Why the settlement consultation matters to the tech sector- Alex Piletska’s briefing for techUK

22 January 2026

With the deadline to respond to the UK government’s open consultation on earned settlement fast approaching, Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law’s Alex Piletska has written a briefing for techUK on how and why the tech industry can respond to the government’s proposals for overhauling the path to UK settlement.

The deadline for people to answer the mix of multiple choice and open questions is 23:59 on 12 February 2026.

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) is a UK immigration status that allows you to live, work, and study in the UK without the time restrictions of a temporary visa. ILR is commonly called “settlement.” After a year of ILR those that meet requirements, such as continuous and lawful residence, can apply for British citizenship.

Since 2006 those qualifying on work immigration routes have been able to settle after five years (before that it was four) and partners on family visas since 2012 (when the qualifying period went up to five years from two or immediately for those who had been married for four years).

On 20 November 2025, the UK government launched an open consultation on “earned settlement.” These are their new plans to increase the standard qualifying period for ILR from five years to 10 years for many. This includes proposals for people to “earn” deductions to the new baseline 10-year period depending on their contribution to the UK, or indeed face even longer periods of applying for temporary status, largely dependent on an employer or partner.

A major parliamentary statement by the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood added more detail to the proposals first floated in the UK government’s Immigration White Paper last May.

You can read more about the proposals in this summary by Alex Piletska. They replace a relatively simple set of rules where most people work towards settlement after five years, with a complex points-based qualification for settlement, with years added on or taken off for various reasons.

Increasing obstacles for settlement will not only make people’s path to ILR more insecure, in some cases it will mean added costs and bureaucracy for the businesses who have to sponsor them for longer for them to be able to work in the UK.

“The tech sector is key to Britain’s Modern Industrial Strategy and is thus uniquely qualified to comment on these changes and inform the government of any significant impact they would have on its ability to grow and thrive. Given the government’s purported commitment to the sector, it should take seriously its legitimate concerns,” writes Alex Piletska in her briefing for techUK.

She adds: “Anyone operating in the tech sector, including employers, workers and investors, should include information about how they would be affected by the proposals, from increased difficulties in recruitment, the attrition of highly skilled migrants to other countries, increased costs of sponsorship, challenges in filling particular roles and the resulting skills shortages, to say nothing of the impact of these changes on staff integration, their family lives, mental wellbeing and finances.

To minimise the impact on the tech sector, you may consider including suggestions such as:

• Permitting applicants to count time spent as a Student and Graduate towards the qualifying period
• Including transitional provisions that exempt anyone from these changes who is already in a route to settlement
• Maintaining the current five-year period for anyone in a job below RQF level 6 or at the very least, giving them the new standard 10 year route
• Allowing dependants to settle at the same time as the main applicant or failing that, to give them a five-year route to settlement
• Exempting dependants from meeting additional requirements for settlement, such as a minimum salary
• Disregarding past overstaying where the applicant has since been granted a visa”

You can read the full piece below.