ILR (Long Residence) Approved
Sharing my timeline/process because seeing other people's in the past has been really comforting for me during this journey!
- First Entry to UK: 5 September 2016 (visa granted from 29 August)
- Visas: Student Visa, Youth Mobility Scheme Visa, Student Visa, Graduate Visa
- Life in the UK Test: 23 March 2026
I studied using the Life in the UK test website that gets recommended on r/ukvisa. I booked the test three weeks out and focused on regularly taking the first seventeen practice tests until I was familiar with the answers and style of questions. Most of the questions I got on my actual test came from those seventeen practice tests.
I did read the entire book and completed all the other practice tests. That was probably overkill, but it helped me put the historical details into a context and narrative that was easier for me to remember.
(My partner also showed me the film Cromwell, which obviously isn't a historically accurate textbook, but it did help me understand and remember the details of the English Civil War, which I got multiple questions about on my test. I'm not necessarily recommending that film in particular, but more generally, I think the test became a bit easier to stomach when I turned it into an exercise about learning the story the UK tells about itself rather than about memorizing random, decontextualized facts. Your mileage may vary!)
- Applied: 6 August 2026
I applied for ILR within 28 days of my grant clearance (rather than my first entry date) per the continuous residence guidance (see §6.3).
- Documents: 1) Full scans of every page, including front and back covers, of all the passports I've used during my ten years here. 2) A scan of my expired BRP.
I used the scanner in the Notes app on my phone and then compressed the PDFs with ilovePDF.com to get them under 7.5 mb.
- Service: Super Priority
I found a slot the first night I tried. I opened the payment page at 12:58 am and refreshed every twenty seconds or so until a slot showed up (between 1:00 and 1:01).
- Biometrics: 10 August 2026 (11 am)
- Decision received: 11 August 2026 (12 pm)