On 2 November 2026 the Home Secretary told the House of Commons that settlement in the UK, also known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR), will no longer follow automatically after five years for most people. Under the “earned settlement” policy, the default wait becomes ten years, with shorter routes of three or five years for those who meet specific tests and a longer route of twenty years for others.

The announcement matters to Skilled Worker and Health and Care visa holders, their families, refugees, employers who sponsor overseas staff, and anyone who is planning to settle in the UK in the next decade. This guide explains what was announced, what is already law and what is not, and what to check now.

Quick answer: has settlement changed from five years to ten?

Key takeaways

• The default wait for settlement becomes ten years, with faster and slower routes depending on earnings, public service, compliance and immigration history.
• Every applicant will need to meet minimum standards: no UK criminal record (adults), no outstanding government debt, English at B2 level, the Life in the UK test, and sustained contribution.
• Three years is for those earning at least £125,141; five years is for those earning at least £50,271, eligible health and education workers, and people with a recognised British connection.
• Care workers who arrived before May 2025 and meet their visa terms keep a five-year route. Those who do not can apply for a further five-year care visa.
• Time on Student, Graduate and other temporary routes will not count, and the separate Long Residence route will close.
• Existing settled status is not affected. The government has said settled status will never be removed from anyone who already holds it.
• Dates, thresholds and some definitions remain to be confirmed in the Immigration Rules and guidance.

What has the Home Secretary announced?

The announcement had two parts. First, the Home Secretary made an oral statement to Parliament setting out the policy. Second, the Home Office published its formal response to the consultation, A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation (Command Paper CP 1707). That document is the best guide to the detail, and it is what this article relies on.

The policy builds on the Immigration White Paper of May 2025, which first committed to moving the standard settlement period from five to ten years, and on a public consultation that ran from 20 November 2025 to 12 February 2026. The Government Response says the consultation received 204,667 responses, and that respondents were self-selecting, so the findings should not be read as representative of the general public.

The government says the final model is simpler than the one consulted on. The most visible change is that the proposed 15-year route for many lower-skilled workers has gone: those workers are now on the ten-year default, with a way to qualify sooner if they meet an accelerated test.

Is earned settlement law yet?

No. It helps to separate the different layers of the process:

Until the rules are laid and come into force, applications for settlement are decided under the current Immigration Rules. The Home Secretary has also said that an impact assessment will be published as the reforms are implemented.

What must every applicant meet?

Two details deserve particular attention. First, the criminality test is described as applying to any adult UK criminal record, including out-of-court disposals. The Government Response does not say how older or spent matters will be treated, so applicants with any record should take advice early. Second, the debt requirement is mandatory, so an unresolved NHS charge could block an otherwise strong application.

How long will settlement take?

The three-year £125,141 threshold is tied to the additional-rate income tax threshold in England; the five-year £50,271 threshold is tied to the higher-rate threshold, and the £12,571 figure to the basic threshold. The government says they will move if those tax thresholds change.

Public funds and the 20-year route

Applicants on the three, five or ten-year routes are expected not to have accessed specified public funds during the five years immediately before applying. Otherwise, they must wait until they have a clear five-year period without public funds, or complete 20 years on a qualifying route. The government will first use the existing definition of public funds and will decide later which benefits count and what safeguards apply for vulnerable groups, so this is an area to watch closely.

Immigration breaches

A qualifying immigration breach committed as an adult puts the applicant on a 20-year route. The Government Response says these will include overstaying, breaching a visa condition, using deception in an application and taking action to frustrate immigration controls. Children are not caught by this rule for breaches committed before they are 18. The separate additional ten-year period for illegal entry is not confined to refugees: the policy applies it across immigration routes, subject to applicable safeguards, including Article 31 of the Refugee Convention.

How will income be assessed?

The government has adopted a “best years” approach so that a short period of lower earnings, for example during maternity leave, caring or ill health, does not automatically push someone onto a longer route.

Couples can combine earnings to meet the minimum contribution requirement, using a household threshold of £25,142, which is twice the individual figure. A partner must be in a genuine and subsisting relationship with the main applicant, and only one person may rely on the other’s income for this purpose.

Which visas count towards settlement?

Time spent in the UK will not count by itself. Only time on routes intended to lead to long-term residence will count. Qualifying routes include longer-term work, talent and family routes (including Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale-up, Innovator Founder, Tier 2 Minister of Religion, Family Partner and Parent routes where eligible), the Stateless Person route, qualifying Family and Private Life permission, Core Protection, Protection Work and Study, and Safe and Legal routes. Article 8 cases require separate consideration under the detailed route rules.

The separate Long Residence route will close. At present, ten years of continuous lawful residence, including time on Student or Graduate permission, can lead to settlement. Under earned settlement, that time will not build towards settlement. Not every route qualifies for every pathway: for example, Family and Private Life permission will not qualify someone for the three or five-year pathways.

Time on protection or human-rights routes cannot generally be combined with time on work or family routes for the new qualifying period. For example, a person moving from work permission to a protection route cannot simply add both periods together; the applicable qualifying clock must be assessed under the new route rules.

What happens to care workers already in the UK?

The government calls this a targeted, one-off transitional arrangement. It applies only to those who entered or switched into the route before the White Paper was published in May 2025. Anyone who joined the route after that date is on the standard ten-year pathway.

• Meets the requirements: retains the five-year qualifying period, provided the applicable salary (£25,000 a year), sponsorship and employment requirements are met, along with the strengthened minimums, including criminality and English.
• Does not meet the requirements: does not qualify after five years but can apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa, limited to genuine work in the sector, with no recourse to public funds. The Home Secretary said the second-chance visa would not be tied to the worker’s previous employer.
• Sponsor licence revoked: from 1 February 2027, care workers who lose their job because their sponsor’s licence is removed will have up to 120 days to secure a job offer and a further 60 days to resolve their visa and employment status. If they cannot, the visa will be curtailed and they will need to leave the UK.

The government has said the Home Office will help affected workers find legitimate employers. The Home Office’s indicative figures suggest that around 146,000 of 196,000 care workers expected to settle between 2026 and 2030 could fall within the five-year arrangement, with around 50,000 on the further-visa route. The government describes the size of these groups as uncertain.

Who else already in the UK is protected?

• Health and education workers below RQF level 6 on national pay scales, such as nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants, keep a five-year route if they came to the UK before the May 2025 White Paper and meet their visa requirements. This is a one-off arrangement, not a permanent five-year route.
• Eligible health and education professionals in roles such as doctors, nurses, teachers and social workers have a permanent five-year route. The full list is in Annex C of the Government Response.
• The pre-April 2024 Skilled Worker cohort, who were allowed to extend on the earlier lower salary thresholds, will be able to extend their visas on current terms until 2035 rather than 2030, so that they have time to qualify on the longer pathway.
• Workers in roles below RQF 6 not covered above will no longer face the 15-year route proposed in the consultation. They will be on the ten-year pathway with an option to qualify sooner.

The Government Response does not describe a wider exemption for other people already in the UK. In particular, a Skilled Worker who arrived before May 2025 and earns below £50,271 would appear to fall under the ten-year default unless they fit one of the groups above. Anyone in this position should check their own circumstances with an adviser once the rules are published.

How are partners and children affected?

The government moved away from its original proposal that dependants earn settlement entirely in their own right. The age-25 rule is the point most likely to matter for families on a longer ten-year pathway, because a young person could reach 25 before the family qualifies.

How are refugees affected?

The policy separates protection from settlement. The government says anyone who needs protection will continue to receive it, but the route to permanent settlement depends on how a person arrived and what they do after arrival.

For those who claimed asylum before 2 March 2026 and move to Core Protection, any time spent with refugee status will count towards settlement. The government has said further detail on how time already spent in the UK will apply, and on the Article 31 safeguard, will be set out before implementation.

Who is not affected?

Two different categories must be distinguished: groups retaining existing settlement arrangements but subject to relevant new minimum standards and exemptions; and immigration routes outside the earned settlement reforms altogether. The applicable requirements depend on the route and individual circumstances.

Existing arrangements where relevant new minimum standards may apply

• Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa holders: settlement after five years
• Afghan schemes: immediate settlement, subject to scheme eligibility
• Legacy Safe and Legal routes: five years
• Windrush: existing British citizenship or settled status can be confirmed with no qualifying period
• Armed forces: four years’ reckonable service for eligible service personnel, including relevant Gurkha and Hong Kong military unit veterans discharged before 1 July 1997; partners and children have separate five-year continuous-residence provisions
• Bereaved partners, victims of domestic abuse, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, children in local authority care, and children and young people who have grown up in the UK: existing arrangements

Immigration routes outside the reforms

• EU Settlement Scheme, Turkish ECAA routes, Tier 1 (Investor), pre-2012 Overseas Domestic Worker route and Calais routes.

People who already hold settled status or ILR are not affected. The Home Office press statement says settled status will never be removed from anyone who already has it.

Can the rules apply to people already here?

Yes, in the sense that the Government Response states that applications for settlement are ordinarily decided under the Immigration Rules in force at the date of the decision, not the rules in place when the person arrived. It says successive governments have retained the ability to change the rules and that the courts have recognised this unless transitional provisions are made. The leading House of Lords authority on this point is generally understood to be Odelola v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2009] UKHL 25.

The policy is not without critics. MPs from different parties, including Liberal Democrat and Labour members, raised concerns in the Commons that changing the qualifying period for people already on a settlement route is unfair. The government rejected that characterisation and pointed to the targeted transitional arrangements described above. Whether any individual can rely on a legitimate expectation or other legal argument is a question of the facts, and anyone affected should take specific legal advice rather than rely on general commentary.

When will the changes start?

The Home Secretary said in the Commons that the changes will begin to be laid from the December immigration rules and be implemented over the course of 2027, with impact assessments and further guidance published as they are rolled out. She did not announce a single start date.

Separately, an earlier Statement of Changes in March 2026 raised the English language requirement for settlement to B2. Statement of Changes HC 1691 provides for B2 English in speaking and listening for specified settlement routes where the application is made on or after 26 March 2027, subject to exemptions. Different provisions may apply to dependants, including adult children, according to their route.

Another date to note is 1 February 2027, when the new 120-day and 60-day periods for care workers affected by sponsor licence revocation are due to apply.

Why do some figures differ between documents?

If you have read the Home Secretary’s statement alongside the Government Response, you may have seen small differences. They are worth understanding.

Where the two differ, rely on the written Government Response and, in due course, the Immigration Rules. The exact figure matters: someone earning £50,100 would be under the written threshold, even though the spoken summary might suggest otherwise.

Practical examples

Example 1: Skilled Worker earning £42,000

Daniel arrived in 2024 on a Skilled Worker visa and earns £42,000. He is not in a care or national-pay-scale health or education role. On the Government Response, his default route is ten years unless his earnings reach £50,271 in three of the five years before he applies, in which case the five-year route could apply. He should confirm with an adviser whether any transitional protection applies to his situation once the rules are published.

Example 2: Care worker who has met the visa terms

Amara joined the care route in 2023, has worked for a licensed sponsor and earns at least £25,000. She keeps a five-year route, provided she also has B2 English, no UK criminal record, no government debt and passes the Life in the UK test. She should check her English evidence now, because the standard is rising from B1.

Example 3: Care worker whose sponsor lost its licence

Joseph’s employer loses its sponsor licence after 1 February 2027. He will have up to 120 days to secure a job offer and a further 60 days to resolve his status. If he cannot, the visa will be curtailed. The Home Office has said it will help workers find legitimate sponsors, so early contact with a new employer matters.

Example 4: Couple with one part-time earner

Mei and Lin are on the default ten-year settlement pathway. Mei earns £15,000 and Lin earns £11,000 while caring for their child. Their combined annual income of £26,000 exceeds the £25,142 household minimum contribution threshold, although neither earns enough individually to meet that household threshold. They may therefore rely on combined earnings for that minimum test, provided the other mandatory requirements are satisfied.

Example 5: Applicant with an old caution

Sam received a conditional caution years ago and now seeks settlement. The Government Response says out-of-court disposals such as conditional cautions count as a criminal record, and that any adult with a UK criminal record will be refused. It does not say whether very old matters will be treated differently. Sam should take advice before applying or paying any fee.

Example 6: Student who later switches to a work visa

Fatima studied in the UK for three years and then moved to a Skilled Worker visa. Under the current Long Residence rules, her student time might have counted towards a ten-year route. Under earned settlement, time on a Student visa will not count towards the settlement period, and the Long Residence route will close.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the announcement as law. The Immigration Rules have not yet changed. Do not assume a start date.
• Using the spoken thresholds. Use £50,271 and £125,141, not “£50,000” and “£125,000”.
• Assuming time in the UK is enough. Only qualifying routes count, and temporary routes will not.
• Ignoring the debt and criminality tests. They cannot be offset by higher earnings.
• Leaving English until last. B2 is a step up from B1 and takes time to prepare for.
• Assuming a five-year transitional right. It applies only to the defined groups who arrived before May 2025.
• Overlooking public funds. Accessing specified public funds in the five years before applying can push the route to 20 years.
• Relying on online summaries. Many commentaries were written before the final text. Check the Government Response.

What should you do next?

If you are on a visa heading towards settlement

• Work out which pathway you are likely to be on and what your earnings record looks like for the “best years” test.
• Check your English evidence against B2 and plan for the Life in the UK test.
• Check for any NHS, tax, National Insurance or Home Office debt and clear or arrange it.
• Check whether you fall within a transitional or exempt group.
• If you are already eligible or close to it under the current rules, take advice on timing, because the transitional provisions for pending and imminent applications are not yet published.

If you are an employer or sponsor

• Map which sponsored workers are heading towards settlement and under which pathway.
• Review pay against the £50,271 and £25,000 thresholds where relevant, and consider how this affects retention.
• For care providers, check sponsor licence compliance, because licence revocation now carries specific consequences for workers.
• Prepare to support staff with English preparation, and keep clear records of employment and earnings.
• Do not change right to work procedures. These announcements do not alter right to work checks.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Earned settlement is the most significant change to the route to permanent residence in many years. The policy is now confirmed, with a ten-year default, shorter routes for higher earners and public service workers, longer routes for breaches and public-funds use, tighter minimum standards, and a set of targeted transitional arrangements. It is not yet law. The Immigration Rules, the impact assessment and detailed guidance still have to follow, and the details may change when the rules are drafted.

The practical message is to act on what is already clear, such as English evidence, debts, earnings records and sponsor compliance, and to wait for the rules before making irreversible decisions.

Official sources and further reading

• Home Office, A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation (CP 1707), November 2026
• GOV.UK, Earned settlement: Home Secretary’s statement, 2 November 2026
• GOV.UK, Home Secretary unveils new rules for migrants settling in the UK, 2 November 2026
• GOV.UK, Earned settlement: Consultation findings, 2 November 2026
• UK Parliament, Immigration: Earned Settlement (Hansard, 2 November 2026)
• GOV.UK, Earned settlement consultation
• UK Parliament, Immigration and Asylum Bill Committee, 3 November 2026 (December regulations and 2027 commencement).
• Home Office, HC 1691, Statement of Changes (B2 speaking and listening from 26 March 2027 on specified routes).

This article is general information based on government publications available on 3 November 2026 and is not legal advice. Immigration law changes frequently. The policy described here has not yet been implemented in the Immigration Rules, and details may change. Please take advice from a qualified immigration solicitor before making decisions about your own circumstances. Last updated: 3 November 2026. Next review: when the Statement of Changes is laid.