What we know about the UK’s ‘earned settlement’ ILR changes and consultation

Updated 25 November 2025

New guidance on ‘earned settlement’ and the new ILR framework ahead of a government consultation

The Home Office has released a policy document outlining the proposed framework of “earned settlement” on 20 November 2025, ahead of a government consultation on the topic.

Most of the provisions outlined are still subject to consultation, while some are not.

Here is what we know now.

Starting baseline of 10 years to UK settlement

With the exception of anyone covered by the Withdrawal Agreement such as people with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, the starting baseline for settlement – also known as Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) applications will be 10 years for all applicants other than refugees, who will have a baseline qualifying period of 20 years (unless they came to the UK on a resettlement scheme, in which case it will be 10 years).

Minimum requirements for settlement

The framework introduces minimum requirements that someone applying for settlement will need to meet. Aside from the “contribution” dimension, these are not subject to consultation.

• Suitability: Must meet the general grounds of refusal found in the new Part Suitability section of the Immigration Rules. Must not have any current litigation, NHS, tax or other government debt.
• Integration: Must meet the English requirement at level B2 and pass the Life in the UK test.
• Contribution: Must have made National Insurance contributions by way of an annual salary or income of over £12,570, held for three to five years (this is currently subject to consultation).

Please note, it is proposed that the current criminality requirement of not having a custodial sentence of over 12 months will change to “a clean criminal record” subject to a review of criminality thresholds across all immigration routes. The Home Secretary warns: “Our expectation is that you should not be able to settle with a criminal record. Revised thresholds will be set out in due course.”

This is expected to apply to all immigrants, though there may be some exemptions, which we cover below.

Factors that reduce the baseline period to qualify for ILR

The policy document outlines proposed factors which will bring the qualifying period down from the baseline. This includes:

You cannot add reductions across different categories. Where someone qualifies for a one-year reduction (English language at level C1) and a five-year reduction (permission in the BN(O) route), for example, their qualifying period will only be reduced by the largest figure, which in that case would be five years.

Although the White Paper seemed to exempt family dependants of British citizens from these changes, it appears their exemption only applies in so far as their qualifying period will essentially start at five years instead of 10 years. They will still be subject to the “minimum requirements” above, including having to earn a specified amount across three to five years and meeting the English language requirement at level B2. The same applies to people in the BN(O) route to settlement.

Both groups can presumably also face their qualifying period being lengthened by adverse factors, as explained below.

Factors that increase the qualifying period for ILR

The paper also outlines factors that can correspondingly increase one’s qualifying period.

Where there is a positive factor that reduces the qualifying period and a negative factor that increases it, they will be balanced against each other. For example, where someone qualifies for a five-year reduction in their qualifying period because they are in the UK as a spouse of a British person, but they qualify for an increase of 10 years for previously being in receipt of public funds for more than 12 months, this means an overall increase of five years to their qualifying period, meaning they will qualify after 15 years.

Much like the White Paper, this policy refers only to family members of British citizens, without any reference to family members of other qualifying immigrants in the Appendix FM family routes, such as sponsors with ILR. It is not clear if this is intentional at this stage or whether the Home Office is using “British citizen” as shorthand.

Will there still be a 10-year long residence ILR route?

The 10-year long residence route to settlement is being eliminated as it is considered “obsolete” in light of the proposed changes.

However, the policy says that those applying for settlement will need to have completed the required qualifying period in “route or routes” that lead to settlement. Presumably, this means that applicants will no longer be able to use their time spent in routes that do not lead to settlement, such as the Student route, towards their qualifying period.

Contribution based factors to settlement qualifying periods

Where a reduction to the qualifying period is on the basis of salary, this is provisionally linked to rates for higher (£50,270) and additional (£125,140) tax rates but it is not proposed that these thresholds would be tracked to future tax changes, so potentially they will become easier to meet over time as a result of inflation and corresponding increases to the different tax brackets.

To qualify on the basis of employment in a specified public service occupation, such as medical and teaching professions, it is expected that reductions will only be available for “skilled” occupations, i.e. RQF level 6.

With respect to volunteering, this can be formal or informal.

As part of the consultation, the government will be considering increasing the baseline qualifying period of people moving to the UK to work below RQF level 6 to up to 15 years, which would affect people in occupations such as care workers.

Will there be changes to public funds eligibility?

The government is also considering whether to change primary legislation to permit ILR to be granted subject to “no recourse to public funds” (so that a right to access benefits only arises upon citizenship). At present, it is not possible to attach conditions to indefinite leave to remain.

How will dependent partners and children be affected?

Adult dependants of “economic migrants” are expected to be considered in their own right and will need to qualify on the basis of their own attributes. Although the policy states that their qualifying period may be “longer or shorter” than the main application, they will not be able to settle earlier than main applicant. A shorter qualifying period may still be relevant in cases where the dependent partner joins the main applicant in the UK at a later stage.

Although minor children under 18 who are here as dependants on someone in an economic route are not expected to qualify for settlement in their own right, the government is considering creating specific settlement requirements for those who turn 18 before they have reached settlement. It is currently expected that child dependants will still be able to settle when they turn 18 but an age cut-off may be introduced after which point they will need to qualify in their own right. In those circumstances, there may be provisions that waive some of the mandatory minimum requirements e.g. the waiving of National Insurance contributions.

In line with the White Paper, there will also be provisions for young adults who turn 18 after living here “most of their life” in circumstances where they were unaware that they did not have immigration status.

Who will be protected from a longer path to ILR?

As part of the consultation, the government will look at how to “tailor” the framework to the following categories:

• Adult Dependent Relatives
• Victims of domestic violence
• Bereaved partners
• Refugees who arrived in the UK on a resettlement scheme

It is not clear at this stage whether this will be a complete exemption or, more likely, less draconian changes.

Anyone applying under Appendix Armed Forces is expected to be exempt from the changes.

Will these proposed changes have retrospective or retroactive effect?

One of the most pressing questions immigrants already in the UK have is whether these changes will apply to them, or whether they will only apply to people coming to the UK after these changes take effect.

Unfortunately, we have no clarity on this yet. The policy states that it will apply to all immigrants, including people already in a route to settlement, but it also states that the consultation will look at whether to introduce transitional provisions for people already in a route to settlement and if so, what they should look like.

The Home Secretary says she is planning to enact these changes starting around April 2026 for anyone that has not yet been granted ILR when the rules change, while at the same time reiterating that the government would never interfere with the rights of those already granted settlement.

However, her Parliamentary statement adds:

“Transitional arrangements refer to temporary measures or rules put in place to manage the shift from one system, or policy framework, to another. Without any transitional arrangements, the earned settlement policy will affect people already in the system, who are not already settled when relevant Immigration Rules come into force. Transitional arrangements may be designed to ease the impact of policy change, especially for individuals or groups already afforded permissions by the previous system. The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement.”

Will there also be changes to British citizenship?

The government is planning to make changes to the citizenship requirements in line with the changes to settlement so that there is some alignment between the two. However, this is not expected to take place until after the consultation regarding the framework for settlement.

Responding to the government consultation on earned settlement

Anyone can anonymously respond to the proposed changes as part of the consultation by 12 February 2026.

The online form is found here.

We encourage as many of you as possible to respond to the proposed changes, particularly if you may be affected by the proposed changes directly or indirectly. This includes employers and sectoral bodies with immigrants in employment. 

Is the consultation different to the Home Affair Committee’s call for evidence?

Confusingly, the government consultation on some of the elements of their proposals runs concurrently to Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the government’s proposals to reform the eligibility criteria for ILR. Anyone is invited to respond to that call for evidence too – which is open online until 2 December 2025. You can find the details here. They are interested to hear about the impact on families, businesses, employers and social integration as well as evidence from other countries’ approaches to settlement.

What will these ILR changes mean for employers?

Employers will naturally be concerned about reassuring any employees they are currently sponsoring about what this means for them and their future in the UK, as well as the effect that the proposed changes may have on their ability to sponsor future workers from abroad.

It seems that many on Britain’s most common work visa – the Skilled Worker route may well be earning enough to keep their five year route to settlement, or qualify for a shorter route than ten years in one of the other ways proposed. However, this cohort will still be subject to adverse factors that may increase their qualifying period, like previous overstaying. Further, there will be many people in this route who will not earn enough to qualify for a reduction in the qualifying period on the basis of their salary.

Financially speaking, increasing the qualifying settlement period for some workers not earning enough for a five-year route, would also mean a substantial increase in the costs associated with sponsoring a Skilled Worker, particularly for employers who opt to pay for their sponsored workers’ application fees. There will also be the further cost of an additional five years of the Immigration Skills Charge, which is set to rise by 32%.

When will we know for sure how these changes to ILR will be implemented?

The Home Secretary told the House of Commons that she expects these changes will be implemented in April 2026, so we expect the details of these changes in March. It is customary for a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules to be laid before Parliament in mid-March, coming into force 21 days later around 5 April. Some elements of these major changes will take longer to implement.

Please contact us if you would like to instruct us on any UK immigration, nationality, right to work and sponsorship procedures and compliance issues. You can use the form below, email one of our lawyers or call 0207 033 9527.