The ILR fee in 2026 is £3,226 for each person applying from inside the UK. It went up on 8 April 2026. The old price was £3,029.
How much will your ILR cost?
Add your family and pick a service. The total updates as you go.
Fees from the GOV.UK fee table of 8 April 2026 and the GOV.UK ILR guide. Children pay the full ILR fee. The Life in the UK test is for people aged 18 to 64. Checked 16 October 2026.
Children pay it too. There’s no lower dependant rate, so a family of four pays four full fees. If your child was born in the UK, there may be a cheaper option.
What you pay, item by item
| Item | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ILR application | £3,226 | per person, adults and children |
| Priority service | £500 extra | decision in 5 working days |
| Super priority service | £1,000 extra | decision next working day |
| Life in the UK Test | £50 | ages 18 to 64, booked separately |
| Fingerprints and photo | £0 | standard UKVCAS slot |
| Health surcharge | £0 | not charged on ILR |
You may see a biometric fee of about £19 on some websites. For ILR, GOV.UK says there’s no fee for your fingerprints and photo.
Example: a family of four
Say Amir is on a Skilled Worker visa. His wife and two kids came with him as dependants, and all four are applying together.
- 4 ILR fees: 4 x £3,226 = £12,904
- 2 Life in the UK Tests (Amir and his wife): £100
- Total on the standard service: £13,004
If they choose super priority for all four, that’s another £4,000, so £17,004. Priority for all four adds £2,000 instead.
Other family sizes, standard service, with one test per adult:
| Who is applying | Total |
|---|---|
| Just you | £3,276 |
| You and your partner | £6,552 |
| One parent and one child | £6,502 |
| Family of 3 (two adults, one child) | £9,778 |
| Family of 4 (two adults, two children) | £13,004 |
| Family of 5 (two adults, three children) | £16,230 |
Fail the Life in the UK Test and the resit is another £50.
Child born in the UK? Check this before you pay £3,226
ILR is not the only option for a child. Once you have ILR yourself, you can apply to register a child born in the UK before that date as a British citizen. It costs £1,000 instead of £3,226, which is £2,226 less per child, and your child becomes British, not just settled.
If your child was born in the UK after you got ILR, they may be British already. In that case you only need to apply for their passport. Children born outside the UK can also be registered in some cases, so read the GOV.UK guidance first.
A few more details from GOV.UK. You apply for each child separately. If your child is under 18 and you cannot afford the fee, you may be able to get a fee waiver. If your child turns 18 while the application is open, there’s £130 more to pay for the ceremony. The child fee also went down on 8 April 2026, from £1,214 to £1,000.
The catch is timing. The £1,000 route is for children whose parent already has ILR, and your child’s visa may run out before your own ILR comes through. If the dates don’t line up, speak to a regulated immigration adviser before you decide who goes on your ILR form.
Should you pay for a faster decision?
On the normal service you can wait up to 6 months, and you can’t leave the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man in that time. For some people that’s fine. For others, a wedding abroad or a sick parent back home makes the extra money worth it.
Priority gets you an answer in 5 working days. Super priority gets it by the end of the next working day if your appointment is on a weekday. There are only so many slots each day, and if the Home Office asks you for more papers, the clock stops. GOV.UK says you usually won’t get the extra fee back if it runs late.
Not sure? Look at what normal applicants are waiting right now on our ILR processing times page, then decide.
Costs people forget
Free UKVCAS slots fill up in some cities, and the paid ones cost extra. If your route needs an English test and you haven’t done one before, that’s another bill. A solicitor is optional, but fees run from a few hundred pounds to well over £1,000.
And think one step ahead. Citizenship comes later and costs £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee, so £1,839 per adult.
If you’re refused, is the money gone?
Yes, in most cases. The Home Office refunds policy says it does not refund the fee when an application is refused because you didn’t meet the rules. You do get money back in a few cases:
- you withdraw before you give your fingerprints and photo (a priority fee comes back too)
- your application is rejected as invalid (you get it back minus an admin charge)
- you were charged the wrong fee, or a fee you didn’t owe
So do two checks before you pay: your earliest apply date in the ILR calculator, and your trips in the 180 day absence calculator.
Paying
You pay by card at the end of the online form. Fees for everyone on the form go through as one payment. Our ILR application guide covers the steps before and after.
How the ILR fee has gone up
| From | Fee per person | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Before 9 April 2025 | £2,885 | older fee |
| 9 April 2025 | £3,029 | +£144 |
| 8 April 2026 | £3,226 | +£197 |
| 8 October 2026 | £3,226 | no change |
That’s £341 more per person than before April 2025. For a family of four, the ILR fees alone went from £11,540 to £12,904. The fee you pay is the one in force on the day you apply.
Short answers
Is there a fee waiver? Not for most ILR applications. There are exceptions if you’re destitute. For example, people settling as a victim of domestic abuse don’t pay the fee, and bereaved partners on a family visa can ask for it to be waived (since 9 October 2024). Check the rules for your route on GOV.UK.
Does my husband or wife pay the same? Yes. It’s £3,226 for each person applying, partners included. There’s no cheaper rate for a spouse.
Do children under 18 pay the full fee? For ILR, yes, £3,226 each. They don’t need the Life in the UK test, so there’s no £50 for them. If your child was born in the UK, see registering them as British for £1,000.
Will earned settlement change the fee? Nothing has been announced. The earned settlement plans aren’t law yet (October 2026), so £3,226 stands. You can test the proposals in our earned settlement calculator.
Will the ILR fee go up in 2027? Nothing has been announced. When we checked on 19 October 2026, the newest GOV.UK fee table was the one from 8 October 2026, and it kept ILR at £3,226. The last two rises both came in April.
Last checked on 19 October 2026 against the GOV.UK fee tables for 8 October 2026 and 8 April 2026, the Skilled Worker ILR page, the faster decision page, GOV.UK’s guide to citizenship for your children, the Home Office refunds policy and the 2025 fee regulations. Fees are set by the Home Office and can change.