A successful application under Appendix FM will generally result in a grant of leave to enter for 33 months or leave to remain for 30 months. During that time the person is allowed to work but cannot access public funds — that is, they cannot claim benefits — unless they request an exception due to destitution.

The applicant can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after five years. The exception is where an application is granted on the basis of exceptional circumstances, in which case the application would need to wait ten years before applying for ILR. We don’t cover exceptional circumstances in this post, but will do in a future one.