ILR Priority Service: Availability, Cost and Decision Times
The ILR Priority service costs £500 per applicant and usually aims to deliver a decision within five working days. It is not available for every settlement route or identity method, and an eligible applicant may still find that no Priority place is offered when they apply. Check the official route table and the choices shown in your own application before planning around the five-day target.
This guide was checked on 26 August 2026. ILR Calculator UK is independent of the Home Office and provides general information, not legal advice or a prediction of your application outcome.
Start with your settlement route, not the word “priority”
The five-working-day service is one of several faster-decision options. The official faster-decision guide describes Priority as an additional £500 service for eligible applications. Super Priority is a separate £1,000 option with a next-working-day target, while Standard follows the normal service standard for the route.
Those labels do not mean every ILR applicant can choose between all three. The current eligible settlement applications table distinguishes the route, whether identity is proved at a UKVCAS appointment, and whether the UK Immigration: ID Check app is used.
| In-country settlement application | Priority within 5 working days at UKVCAS | Next-working-day service at UKVCAS | Priority using ID Check app |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work, business or investment settlement through SET(O) | Yes | No | No |
| Partner or parent settlement through SET(M) | No | Yes | No |
| Long Residence | No | Yes | No |
| UK Ancestry settlement through SET(O) | No | Yes | No |
| Innovator Founder settlement | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hong Kong BN(O) settlement, including listed dependant settlement | Yes | No | Yes |
This is why “ILR Priority” cannot be treated as a universal checkout choice. A Skilled Worker applicant settling through the work/business/investment SET(O) row can be eligible for the five-day service at UKVCAS, while a partner using SET(M) is directed to the next-working-day column rather than Priority. Long Residence follows a different pattern again.
The table is an eligibility check, not a reservation. GOV.UK says faster-decision capacity is limited. If the relevant option is not offered during the application, the applicant can continue with Standard; eligibility does not create a right to a slot on a particular day.
What the £500 buys—and what it does not
Priority is charged on top of the application fee. The Home Office fee table effective from 8 April 2026 lists the in-country indefinite leave to remain fee as £3,226 for a main applicant or dependant and the Priority service as £500. Where that ordinary ILR fee applies, the combined Home Office payment is therefore £3,726 per person before any separate commercial appointment or advice charges.
| Applicants using Priority | ILR application fees | Priority fees | Combined Home Office total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | £3,226 | £500 | £3,726 |
| 2 | £6,452 | £1,000 | £7,452 |
| 3 | £9,678 | £1,500 | £11,178 |
Each family member pays the faster-service fee. GOV.UK says family members applying together receive their decisions at the same time, and an in-person biometric requirement for one family member can make the decision take longer.
The payment buys prioritised processing against a service target. It does not improve the legal merits, excuse missing evidence, make a route eligible earlier or guarantee approval. It also does not turn the day the online form was started into day one of the five-working-day period.
When the five-working-day clock starts
The start depends on how identity is proved.
If you attend a UKVCAS appointment
For an eligible Priority application using an in-person appointment, GOV.UK says the five-working-day period starts on the day of the appointment. Submitting and paying on Monday does not start the Priority clock if the biometric appointment is on Thursday. Keep the appointment confirmation because it anchors the calculation.
If you use the ID Check app
Where the official settlement table allows Priority through the app, the time starts on the working day after you finish uploading your documents. Completing the identity scan but leaving evidence unfinished does not start the clock. Save the upload confirmation and the date on which the application journey records completion.
The decision period ends when the Home Office sends a letter or email saying a decision has been made. It does not run until an eVisa account is updated, a separate document arrives or another practical consequence of the decision is completed.
Check readiness before paying for speed
Most listed in-country settlement routes have a six-month customer service standard, so reducing the decision target to five working days can have real planning value. The benefit is weakest when the application is not ready to be decided.
Use this check before choosing Priority:
- Confirm the exact settlement row. Do not copy the faster option from an extension application, another family member or a different SET form.
- Check the qualifying date. Priority changes processing speed, not the date on which the residence or route requirements are met.
- Reconcile the form and evidence. Names, travel dates, employment facts, salary figures and uploaded documents should tell the same story.
- Resolve known complications. An unexplained absence, criminality issue, broken residence period or missing route evidence will not become straightforward because the fee was paid.
- Budget per person. Include every applicant and keep private appointment or scanning charges separate from the £500 Home Office service fee.
- Treat the live offer as final. If Priority is not shown, do not submit on the assumption that a rumoured release time or repeated refresh will create a valid entitlement.
The Home Office can take longer where it needs more information or must check details with another government department. Once requested information is received, GOV.UK says the application will be prioritised, but it does not replace the missed time with a fresh guaranteed five-day outcome.
Priority, Standard or Super Priority?
The right comparison begins with what your route actually offers.
| Situation | Better planning question |
|---|---|
| Priority is eligible and a place is offered | Is a five-working-day target worth £500 per person for a complete, decision-ready case? |
| Only Super Priority is listed for the route | Is the next-working-day target worth £1,000 per person, or is Standard acceptable? |
| No faster option appears | Can plans remain conditional while the Standard application is processed? |
| The evidence needs clarification | Can the issue be resolved before submission instead of paying to place an unclear case in a faster queue? |
| Several family members apply together | Does the time benefit justify the full family fee, knowing one member's identity step may affect the group? |
Priority can be rational when a decision affects a time-sensitive but still conditional plan and the application is ready. Standard can be the sounder choice when the extra speed has little practical value, the route does not offer Priority, or evidence work matters more than queue position. Super Priority is not simply a better version of Priority: availability differs by settlement route, and the price and target are different.
Avoid making non-refundable travel, employment or financial commitments depend on the advertised time. A target is useful for planning a range, not for promising that a particular email will arrive by a fixed hour.
If five working days pass without a decision
A late decision does not automatically create a refund. The official Priority and Super Priority refund rules say that an applicant who is not cancelling will not usually receive the faster-service fee back. There is no refund where the Home Office missed the target because it needed more information or evidence. A refund may be considered individually where the delay was caused by something outside the applicant's control, such as an official technical problem.
If the target passes, first check the email address and spam folder used for the application. Read any request for evidence and respond through the stated channel by its deadline. Keep the application reference, payment record, appointment or app confirmation, upload confirmation and every message. Those records establish the service purchased and the point from which the target ran.
Do not treat refusal as a service failure. The refund guidance says a refused application does not receive a faster-service refund. Priority changes how the case is queued; it does not purchase a grant.
The next question is whether faster handling changes the real risk
The route table, price and clock can all be checked before payment. The harder judgment is whether a faster decision would solve the applicant's actual problem. If the pressure comes from an approaching eligibility date, missing evidence, planned travel or uncertainty over current permission, Priority may accelerate the answer without removing the underlying risk.
That distinction will matter whenever the Home Office changes eligible routes, identity methods, capacity or fees. Recheck the live GOV.UK table at the point of application even if you checked it while planning weeks earlier. If the route or immigration position is unclear, resolve that question before using speed as the deciding factor.
Frequently asked questions
How much does ILR Priority service cost in 2026?
The Priority service costs £500 for each applicant, in addition to the ILR application fee. The in-country ILR fee is £3,226 from 8 April 2026, so the combined Home Office amount is £3,726 per person where that standard ILR fee applies. A couple both using Priority would pay two application fees and two Priority fees. Separate UKVCAS, scanning or advice charges are not included in that calculation.
Is Priority service available for every ILR route?
No. Availability depends on the exact settlement application and the way identity is proved. The current official table lists five-working-day Priority for work, business or investment settlement through SET(O), but not for SET(M), Long Residence or UK Ancestry settlement. Some routes have Super Priority instead. Even where a route is eligible, capacity is limited, so the live application may offer only Standard at that time.
When do the five working days start for ILR Priority?
For an in-person UKVCAS route, the Priority period starts on the day of the identity appointment. For an eligible ID Check app route, it starts on the working day after you finish uploading the documents. It does not normally start when you begin the form or make an earlier payment. Keep the appointment or upload confirmation so you can identify the correct start point if the target later appears to have passed.
Can I add Priority service after submitting my ILR application?
Do not plan on upgrading later. GOV.UK says eligible applicants choose the faster service when they apply, and the offer depends on the route, identity method and available capacity. If Priority is not displayed, completing a Standard application does not reserve a later upgrade. Before payment, make sure the option shown is attached to the correct settlement application and that the extra cost is worthwhile for every family member applying with you.
Is a five-working-day ILR decision guaranteed?
No. Five working days is the usual Priority target, not an approval or timing guarantee. The Home Office may need further evidence, checks with another department or more time to consider the facts. Paying for Priority does not make an incomplete or complex application straightforward. Keep plans conditional, monitor the contact details used in the form and respond to any request by the stated deadline rather than assuming silence means approval is imminent.
Do I get the £500 back if the Priority decision is late?
Not automatically. The public refund rules say applicants who are not cancelling will not usually receive the fee back, and no refund is due where the delay followed a request for more information or evidence. A refund may be considered individually when something outside the applicant's control, such as an official technical problem, prevented an on-time decision. Keep the payment and timeline records and follow the official instructions for your circumstances.
