Are you in the UK without immigration status (a visa)? Getting regular status can be difficult, and there is lots of advice out there. Some of this advice is not up-to-date, and people may ask for lots of money for legal advice, even if they are not qualified to give it. 

This page contains information about some of the ways that people without status can apply for a visa. This page was written in September 2022 and will be updated regularly. 

This page has information on the different routes people can use to apply for status, and what kind of status people get if they are successful.  

If you are in the UK without immigration status, you can call our helpline and get advice from an immigration lawyer for free. The helpline is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10:00 and 13:00. You can call 020 7553 7470 to speak to somebody. 

You can also contact your local Law Centre to ask for some advice. You can find your local Law Centre here.

This page contains advice on:

Routes for people who have lived in the UK for a long time

Routes for young people

Routes for people with a partner in the UK

Routes for people with a child in the UK

Routes if you need protection

Trafficking / modern slavery

Routes for people who have lived in the UK for a long time 

• If you are an adult who has been in the UK for more than 20 years, you can apply for something called ‘limited leave to remain’. 
• If you are an adult who has been in the UK for less than 20 years, you can apply for status if you can prove that you would have ‘very significant problems’ living in your country of birth.  

If you cannot afford the application fee, you can apply for something called a ‘fee waiver.’ This is where you prove to the Home Office that you cannot afford the fee. Our guidance on applying for a fee waiver is here. 

If your application is successful, you will get a visa for 2.5 years. On this visa, you will have the right to work, but you will not automatically be allowed to claim benefits (this is called having ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’). However, you can state your personal circumstances when you apply (for example, if you are a single parent), and you may be granted access to benefits with your visa. 

After 2.5 years, you will have to apply for another visa. You can apply for permanent status (‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’) after 10 years, so after 4 visas of 2.5 years each. If you are an adult who has already mostly had status for 10 years, but has had short periods without status for ‘good reasons’ or due to ‘exceptional circumstances’, you may still be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain 

 

Routes for young people 

• If you are under 18 and have lived in the UK for 7 years, you can apply for status. You will have to prove that it would be ‘unreasonable’ to expect you to leave the UK. Under this route, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain straight away 
• If you were born in the UK, under 18, and cannot apply for indefinite status (for instance because you have not lived in the UK for 7 years yet), you can apply for permission to stay. Your parent must have a visa based on their private life or is applying for a visa on their private life (then you would apply as a dependent) or has indefinite leave to remain or citizenship but had a visa as a parent when you were born. Your other parent will also need to have status unless they are a British citizen.     

• If you are older than 18 but younger than 25, you can apply for status if you can prove that you have lived in the UK for more than half of your life  

If you cannot afford the application fee, you can apply for something called a ‘fee waiver.’ This is where you prove to the Home Office that you cannot afford the fee. Our guidance on applying for a fee waiver is here. 

If your application is successful, you will usually get a visa for 2.5 years. However, you can apply to get a visa for 5 years instead.  

On this visa, you will have the right to work, but you will not be allowed to claim benefits (this is called having ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’). However, you can state your personal circumstances when you apply (for example, if you are a single parent), and you may be granted access to benefits with your visa. 

After 5 years, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.  

 

Routes for people with a partner in the UK 

• If you have been living for 2 years with a partner who is a British citizen, a refugee, an EU national with Settled Status or who has Indefinite Leave to Remain, you can apply for status. You will have to show strong evidence about why the relationship could not continue outside the UK 

If you cannot afford the application fee, you can apply for something called a ‘fee waiver.’ This is where you prove to the Home Office that you cannot afford the fee. Our guidance on applying for a fee waiver is here. 

If your application is successful, you will get a visa for 2.5 years. On this visa, you will have the right to work, but you will not be allowed to claim benefits (this is called having ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’). 

After 2.5 years, you will have to apply for another visa. You can apply for permanent status (‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’) after 10 years, so after 4 visas of 2.5 years each. 

Domestic abuse  

If you had a visa because you were the partner of a British citizen, a refugee, an EU national with Settled Status or a person with Indefinite Leave to Remain, but the relationship broke down because of domestic abuse, you can apply for status.  

You can first apply for something called the ‘Destitution Domestic Violence Concession’. If successful, you can claim benefits and will have leave to remain while you submit an application under something called the ‘Domestic Violence Rule’ You must make sure you apply for leave under the Domestic Violence Rule within 3 months of getting access to benefits under the Destitution Domestic Violence Concession. This is to make sure that you continue to have access to benefits and status until the Home Office has made a decision on your claim.  

Under the ‘Domestic Violence Rule’, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. This only applies to people who have been on a spouse or partner visa and not those on other types of visas.   

To apply, you will need to include any proof you have of the fact that your relationship has broken down permanently because of domestic violence. This includes physical violence, emotional, psychological or financial abuse, as well as controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour by your former partner.  

There is an application fee for this, but you do not have to pay if you can prove that you cannot afford it.  

If your application is accepted, you will get Indefinite Leave to Remain. This means having the right to work and claim benefits. People with Indefinite Leave to Remain can apply for British citizenship after 1 year.  

 

Status if your partner has died

If you had a visa as the partner of a British citizen, an EU national with Settled Status or someone with Indefinite Leave to Remain, and your partner sadly passed away, you can apply for status.  

If you get a visa, you will have Indefinite Leave to Remain. This means that you have the right to work, and you can claim benefits. 

 

Routes for people who have a child in the UK 

• If you are the only carer of a child who is British, you can apply for status. You can also apply for status if your child is not British but has lived in the UK for 7 years or more, or is an EU national with pre-settled status, and it would be unreasonable to make them leave the UK 
• If you are the parent of a child who is British, and you are separated from the child’s other parent, you can also apply for status. You can apply if your child is British, or they are not British but have lived here for 7 years or more, and it would be unreasonable to make them leave the UK. You will have to show the Home Office that your relationship with your child is ‘genuine and subsisting.’ 

If you cannot afford the application fee, you can apply for something called a ‘fee waiver.’ This is where you prove to the Home Office that you cannot afford the fee. Our guidance on applying for a fee waiver is here. 

If your application is successful, you will get a visa for 2.5 years. On this visa, you will have the right to work, but you will not be allowed to claim benefits (this is called having ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’).  

You will have to renew your visa after 2.5 years, and either pay the fee again or apply for another fee waiver. You will be able to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after living in the UK for 10 years on this type of visa. 

Protection 

• If you cannot return to the country you were born in because you fear what would happen to you when you return, you can apply for asylum. You will have to show that your fear of returning to your home country is based on your race, religion, nationality, political opinion or because you are a member of a particular social group (for example, because you are LGBTQ and from a country where LGBTQ people are at risk). You will also have to show that you cannot get protection from the authorities in your country of birth, and that there is nowhere in your country of birth that you could move to in order to find safety. 
• If you cannot return to your home country but not because you fear personal persecution, you can still apply for status. This is called humanitarian protection. You can apply for humanitarian protection if you cannot return to the country you were born in because that country is at war or there is serious violence there. You can also apply if you fear you would face the death penalty in your country of birth, or you fear you would be killed there. You will also have to show that you cannot get protection from the authorities in your country of birth, and that there is nowhere in your country of birth that you could move to in order to find safety. 

You can get free legal advice if you are making a claim for asylum, or for humanitarian protection. This is called Legal Aid. You can access Legal Aid no matter what country you are from. Legal Aid is not a public fund, so you can access it even if you have No Recourse to Public Funds. 

If your claim for asylum or humanitarian protection is accepted, you will get a visa for 5 years. With this visa, you have the right to work and you can claim benefits.  

After 5 years, you will be able to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. 

 

Trafficking /modern slavery 

If you have been a victim of human trafficking and modern slavery then you could also apply for what is called “discretionary leave to remain” if an independent part of the Home Office called the National Referral Mechanism accepts that this has happened to you.  

The definition of human trafficking can be simplified into three parts 

• Action: You were moved by another person from one place to another.  
• Means: The person used or threatened to use force or coerced you.   
• For the purpose of exploitation: The person did this because they wanted to harm you by forcing you to work, making you commit crimes, making you work in the sex industry etc. It is not the action that matters, only that the person intended to do one of these things to you.  

If you are a child, then human trafficking could have happened to you even if you were not coerced. This is because a child cannot consent to what has happened to them. The definition of modern slavery is very similar, but you have not been moved (there is no ‘action’).  

If the National Referral Mechanism accept that this has happened to you, then you can apply for a discretionary visa if one of the next three things applies to you.  

• You need a visa because of your current circumstances: This could be because you need to complete medical treatment that is not available in your country of birth.  
• A visa is needed because you are trying to get compensation against the person or people who harmed you.  

• You need a visa because you are helping the police with their investigations against the people  

If you are given discretionary leave to remain, then it will generally be for a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 30 months. Before your visa ends, you could apply again if the reasons why you were given the visa continue. You would then need to complete an online form and pay a fee.  

If you have been a victim of human trafficking and modern slavery, and it started in the country where you were born, then you could also apply for asylum. This is because you may fear the people who originally trafficked you or you fear being trafficked again.  

The routes to status for people who are undocumented are very complicated, expensive and far too narrow. We are campaigning for a new route to regular status for people who have lived in the UK for 5 years or more. Find out more about our campaign and how you can get involved.