What settled status actually is
Settled status is indefinite leave to remain granted under the EU Settlement Scheme. It has no expiry date, it lets you live and work in the UK without further permission, and it is the status you need before you can apply for British citizenship. Pre-settled status is limited leave: real permission to be here, but with a time limit and a narrower set of rights attached.
The distinction matters most at the moments people do not plan for. A long trip abroad to care for a parent, a benefits application, a mortgage, a citizenship application. Each of those treats the two statuses differently, and by the time it comes up the position is usually harder to fix than it would have been earlier.
Pre-settled status
- Limited leave, with a time limit
- Granted where continuous residence is under five years
- Absence of over two years can break it
- Not a route to citizenship on its own
- Access to some benefits depends on demonstrating a right to reside
Settled status
- Indefinite leave to remain, no expiry
- Requires five years of continuous residence
- Lost only after five continuous years outside the UK
- Counts towards British citizenship
- Treated as settled for benefits and most other purposes
Which position are you in
You hold pre-settled status. What should you be doing?
You have now completed five years of continuous residence
Apply for settled status, or check that automatic conversion has happened
- The Home Office converts some holders automatically using its own records
- Automatic conversion is not universal and is not notified reliably
- Check your status online rather than assuming
You are short of five years, and your status is running out
Your status may have been extended automatically, but verify it
- Extensions have been applied without an application in many cases
- An expired-looking status is not always an expired status
- Employers and landlords check the online record, not the letter you were sent
You have been outside the UK for long periods
Get the absences calculated before you apply
- Six months in any twelve is the general limit for continuity
- Some absences are treated differently, including for study, work and childbirth
- An application that reveals a broken residence is harder to undo than to prevent
You never applied and the deadline has passed
A late application is still possible with reasonable grounds
- Reasonable grounds are assessed on the facts, not on a fixed list
- Children, illness, controlling relationships and misinformation all feature
- The explanation is the application: it needs building, not asserting
Continuous residence, which is where most applications fail
Continuous residence is the requirement people misread most often, because the rule is not about calendar years. The general position is that you must not have been absent for more than six months in any rolling twelve-month period. A single trip of seven months breaks it. Two trips of four months each, falling either side of a year end, may not.
Before you apply, be able to answer these
- Every absence from the UK of more than a month, with dates
- Whether any single absence exceeded six months, and why
- Whether the reason for a long absence falls within the permitted exceptions
- What evidence you hold for the periods you were here, not just the periods you were away
- Whether your five years is being counted from the date you think it is
What I charge
- Status review and written advice
- £150
- Settled status application
- £450
- Late application with reasonable grounds
- £650
- Complex absences or a refusal to challenge
- Written estimate first
Which route applies, what your absences mean, what to do next. Credited against the fee below if you instruct me.
Preparing and submitting the application, including the evidence bundle.
The grounds have to be built and evidenced. Priced separately because it is materially more work.
Charged at £300 an hour, including VAT, with the estimate given before any work starts.
All figures include VAT. Home Office fees, where any apply, are separate and paid to the department.
Working in your own language
I am a solicitor of England and Wales and an advocate of the Lithuanian Bar, and I work in English, Lithuanian and Russian. For a status question that turns on dates, evidence and what exactly you told an official three years ago, being able to explain it in your first language is not a convenience. It is usually the difference between an accurate account and an approximate one.
Does pre-settled status turn into settled status automatically?
For some people, yes. The Home Office converts eligible holders using the records it holds. It does not reach everyone, particularly people who are self-employed or otherwise not visible in tax and benefits data, and it does not reliably tell you when it has not happened. Check your status online rather than assuming.
I have been outside the UK for eight months. Have I lost my status?
Not necessarily, but your continuous residence may have broken, which is a different question from whether your status is still valid. Some longer absences are permitted for specific reasons. Get the position checked before making an application, because an application is what forces the issue.
Can I still apply if I missed the deadline?
Yes, where there are reasonable grounds for the delay. These are assessed on the facts rather than against a fixed list, and the explanation has to be evidenced rather than asserted. Missing the deadline is common and is not, by itself, fatal.
Do I need settled status to apply for British citizenship?
In the ordinary case yes. Pre-settled status does not count as settled for naturalisation, and there is usually a further waiting period after settled status is granted before you can apply.
Will my employer or landlord be able to see my status?
They check an online record rather than a document. That is why a status that looks expired on a letter you were sent years ago is not the thing that matters, and why an out-of-date online record causes problems that have nothing to do with your actual rights.
What does it cost to have my position looked at?
£150 including VAT for a status review and written advice, credited against the application fee if you go on to instruct me. If your position is straightforward you will be told that, and you may not need me at all.
This page states the law of England & Wales as at 1 September 2026. It is general information, not advice on your matter, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship.