After five years in the UK as a refugee or with humanitarian protection, you can apply for indefinite leave to remain. There is no Home Office application fee. The requirements are:

• That you have resided in the UK for the last five years
• That you have not returned to the country you sought protection from or asked for any consular assistance from them
• You do not have any character issues that would make granting indefinite leave to remain inappropriate

The Home Office are entitled to check the situation in your country of origin to see if there has been a change of circumstances that means it would be safe for you to return, however this is not a normal occurrence.

Once you have obtained Indefinite Leave to Remain, you can live in the UK without immigration restrictions and may, in most cases, apply to naturalise as British after 12 months.