Author: Ali Sirti
Information checked: 2 September 2026.
Holding Indefinite Leave to Remain does not mean British citizenship follows automatically. A naturalisation application involves separate checks on your absences from the UK, the exact date you apply, whether your residence was lawful throughout, the good character requirement and your supporting evidence. Choosing the application date a few days incorrectly can be enough to affect eligibility.
Is the qualifying period 5 years or 3 years?
Applicants who are not married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen normally need to meet the 5-year residence requirement.
They must also:
- Hold ILR, settled status or another qualifying permanent status on the date of application
- Have been free from immigration time restrictions for at least 12 months
- Have been physically present in the UK exactly 5 years before the application date
Where the applicant is married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen, the relevant period is normally 3 years and there is no additional 12-month wait after obtaining ILR. Applying on that basis can therefore be possible as soon as permanent status is granted.
Beyond residence, applicants must be 18 or over and of sound mind, meet the English language requirement at B1, and pass the Life in the UK Test. There is one further difference between the two routes that is often missed: the requirement to intend to continue living in the UK applies on the 5-year route but not to spouses and civil partners of British citizens applying on the 3-year route.
Two separate B2 changes are in circulation and mixing them up is a common and costly error. The change that took effect on 8 January 2026 raised the English requirement to B2 for first-time Skilled Worker, Scale-up and High Potential Individual applicants, at the visa stage. A second, separate change raises the requirement for settlement from B1 to B2, but only for applications made on or after 26 March 2027. Neither of them affects naturalisation, where the requirement remains B1. Holding ILR does not mean you need to retest for citizenship.
How many days can you spend outside the UK?
The normal limits are:
| Application | Qualifying period | Normal overall limit | Final 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard naturalisation | 5 years | 450 days | 90 days |
| Spouse or civil partner of a British citizen | 3 years | 270 days | 90 days |
Only whole days of absence are normally counted, so the dates of departure from and return to the UK are not treated as days of absence.
Exceeding these figures does not automatically result in refusal. Home Office guidance allows discretion in defined circumstances, and absences caused by an inability to return during a global pandemic are expressly recognised. However, applicants should not assume discretion will be exercised, and should calculate their travel history against passport stamps and travel records rather than from memory.
Another commonly overlooked requirement is being physically present in the UK exactly 5 years, or 3 years where applicable, before the application date. This is a single-day test on a single date and it is separate from the overall absence calculation. Applications are refused every year because the applicant happened to be abroad on that one day.
Lawful residence is a separate requirement
Staying within the absence limits is not the same thing as having lawful residence. An applicant must also not have been in breach of the immigration laws at any point during the qualifying period.
Short gaps between one grant of leave and the next, periods of overstaying while an application was being prepared, and working in breach of visa conditions all fall under this heading. The Home Office can exercise discretion, but this is a distinct statutory requirement and a distinct ground of refusal, so it needs checking separately from the absence calculation.
What does “good character” mean?
Good character is much broader than having no criminal convictions.
Depending on the circumstances, the Home Office can consider:
- Criminal convictions and pending proceedings
- Immigration compliance, including the method of entry to the UK
- False or misleading information in previous applications
- Failure to meet tax obligations
- Serious financial issues
- Deception or dishonesty
Failure to pay tax for which a person is liable is expressly identified in guidance as relevant to financial soundness. Deception in previous immigration or citizenship applications can have serious consequences. Applicants should answer good character questions fully and accurately rather than assuming an issue is too old or too minor to disclose.
Illegal entry: the question we are asked most often
We are contacted regularly by people who entered the UK illegally many years ago, have since built a settled and lawful life here, hold ILR, and assume that the passage of time has resolved the issue. Since February 2025, it has not.
Home Office guidance provides that an application made from 10 February 2025 by a person who previously entered the UK illegally will normally be refused, regardless of how much time has passed since the entry. Arrival without valid entry clearance after a dangerous journey is treated the same way, and a dangerous journey expressly includes travelling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle. It does not include arriving as a passenger on a commercial flight. The previous position, under which breaches older than ten years could be set aside, no longer applies.
The guidance was updated again in April 2026 and the current version is clearer about when that starting point gives way. It is normally appropriate to disregard an immigration breach where it was outside the applicant’s control, and two examples are given: people who were under the control of traffickers, and children.
If you entered the UK as a child
This is the most important exception in practice, and it is frequently missed.
Where a person entered the UK illegally while under 18, the entry is normally treated as having been outside their control, because a child cannot reasonably be held responsible for how they were brought into the country. The Home Office has confirmed that most children would not be held accountable for that immigration breach, and that the February 2025 changes did not alter this position. The current guidance gives children as an express example of circumstances in which illegal entry should usually be disregarded.
So a person who arrived as a minor, and who now meets the residence, language and other requirements, can generally proceed. Two practical points follow. First, this is a discretionary assessment made by an individual caseworker, not an automatic exemption, so the application should set out plainly that the applicant was a child at the time and why the entry was outside their control. Second, evidence of age at the date of entry matters, and it should be consistent with what was recorded in any earlier immigration application.
Adults who entered illegally as adults are in a materially different position. It is not always fatal, and refugees with a valid Article 31 defence must not be refused on the basis of their method of entry alone, but the starting point is refusal. There is no right of appeal against a citizenship refusal, and the fee is not refunded. Where a reconsideration is sought after a refusal, the Home Office expects the request within six months of the decision date. Anyone in this position should take advice before paying the fee rather than after.
What supporting documents are required?
The precise documents depend on the applicant, but commonly relevant evidence includes:
- Current and relevant previous passports
- Evidence of ILR or settled status
- Life in the UK Test details
- Evidence of meeting the English language requirement
- Two suitable referees
- Additional evidence of residence or travel where necessary
- Appropriate translations for documents not in English or Welsh
A naturalisation application must be endorsed by two referees. One must be a professional person. The other must hold a British citizen passport and either be a professional person or be over 25. Both should normally have known the applicant for at least three years.
Applicants relying on marriage or civil partnership with a British citizen also need evidence of their partner’s British citizenship and the marriage or civil partnership certificate.
Cost and timing
For applications made on or after 8 April 2026, the adult naturalisation fee is £1,839, made up of a £1,709 application fee and a £130 citizenship ceremony fee. The application fee is not refunded if the application is refused. Decisions commonly take around six months, and you become a British citizen at the ceremony rather than at the point of approval.
Since 6 July 2026 there is also an optional Priority Service costing £500 on top of the standard fee, with a target decision within 30 working days of biometric submission. It has to be selected when the application is made, an application already submitted cannot be upgraded to it, and it changes speed only. Where something in the background is unresolved, paying for priority produces a faster refusal rather than a better outcome.
What may change
The government’s earned settlement proposals would extend the standard qualifying period for settlement, which would in turn delay citizenship for people still working towards ILR. The consultation closed on 12 February 2026 with more than 200,000 responses. As at the date of this article the government has not published its response, and no Statement of Changes introducing the framework has been laid before Parliament. Qualifying periods, thresholds and transitional arrangements can all still change.
Nothing has changed for people who already hold ILR or settled status. The current 5-year and 3-year naturalisation rules continue to apply.
Conclusion
For British citizenship, having lived in the UK for several years and holding ILR is the start of the assessment rather than the end of it.
Choosing the correct application date, calculating absences, confirming that residence was lawful throughout, reviewing good character history and preparing the right evidence are the checks worth completing before the fee is spent.
Leon Advisers provides British citizenship eligibility assessments, absence calculations, good character reviews, document preparation and application support.
This article provides general information. Naturalisation applications are assessed on their individual circumstances and the Home Office has discretion in certain areas. Based on Home Office guidance and legislation in force at the date shown above.