Five-year and ten-year partner routes: what is the difference?

The five-year and ten-year partner routes are the two settlement timelines inside Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. A partner on the five-year route can apply for settlement after 60 months of continuous residence. A partner on the ten-year route must wait 120 months. The grant of permission decides which applies.

How the five-year and ten-year routes work

A partner who gets permission under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules is placed on one of two routes. The route sets how long they must wait before they can apply for settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain. On the 5-year route the wait is a continuous period of at least 60 months. On the 10-year route it is at least 120 months.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members}

The grant of permission decides the route. GOV.UK tells applicants to check the letter they received from the Home Office when their leave to remain was last approved.^{[3]Home Office, Indefinite leave to remain if you have family in the UK: Apply as a partner (family visa)} GOV.UK also lists a 2-year route for some applicants. This page covers only the 5-year and 10-year routes.

In both cases the person receives limited leave to remain for up to 30 months at a time inside the UK, or entry clearance for up to 33 months at the start. The grant carries a condition of no recourse to public funds. On the 10-year route the decision-maker may decide that the person should not be subject to that condition.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members}

The two routes compared

The table sets out what the Immigration Rules and GOV.UK say about each route.

The paragraph references come from Appendix FM.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members} The statements about finance and children at settlement stage come from GOV.UK.^{[3]Home Office, Indefinite leave to remain if you have family in the UK: Apply as a partner (family visa)}

Who is placed on the 10-year route depends on how the person qualified. Where the minimum income requirement is not met from the usual sources, the decision-maker may look at other sources if there are exceptional circumstances. If the requirement is then met, the grant is made on the 10-year route. The same applies where the person cannot otherwise meet the Rules but refusal would be unjustifiably harsh. Paragraph EX.1, which covers insurmountable obstacles, also leads to a 10-year grant.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members}

For a first partner application made on or after 11 April 2024, the 5-year route requires a gross annual income of at least £29,000, or the savings alternative set out in the Rules.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members}

Counting the time

Neither route counts time as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner. The Rules say any period of leave in that category is excluded.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members} Both routes also need continuous residence over the qualifying period.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Settlement Family Life} On the 5-year route only periods with the same partner as the previous period of leave count.^{[1]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members}

The 10-year route is wider in one way. If the person does not meet the standard 10-year test, they can still reach 10 years by counting time on other routes that lead to settlement. They must not have entered the UK illegally, and they must have had at least one year of permission as a partner under Appendix FM.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Settlement Family Life}

Both routes also need English language ability and knowledge of life in the UK. For the 10-year route the English level is B1 for applications made before 26 March 2027 and B2 for applications made on or after that date.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Settlement Family Life} See the Life in the UK Test and English language requirement pages.

The settlement application fee shown on GOV.UK is £3,226 for each person applying. The earliest date to apply is 28 days before the person meets the time requirement, and an earlier application may be refused.^{[5]Home Office, Indefinite leave to remain if you have family in the UK}

Example

Priya has a British partner, Daniel. She meets every requirement for the partner route and receives two full grants of 30 months.

• First grant: 30 months
• Second grant: 30 months
• Total: 60 months

At 60 months she is on the 5-year timeline and can apply for settlement, from 28 days before that point.

Marco is in a different position. His partner, Elena, is a British citizen and the couple cannot meet the Rules, but the Home Office accepts that refusing him would be unjustifiably harsh. He is granted on the 10-year route. Four full grants of 30 months give 120 months before he can apply for settlement.

Both examples are arithmetic from the Rules. They do not predict what the Home Office will decide in any case.

What people get wrong

People often count their time from the day they arrived and include the 6 months they spent in the UK as a fiancé or fiancée. The Rules exclude that period from both the 60-month and the 120-month count, so an application made on that basis is made too early.

The second mistake is to treat the 10-year route as fixed. Home Office caseworker guidance says a person granted on the 10-year route has scope to apply in the UK to switch and start the 5-year route if they later meet the requirements for it.^{[4]UK Visas and Immigration, Family life and exceptional circumstances: caseworker guidance}

The bottom line

The five-year and ten-year routes are two timelines for settlement as a partner. The 5-year route needs 60 months and the 10-year route needs 120 months, and the grant of permission decides which one applies. Fiancé time does not count on either. Check the grant letter, and read the Rules before counting months.