As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly calculate when you can apply for UK indefinite leave to remain.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the relevant ILR and route-specific pages on GOV.UK and save the current guidance pages you intend to use.
   2. Gather every passport, visa decision letter, eVisa record, travel record and previous application that shows your immigration status and dates.
   3. Create a complete absence list with the departure and return date for every trip outside the UK, including trips that may fall near an absence limit.
   4. Paste the route, immigration history, absence list and any gaps or unusual circumstances into the prompt, replacing every bracketed slot and leaving no unknown date unstated.
   5. Ask the chatbot for the qualifying-period calculation, the earliest permitted application date, the date table, assumptions and exact GOV.UK links requested in the prompt.
   6. Compare each quoted rule and calculated date with the current GOV.UK route guidance, checking the qualifying period, permitted early-application window, absence rules and any route changes.
   7. Send the full history and the chatbot's calculation to an immigration solicitor for confirmation before relying on the date or submitting an ILR application.

   Prompt

   Using only current GOV.UK immigration guidance, help me estimate the earliest date I may apply for UK indefinite leave to remain. Today is 2026-08-13.
   
   My route and immigration history:
   - Current visa or immigration route: [ROUTE]
   - Date the qualifying period began under this route: [DD MONTH YYYY]
   - Dates of every visa grant, extension, switch or change of route: [LIST EACH DATE AND WHAT HAPPENED]
   - Dates I was physically outside the UK, including the departure and return dates for each trip: [LIST EVERY ABSENCE]
   - Any dependants or family-route details that affect my eligibility: [DETAILS OR NONE]
   - Any gaps, overstaying, appeals, criminal convictions, or other unusual circumstances: [DETAILS OR NONE]
   
   Give me:
   1. The route-specific qualifying period you are applying.
   2. The proposed date on which that period is completed.
   3. The earliest date I could submit an application, if GOV.UK permits applying before the qualifying period is completed.
   4. A table showing how you counted each relevant period and absence.
   5. Every assumption, missing fact, rule, exception or uncertainty that could change the result.
   6. Links to the exact GOV.UK pages and quoted passages supporting each important rule.
   
   Do not invent dates, rules or facts. If the route, dates or evidence are insufficient, stop and list what is missing instead of calculating. Do not tell me that I qualify, and do not present this as a decision by the Home Office. State clearly that the result is not professional advice and that I should ask an immigration solicitor about any unusual history or serious case. Use calendar dates in full and distinguish facts I supplied from assumptions.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.