About ILR Calculator UK
An independent, free resource that turns the published UK Immigration Rules into clear settlement calculators and plain-English guides.
Who we are
ILR Calculator UK is an independent publisher of free tools and guides about Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and British citizenship. The site is edited and maintained by Howard Wilson. The work is research and plain-English explanation of published UK immigration material; Howard is not presented as a solicitor or regulated immigration adviser. We are not a law firm, and we do not provide immigration advice, what we do is read the primary sources carefully and present them in a form that is actually usable.
The site was created to solve a specific problem: the rules around UK settlement are long, technical and change several times a year, and small miscalculations, a miscounted absence, an application filed a week too early, can cost applicants thousands of pounds in non-refundable fees and months of delay. Our calculators are built directly from the published rules so you can check your position in seconds, for free, without handing over your data.
Our mission
To make the UK settlement process understandable. Every calculator and guide on this site is built from the published Home Office Immigration Rules, Home Office caseworker guidance and GOV.UK, with the source linked at the point we rely on it, so you can always check our work rather than take it on trust. We charge nothing to use the tools, because clear information about your own immigration status should not be behind a paywall.
Why you can trust our information
Built from primary sources
Every figure, date and threshold comes from the Immigration Rules, Home Office guidance or GOV.UK, cited on the page, not paraphrased from other websites.
Reviewed and dated
Each page carries the date its content was last checked against the rules in force, so you can see how current it is at a glance.
Plain English, no jargon
Written for applicants, not lawyers. We explain what a rule means in practice and where it commonly catches people out.
Private and free
The calculators run in your browser. There is no sign-up, no email wall, and we do not store or sell the dates you enter.
How we research and update our content
We are transparent about our method and limitations:
- Primary sources first. We work from the Immigration Rules and their appendices, Home Office caseworker guidance, Statements of Changes laid before Parliament, and GOV.UK fee tables, not from summaries published by other sites.
- We track changes. We monitor each Statement of Changes and fee uplift. When a rule changes, an absence threshold, a qualifying period, a fee, an English language level, we update the affected calculators and guides and re-date them.
- We separate law from proposals. Where something has been announced or consulted on but is not yet law, we label it clearly as a proposal rather than presenting it as a rule in force.
- We show our workings. Key figures sit in sourced tables with a link to the GOV.UK page they come from, so you can verify anything you rely on.
We would rather be corrected than be wrong. If you spot something out of date, ambiguous or simply mistaken, please tell us via our contact page. We check every report against the current rules, correct what needs correcting, and update the review date on the page.
What we are, and what we are not
Being clear about our limits matters more than sounding impressive. So, plainly:
- We are an independent editorial publisher producing free research-based information tools about UK settlement and citizenship.
- We are not a law firm, a firm of solicitors, or a regulated immigration advice provider, and we are not affiliated with the Home Office or any government department.
- We do not give immigration advice, take on cases, represent applicants, or tell you whether your individual application will succeed.
Our calculators produce estimates based on the information you enter and the rules as we understand them. They are a planning aid, not a decision. The Home Office decides applications on their own facts and evidence, and it can and does exercise discretion.
If your case involves excess absences, a refusal or appeal, criminal or good-character issues, combined or switched visa categories, or compassionate circumstances, you should speak to someone regulated to advise you. You can find one free of charge on the GOV.UK register of immigration advisers, maintained by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA, formerly the OISC), or through the Law Society’s Find a Solicitor service.
How this site is funded
ILR Calculator UK is free to use and always will be. We do not charge for the calculators or guides, we do not sell user data, and we do not take payment to feature, recommend or link to any adviser, law firm or service. Where we point you towards professional help, we send you to the official public registers, the GOV.UK adviser register and the Law Society, precisely because they are impartial and free to search.
Running costs are currently covered by the site’s owner. The site has applied to display third-party advertising. If advertising is introduced, it will be labelled and will not influence the editorial content or the official sources used.
Explore our tools and guides
Free calculators and in-depth guides covering every stage from settlement to citizenship.
Contact us
We welcome corrections, questions about how a calculator works, and feedback on our guides. The fastest way to reach the editorial team is through our contact page. Please note that we cannot advise on individual immigration cases or review personal documents, for that, use a regulated adviser.