Skilled Worker ILR calculator and checklist

This route is for people completing a qualifying period under eligible work routes. Some predecessor work permissions may combine, but do not assume every visa counts. Check the current Immigration Rules and route guidance for your own permission history.

The usual test is no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period during the qualifying period. Count full days abroad, not departure and return days. Earlier transitional rules can matter for older qualifying periods.

Your sponsor normally needs to confirm that it still requires you in the relevant role and that you will be paid the required salary. The salary threshold and going-rate position can depend on the Rules and transitional provisions applying to you. Do not use an old headline threshold as a substitute for current evidence.

1. Use the date calculator, then audit absences.
2. Ask your sponsor for the required confirmation early.
3. Prepare payslips, bank statements, passport and test evidence.
4. Check the current fee and application service before submitting.

Read GOV.UK: settle in the UK as a Skilled Worker and the continuous residence caseworker guidance. Check the current Immigration Rules before applying. Not legal advice.

Amira's qualifying Skilled Worker permission began on 1 November 2021. If her continuous residence is intact, the five-year point is 1 November 2026 and the usual earliest application window is 4 October 2026. That date is only useful if the sponsor confirmation, salary and going-rate requirements are satisfied on application. A trip total of 160 days in 2025 alone is not decisive: she must test every rolling 12-month period across the whole qualifying period.

• Changing employer: a change of sponsor does not necessarily restart the clock, but confirm that each period is an eligible permission.
• Changing occupation or salary: check the current pay against the applicable settlement rule, not a historic certificate figure.
• Dependent family: a dependant normally establishes their own qualifying period and may not be ready at the same time.
• Travel near expiry: retain entry and exit evidence where an absence sits close to a rolling-window limit.

The employment test is more than a bundle of payslips. The sponsoring organisation normally confirms that it still requires you to work for it for the foreseeable future and that you will be paid at least the required salary. Ask the sponsor’s HR or immigration contact for this confirmation early, but do not draft it from an out-of-date template. The applicable salary and going-rate provisions can turn on the route, job and transitional rules relevant to your history.

Check that the role description, occupation code, pay frequency and bank credits all tell the same story. If pay has varied because of unpaid leave, maternity or parental leave, a change in hours or a payroll correction, keep the records which explain it.

• Current and previous passports, eVisa proof, grant notices and application confirmations.
• A complete travel ledger with source documents for every absence.
• Sponsor confirmation addressed to the settlement requirements.
• Payslips, bank statements and any explanation for salary variations.
• Life in the UK pass reference and English-language evidence, unless exempt.
• Documents for each dependant’s independent qualifying period, if applying as a family.

Applicants sometimes count from their first day at work rather than the start of qualifying permission; use the immigration record. Others total absences by calendar year, overlook short business trips, or assume that a new sponsor destroys all previous qualifying time. Another common error is relying on the salary printed on an old certificate while the settlement rules ask a different question at the application date. Each issue is fixable only if spotted before submission.

1. Confirm the earliest application date and audit every rolling 12-month absence window.
2. Ask the sponsor for a current confirmation and reconcile salary documents.
3. Read the GOV.UK route page and the relevant Immigration Rules immediately before applying.
4. Prepare the online application before the window opens, but submit only when eligible and while leave remains valid.
5. Seek regulated advice where eligibility relies on an older work category, a gap or an unusual salary history.

Use the linked GOV.UK Skilled Worker settlement guidance as the starting point, then check the version of the Immigration Rules in force on the day you apply. This page helps plan an evidence-led application; it is not legal advice or a promise of a Home Office decision.

Jordan spent three years with Sponsor A and two with Sponsor B on eligible Skilled Worker permission. A sponsor change does not automatically erase the earlier years, but Jordan must prove every grant, test absences across the whole qualifying period and obtain the required current confirmation from Sponsor B. If a role changed midway, the relevant salary evidence should explain the change rather than leaving apparently inconsistent payslips unexplained.

For the standard five-year route, the practical question is not simply whether you have lived and worked in the UK for five years. You need to identify a qualifying period of permission on routes which the settlement rules allow to be combined, show continuous residence, meet the knowledge of language and life requirement unless exempt, and meet suitability requirements. On the application date, the sponsor normally needs to confirm it still requires you to work in the relevant job for the foreseeable future and that you will be paid at least the salary required for settlement.

That final employment confirmation is why a strong historic residence record alone is not enough. A person may have a clear five-year timeline but be unable to rely on it if the present role, sponsor evidence or applicable salary requirement is not met. Equally, a later change of sponsor is not automatically fatal: it is the qualifying permission history and current requirements that need to be checked. The calculator provides a planning date; it does not determine whether a particular historic category, occupation or pay arrangement qualifies.

For most current Skilled Worker settlement cases, the familiar limit is no more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month period. Count the full days spent outside the UK and test moving periods across the whole qualifying residence period; a January-to-December total is not the test. Keep a dated travel ledger, including business trips, trips in old passports and short journeys which may appear in booking records.

Older Tier 2 history needs a separate check. In particular, where qualifying residence includes permission granted before 11 January 2018, transitional continuous-residence provisions may be relevant. Do not assume the present rolling rule can simply be applied backwards, or that an old calendar-year travel total answers the question. Mark the start and end of each permission period, identify the rule version applicable to it, and read the current caseworker guidance and Immigration Rules. If the result depends on a pre-11 January 2018 Tier 2 period, this is a sensible point to obtain regulated advice.

Collect more than the latest payslip. A useful bundle usually includes a current contract or job description where relevant, recent payslips, corresponding bank statements, and an employer letter or sponsor confirmation that addresses the role, ongoing need and pay. The precise documents and salary calculation depend on the rules, so avoid copying another applicant’s checklist. Your evidence should explain the figures the caseworker will see.

For example, Elena’s annual salary is correct on her contract, but two months of payslips show a lower amount after unpaid leave. Her bundle includes the leave approval and payroll explanation, so the apparent discrepancy is not left unexplained. Another applicant receives a regular allowance; that does not mean it counts in the required salary figure. Check the rule rather than adding every item on a payslip. Salary sacrifice, overtime, variable hours and a recent promotion all deserve a document-led review.

Use the payroll and tax evidence guide to reconcile sponsor, payslip, bank and tax records without treating them as a universal ILR checklist.

• Identity and status: current and expired passports, eVisa evidence, grant notices and proof of any in-time application.
• Qualifying route history: a table showing dates, sponsor changes, visa category and supporting grant record for each period.
• Travel: a full absence ledger reconciled to passport pages, bookings, employer travel records and any overseas assignment.
• Current employment: the required sponsor confirmation, current role details, payslips and matching bank statements.
• Knowledge requirement: Life in the UK pass reference and English-language evidence unless an exemption applies.
• Dependants: separate grants, absences and settlement requirements for every person included.

Label files by date and topic. The objective is not volume: it is a straightforward path from each claimed fact to reliable evidence.

Can I count time before my most recent visa? Possibly only if the route combination is permitted. Identify every grant rather than relying on an employment history. Does a promotion restart the five years? Not automatically, but it may change the evidence or salary question. Do business trips count as absences? Usually they belong in the travel calculation; their business purpose does not remove them from the ledger. Can I apply while changing employer? This is fact-specific: check your current permission, sponsor situation and application route before acting. What if the sponsor will not provide a confirmation? Do not assume other documents replace a required sponsor confirmation; obtain route-specific advice before submitting.

On the day you intend to apply, compare the draft form with the current passport, eVisa status, sponsor confirmation and travel ledger. Make sure no post-calculator journey has changed the rolling absence calculation. Confirm the sponsor letter is current and refers to the role actually held, not a historic certificate or a future job. Save copies of the completed form, upload list and payment confirmation. If current leave is approaching expiry and the settlement case is not ready, do not let the application timetable become a substitute for checking extension options.

Official rules and guidance, not this page, control the result. Where a pre-11 January 2018 Tier 2 period, a salary exception, a visa gap or a complex change of employment is decisive, get regulated immigration advice before submitting an irreversible application.

1. Six months out: list all grants and sponsors, download travel history and identify whether any older Tier 2 period needs specialist checking.
2. Three months out: reconcile every trip, book Life in the UK if needed, and ask HR who will provide the required confirmation.
3. One month out: compare current salary, duties and pay records with the applicable settlement requirements, and resolve any discrepancy in writing.
4. Application week: re-check the absence calculation, route dates, form version, passports and sponsor letter.

This is a preparation aid rather than a statutory timetable. Its purpose is to discover missing evidence while there is still time to correct the record, not to create pressure to apply on the first possible day.

Ask whether the sponsor can confirm the precise facts required for settlement, including its continuing need for your role and the applicable pay. Ask how a leave period, salary adjustment, promotion or change in contracted hours appears in payroll records. Keep answers and supporting documents. The applicant remains responsible for the settlement application, but an early, factual conversation avoids a last-minute letter that does not address the relevant question.

Keep the calculator’s result beside the evidence timeline, not instead of it. The date is only usable when the qualifying route, absence record, sponsor confirmation and present salary position line up on the actual day of online submission.

Can I apply exactly five years after my first job started? Not necessarily. The relevant immigration permission and eligible route history matter, rather than only an employment start date.

Must I still work for the sponsor? The application normally requires the sponsor's confirmation that it needs you in the relevant role and that you will be paid the required salary.

Can I combine every work visa? No. Check the permitted combinations in the current Immigration Rules before calculating.