Bereaved Partner Settlement (ILR)
If your British or settled partner has died while you held qualifying partner permission in the UK, you may be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain under Appendix Bereaved Partner. The route considers your immigration status, your relationship immediately before your partner’s death, validity and suitability.
On this page
In brief
- If your British or settled partner has died while you held qualifying partner permission, you may apply for ILR under Appendix Bereaved Partner.
- The route considers your previous immigration permission and the relationship immediately before death.
- Validity and suitability also apply.
- The guide sets out the evidence areas — it does not decide the application.
Is this the right route?
This page covers settlement under Appendix Bereaved Partner. It applies to relevant applicants whose British or settled partner has died and whose previous immigration permission falls within the categories recognised by the route. The guidance treats some Armed Forces and military-veteran bereavement cases separately.
Ordinary partner settlement
If your partner is alive and you are approaching settlement on the partner route.
Partner Settlement (ILR) →Domestic abuse settlement
Bereaved-partner settlement is different from settlement following domestic abuse.
Domestic Abuse Settlement →Main settlement requirements
A straightforward Bereaved Partner settlement application will generally need to address four linked areas.
Qualifying partner permission
You generally need to have, or last have had, the type of partner permission recognised by Appendix Bereaved Partner.
Your relevant partner has died
The person who was your partner at the time of your last relevant immigration grant must have died.
Living together in the UK
You and your partner must have been living together in the UK in a genuine and subsisting relationship immediately before their death.
Settlement suitability
The application remains subject to the relevant grounds for refusal.
Your previous immigration permission
Bereaved Partner settlement is not available simply because the deceased person was British or settled. Your own immigration status before the bereavement matters.
The guidance requires an applicant in the UK to have, or last have had, qualifying partner permission recognised by Appendix Bereaved Partner. Certain historic partner categories can also be relevant.
Fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner permission is excluded from the Appendix FM partner category identified by this guidance.
If your permission was granted under an older immigration route, identify the exact grant before assuming the bereaved-partner framework applies.
Relationship immediately before death
The relationship requirement focuses on the position immediately before the bereavement. The guidance requires that:
- the relevant partner has died; and
- you were living together in the UK in a genuine and subsisting relationship immediately before their death.
Where there is no reason to doubt the relationship, the guidance does not call for unnecessary detailed enquiries into whether it was subsisting. If there is a genuine dispute or allegation concerning the relationship at the date of death, the case may require more detailed advice — see immigration help.
Evidence areas to review
Depending on the circumstances, relevant evidence areas may include:
- evidence of the deceased partner’s identity / status;
- death certificate;
- evidence of your qualifying partner permission;
- evidence showing that you were living together in the UK;
- documents showing the relationship remained genuine and subsisting, where this is not already clear;
- identity and nationality evidence;
- required application-validity documents.
This is an evidence-area guide, not a fixed Home Office document checklist. Where the relevant eligibility requirements are met and there are no concerns about the relationship, the guidance indicates that unnecessary detailed relationship enquiries should not be made. Use the application route specified by GOV.UK at the date you apply.
If you cannot afford the application fee
The guidance provides for a fee waiver for bereaved-partner settlement where the applicant is destitute. For this purpose, destitution includes circumstances where a person lacks adequate accommodation or the means to obtain it, or where they have accommodation but cannot meet their other essential living needs.
Housing
Accommodation, housing costs and your contribution towards those costs.
Income & support
Employment income, benefits, support from local authorities, family or friends.
Essential expenditure
Savings / assets and essential expenses such as utilities, food and other basic needs.
The Home Office guidance recognises that bereavement itself may affect someone’s ability to obtain evidence, and asks that requests are handled sensitively. This fee-waiver provision is specific to bereaved-partner settlement and destitution.
Suitability
Bereaved Partner settlement remains subject to the applicable grounds for refusal. A previous refusal, criminality, deception allegation, disputed immigration status or another serious suitability issue can materially change the case.
Does your case involve a refusal, criminality or another complex suitability issue?
Refusal or complex issue → immigration helpDependant children
Appendix Bereaved Partner also contains provisions for qualifying dependant children.
Relationship & care
The child must meet the applicable relationship and care requirements under Appendix Children.
Age & independent life
The relevant age and independent-life requirements must be met.
English & Life in the UK
Where applicable and unless exempt, B1 English and Knowledge of Life requirements apply.
Maintenance & accommodation
The child must be adequately maintained and accommodated without recourse to public funds.
This guidance does not reproduce the full Appendix Children tests. For general child-route information, see the Child Visa page. The maintenance and accommodation requirement in this section relates to the dependent child, not to the bereaved-partner applicant personally.
Which bereavement settlement framework should you review?
Answer up to two questions and this guide points you to the framework, issues and evidence areas to review. It is a guide only — it does not decide eligibility or predict a decision.
Guide only: this tool identifies immigration frameworks, issues and evidence areas that may need review. It does not determine eligibility, give a score or probability, predict a Home Office decision or assess an appeal.
If your circumstances are different
Partner Visa settlement
Your partner is alive and you are approaching settlement through the ordinary partner route.
Partner Settlement (ILR) →Domestic Abuse settlement
Your circumstances concern domestic abuse rather than bereavement.
Domestic Abuse Settlement →Refusal / review / complex
Refusals, Administrative Review and contentious circumstances.
Immigration help →Our regulatory scope. ENS provides immigration advice and assistance on straightforward matters within our IAA Level 1 authorisation. If your circumstances involve complexities outside our authorised level, we will identify this and, where needed, help you find an appropriately authorised adviser. How our IAA Level 1 scope works.
How ENS can help
Identify the bereaved-partner settlement framework
We can review a straightforward immigration history and your late partner’s status to identify the requirements that apply.
Organise supporting evidence
We can help organise relevant status, relationship, bereavement and validity evidence for a straightforward application.
Prepare a straightforward settlement application
Where the circumstances fall within our IAA Level 1 authorisation, we can assist with preparing the application and supporting evidence.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bereaved Partner settlement?
It is a settlement route under Appendix Bereaved Partner for qualifying people whose British or settled partner has died.
Do I need to wait five years before applying?
This guidance does not impose a five-year qualifying-period requirement for Bereaved Partner settlement. The application instead depends on the specific Appendix Bereaved Partner requirements.
What immigration permission must I have had?
An applicant in the UK generally needs to have, or last have had, a qualifying type of partner permission recognised by Appendix Bereaved Partner.
Can someone with fiancé(e) permission use this route?
The Appendix FM category identified in the guidance expressly excludes fiancé(e) and proposed civil partner permission.
Do we need to have been living together before my partner died?
The guidance requires the applicant and deceased partner to have been living together in the UK in a genuine and subsisting relationship immediately before the death.
Will I have to prove the entire relationship again?
Not necessarily. Where there is no reason to doubt the relationship, the guidance says detailed enquiries into its subsistence should not normally be necessary.
Is a fee waiver available?
The guidance provides a fee waiver where a bereaved-partner applicant is destitute. Whether this applies depends on the applicant’s financial circumstances and evidence.
Can a dependant child apply?
Appendix Bereaved Partner contains settlement provisions for qualifying dependant children, subject to relevant relationship, care, age, independent-life and other requirements.
Do dependant children need English and Life in the UK?
Where those requirements apply and no exemption applies, the guidance requires B1 English and Knowledge of Life in the UK.
What if a Bereaved Partner settlement application is refused?
The guidance states that Administrative Review can be available following refusal. A refused or contentious case should be reviewed at the appropriate authorised level rather than treated as a routine settlement application.
Source basis: Home Office, Settlement: family and private life, version 4.0, published for Home Office staff on 29 July 2025 — Bereaved Partner settlement under Appendix Bereaved Partner. Immigration Rules and guidance can change; confirm the current position on GOV.UK before applying.
Need help after the death of your partner?
If you held partner permission when your British or settled partner died, an initial assessment can identify whether Appendix Bereaved Partner is the framework that needs to be reviewed and what evidence areas are relevant.