entered the UK under that permission on 19 September 2016. Home Office Continuous Residence guidance treats the period between entry clearance becoming valid and first arrival as lawful residence, with the days spent overseas counted as an absence.”

Obviously I did not literally “leave the UK” on 11 September because I had not yet entered.

Is this the correct way to declare the pre-entry absence, or should I leave it out of the online absence section and explain it separately in a cover letter/absence schedule instead?

4. More absences than the online form allows

I have reached the maximum number of absence entries the online form will accept and still have approximately six further trips to declare.

Would you recommend uploading a separate Additional Absence Schedule showing, for each remaining trip:

date of departure
date of return
main country
reason for travel
number of days absent

Would this be better as a standalone document, or incorporated into a cover letter?

For context, I remain within the relevant absence limits. My calculations are:

514 days of absence before 11 April 2024, against the transitional 548-day limit
longest single pre-11 April 2024 absence: 162 days, below the 184-day limit
for absences after 11 April 2024, the highest total in any rolling 12-month period is approximately 49 days, well below 180 days

So this is purely an issue of the form not having enough entry fields rather than an absence-limit problem.

5. Social, cultural and family ties questions

I found this part of the form slightly strange and wanted to make sure I have interpreted it correctly.

For family ties, I answered Yes and explained that my parents and brother live in Malaysia, that I maintain regular and significant contact with them by telephone/WhatsApp/video calls, and that I see them when I visit Malaysia.

For friends, I answered Yes and stated that I maintain regular contact with several long-standing friends, including friends from university and A-levels who live in Malaysia. I also mentioned some Malaysian friends who currently live in London, as the UK is also a country in which I have lived for more than five years.

For social groups/cultural ties, I answered No, with the explanation:

“I am not currently a member of any formal social, cultural, community or other organised groups in Malaysia. My ongoing ties to Malaysia are primarily through my immediate family and long-standing friends, which I have detailed separately above.”

Does that seem like the correct way to approach these questions? In particular, is the question really just asking for a factual description of remaining ties rather than something that affects eligibility for Long Residence?

6. Cannabis warning and motoring penalties / possible Super Priority delay

I have fully declared the following:

one cannabis warning from December 2017 – a warning only, not a caution or criminal conviction, with no further action
three speeding endorsements from 2022, each carrying 3 points
one earlier speeding incident in 2020 where I completed a speed awareness course and received no points

The cannabis warning and the three point-bearing speeding matters were disclosed in my previous Skilled Worker applications without causing any issue, and the speed-awareness-course incident had also been disclosed previously.

All of the penalty points have now expired and my licence currently shows 0 active points. I have had no subsequent drug-related issues or criminal convictions.

I have declared everything again on SET(LR), including the spent matters.

Would you expect this history to cause any particular issue or potentially delay a Super Priority SET(LR) decision, given that it has already been disclosed and considered in previous successful applications?

7. “Other reasons for wanting to stay in the UK”

The form asks whether I have “any other reasons for wanting to stay in the UK” and gives examples involving children, serious ill health, etc.

I have currently selected:

“I do not have any other reasons for wanting to stay in the UK.”

My assumption is that this section is for someone relying on additional/human-rights or exceptional circumstances if they do not simply qualify under the Long Residence rules.

Obviously I have built my life in the UK, have my partner here and intend to continue my medical career here, but I did not think there was any benefit in repeating those obvious reasons in this section when I am applying because I meet the Long Residence requirements.

Is selecting “I do not have any other reasons” appropriate?

8. Documents – passports, partner evidence, BRPs and what actually needs uploading

Finally, the generated document checklist has raised a few questions.

It asks for:

my current Malaysian passport
all previous passports/travel documents/national identity cards used to travel to or remain in the UK
evidence of my relationship with my partner and correspondence covering the last two years
evidence of my partner’s immigration status
evidence of my own UK immigration status

Previous passports:
Do I need to scan and upload every page of every passport I have used during the 10-year period, including blank pages, or only the biodata/visa/stamp pages?

Partner evidence:
My partner and I only moved in together last week for the first time. We have a tenancy agreement in both our names, but naturally we cannot provide two years of correspondence at the same address because we did not live together previously.

I have seen your comments elsewhere that cohabitation evidence is not relevant to qualifying for ILR under Long Residence, as the applicant qualifies individually. Given that the form nevertheless generated this document requirement, should I simply upload the joint tenancy agreement and explain that we only recently began cohabiting, or is this relationship documentation unnecessary altogether?

Similarly, is there any need to upload my partner’s passport/eVisa/status evidence simply because the checklist asks for it?

Old BRPs:
I now have an eVisa. I have photographs/scans of most of my historical BRPs but I may be missing one BRP from somewhere within the 10-year period. Is that a problem? Do I need to provide every historical BRP, or are the passports/current eVisa and Home Office immigration records sufficient?

Overall document list:
Would the following broadly be sufficient for a straightforward SET(LR) application?

current passport
previous passports covering the qualifying period
current eVisa/status evidence
available copies of historic BRPs
additional absence schedule for the trips that would not fit into the online form
joint tenancy/brief relationship explanation if actually required
consent/declaration form generated by the application
any English/Life in the UK evidence requested by the system

Is there anything else you would specifically recommend uploading, or anything above that is unnecessary?

Apologies for the long post. I wanted to put all of the remaining questions together rather than make multiple separate posts. I have gone through the current Long Residence and Continuous Residence guidance carefully and believe I meet the requirements; these are mainly questions about how the online form should be completed and how best to present the evidence.

Many thanks again for all your previous help.

[zimba]

1. Titles do not appear in any passport. So when they ask that, they are not asking for something that is in the passport. You select your own title

2. The date you first entered the UK. This question and date has NO connection to the qualifying period calculation

3. You do NOT need to enter the gap between visa issue date and first entry

4. Use a separate sheet

5. Provide minimal info. Not important at all

6. Only convictions matter, you do not need to declare everything

7. You do NOT need to provide other reasons to stay in the UK. If you do, the form asks for extra evidence of such reasons and that confuses you

8. A long residence application has NOTHING to do with your partner at all. You must apply on your own and qualify on your own. Do not provide any document for them. You do not need to send eVisa or old BRPS. These are issued by the UKVI and are not needed to be sent to them again. Only stamps over the 10 years need to be uploaded. Minimal documents needed just Passports, LIUK and English language evidence

[Drsasau]

Thanks Zimba, that clears up most of my questions. I just wanted to clarify one final point regarding the qualifying-period start date.

I will keep 19 September 2016 as the answer to “when did you first enter the UK”, as you said that question has no connection to the qualifying-period calculation.

However, my Tier 4 vignette was valid from 11 September 2016, and I am planning to submit my SET(LR) application at around 1am on 14 August 2026, i.e. 28 days before 11 September 2026. I understand that the qualifying period is calculated backwards from the relevant date and that, where more favourable, the caseworker can potentially use the date of decision rather than simply the application date. My concern is that if I submit on 14 August, obtain biometrics as soon as possible, perhaps the next day, and receive a Super Priority decision on anywhere between 16 - 21 August, this would still be more than 28 days before the 10-year anniversary of my physical entry on 19 September 2016. I calculate 28 days before 19 September as 22 August.

There also appears to be nowhere else in the online application where I am asked for, or able to state, that my Tier 4 entry clearance was valid from 11 September 2016. The form records my physical first-entry date as 19 September, but does not separately record the visa valid-from date on which I am relying for the qualifying-period calculation. That is why I am slightly concerned about leaving the caseworker to infer the 11 September date solely from my passport/vignette or UKVI records.

Since I am relying on 11 September 2016 as the start of the 10-year qualifying period, do I need to state this anywhere specifically for the caseworker?

Would you recommend:

simply uploading the passport/vignette showing the 11 September 2016 valid-from date and letting UKVI calculate it from their own records; or
mentioning in a short cover letter that I am relying on the 11 September 2016 visa valid-from date for the qualifying-period calculation?

I just want to avoid a situation where, because the application only explicitly records my first physical entry as 19 September 2016, the caseworker treats that as the start of the qualifying period and considers the application too early.

Many thanks again.

[zimba]

Your answers on the form have NO connection to the qualifying period calculation at all. The rules determine how this is calculated, NOT your answers on the form. Refrain from making up your own rules. Your personal concerns do not become rules and are not relevant.

The date of your entry is irrelevant. Please READ the advice given to you above in the link. There is also no starting period of your qualifying period, as you cannot rely on a historical 10 years. The qualifying period is strictly counted backwards and can include up to the very first visa issue date. Read both of the links below again, very carefully:

Long Residence settlement route (effective 11 April 2024)
All you need to know about applying early, the application date, 28-day concession and more

You do not need to tell UKVI to follow the rules or tell them about your immigration history. The UKVI uses the immigration rules to determine your eligibility, not what you say on the form or the application.