UK Residency , UK Immigration

UK Permanent Residence (Indefinite Leave to Remain) is the permanent residency status you achieve after you've spent a certain amount of time in the UK as follows:

Current Visa Status	Qualifying period for UK residency
Ancestry	4 years
HSMP and Work permit	4 years
Investors	4 years
Writers, composers, artists	4 years
Sole Representatives	4 years
Establishing Business	4 years
Unmarried partners	2 years
Marriage	1 year (if the original application was approved before 1 April 2003)
Illegal stay or a combination of legal and illegal stay	14 years
legal stay on any basis	10 years

Once Immigration Permanent Residence (ILR) is achieved, there is no more immigration restrictions on your stay in the UK and there is no time-limit restrictions on your stay in the UK.

However in order to retain your UK residency staus you cannot leave the UK for a period longer than 2 years. It is expected that you should maintain your ties to the UK and consider the UK your home of permenant residency.

If you plan to spend your time outside of the UK after you are granted Permamenet residency then you should consider applying for uk citizenship (naturalisation) which you can do after being in the UK for not less than one year in permanent UK residency status.