Most Further Leave to Remain decisions arrive within 8 weeks of your biometrics appointment, but the answer to how long an FLR application takes depends heavily on which route you’re on. Standard spouse and child applications sit at the 8-week mark. Private life and parent routes can take up to 12 months. Paid priority services can bring a decision down to the next working day if your case qualifies.
Standard Processing Times by Route
The Home Office measures processing time from the date you complete your biometrics appointment, not from the day you submitted the online form. The published targets for the most common in-country family routes are:1GOV.UK. Visa Processing Times: Applications Inside the UK
- FLR(M) spouse or partner: 8 weeks, where the applicant meets the minimum income and English language requirements.
- FLR(M) child: 8 weeks for dependent children of British citizens or settled persons.
- FLR(FP) private life (partner or spouse): up to 12 months. This route applies when the minimum income or English language requirements are not met, and there is no formal service standard.
- FLR(FP) parent: up to 12 months, also with no formal service standard.
The gap between the 8-week FLR(M) route and the 12-month FLR(FP) route catches many applicants off guard. If you qualify under the standard spouse route with income and language requirements met, your wait is much shorter than if you’re relying on private or family life grounds. These figures shift as application volumes change, so treat them as current targets rather than fixed deadlines.
Paying for a Faster Decision
If you can’t wait, the Home Office offers two paid services on top of the standard application fee:2GOV.UK. Get a Faster Decision on Your Visa or Settlement Application
- Priority Service, £500: a decision within 5 working days.
- Super Priority Service, £1,000: a decision by the end of the next working day after your biometrics appointment, provided the appointment falls on a weekday.
You select the option when you apply, and each family member applying with you pays the full additional fee. You must already have permission to be in the UK, and the services are only available for certain visa types. The Home Office may not meet the faster timeline if your case isn’t straightforward. Previous UK visa refusals, past overstaying, curtailed leave, unspent criminal convictions, or a need to gather more information can all bump a priority case back into standard handling. In those situations you still pay the priority fee, though the Home Office states that refunds may be available if it fails to meet the service standard.
Your Legal Status During the Wait
If you submitted your application before your existing visa expired, Section 3C leave automatically extends your current permission to stay until the Home Office decides. You don’t become an overstayer just because your old visa runs out while you wait, even if that wait stretches into months.3Home Office. Leave Extended by Section 3C
Section 3C leave carries over the conditions attached to your previous visa. If your old visa restricted the type of work you could do or limited your working hours, those restrictions continue to apply while you wait. You cannot submit a brand-new application while on Section 3C leave, though you can amend the application you’ve already filed before it’s decided.3Home Office. Leave Extended by Section 3C
Do Not Leave the Common Travel Area
Section 3C leave ends the moment you leave the UK, and travel outside the Common Travel Area while your FLR application is pending means the Home Office treats your application as withdrawn on the date you left. No warning, no grace period, no appeal against the withdrawal itself. The Common Travel Area covers the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man; movement within those places is fine, but stepping outside means your application is gone.4GOV.UK. Validation, Variation, Voiding and Withdrawal of Applications (Accessible)
Exit checks at the border flag the travel even if you don’t tell the Home Office. Any fees, biometrics, or documents already submitted are not refunded. The rule under Paragraph 34K of the Immigration Rules is absolute, and it applies for the entire time you’re waiting for a decision, however long that takes.
What Can Push You Past the Target
The biggest controllable factor is the quality of your initial submission. Missing documents, inconsistencies between your form and your supporting evidence, or failing to include required financial records force the caseworker to request further information, which can add weeks or months. Getting the paperwork right the first time matters more than almost anything else.
Beyond your own file, the Home Office’s internal workload plays a significant role. Processing times shift throughout the year as application volumes rise and fall, and the published targets reflect current conditions rather than guaranteed deadlines. A complicated immigration history, whether that means previous refusals, enforcement action, or gaps in lawful status, draws more scrutiny and extends the timeline further.
If Your Application Goes Past the Published Time
Contacting the Home Office while your application is still within the published processing window won’t get you information; caseworkers can’t tell you anything about the status until the target passes. If your application has exceeded the expected timeframe with no word, you can contact UK Visas and Immigration directly. The official processing times page for inside-the-UK applications sets out when contacting UKVI is appropriate and how to do it.1GOV.UK. Visa Processing Times: Applications Inside the UK